Universities are good for cities
9:40am Monday 5th May 2008
SIR - It is almost universally accepted that universities are a good, civilising influence on a city. Worcester will be improved by having university status.
How could anywhere in the universe suffer or get worse for having a university full of students? They will create jobs and attract investment, they will bring money and hold coffee house conversation, and they will almost universally be less likely to commit crime, behave anti-socially, and so on.
This isn't the build-up to a snipe at students. I'm quite serious. Of course, the university will generally have a positive impact on the city.
So why on earth is a "council scrutiny committee" going to spend a full 18 months (and thousands upon thousands of pounds, presumably) reporting on the impact of the University of Worcester's new status? (Worcester News, April 17). The status only changed two-and-a-half years ago! We haven't finished building the campus yet and it's only this April that the institution even acquired a founding chancellor!
BOB CHURCHILL, Worcester.