THE GOVERNMENT has backed a trailblazing £24 million university scheme which will bring 6,000 students to Medway by 2010.

It has been confirmed that The Higher Education Funding Council is to hand over the first £4 million of government cash towards the so-called Universities at Medway project.

Jeff Brown, director of Higher Education Operations of the University of Kent at Medway, said:"This is the biggest vote of confidence in the future of Medway since the closure of the Dockyard. Medway is fast becoming a university town. This investment will make that change bigger and better."

The Queen will unveil a stone plaque marking the exciting development when she visits Medway on March 28. Now work can begin later this year at the Pembroke site in Chatham Maritime.

It is set to transform Medway's into a magnet for students from the local area and beyond. The increase in graduates is set to ease skill shortages and maintain economic progress in north Kent.

The Medway university development will also provide a massive boost to the local economy, with new jobs in a wide range of areas, from building to leisure. It will also to transform the Medway social scene, providing the buzz"which gives university towns much of their character.Experts say a university gives a 25 per cent boost to business and commerce with a five-mile radius.

The scheme is said to be unique in the United Kingdom because it involves two universities - Kent and Greenwich - and a college - Mid Kent - working closely together. They are in partnership with Medway council and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).

In a joint statement, Professor David Melville, University of Kent vice-chancellor, Professor Rick Trainor, University of Greenwich vice-chancellor, and John Levett, principal of Mid Kent College, hailed a "trailblazing development".

Education minister Margaret Hodge welcomed the move. "I am delighted to give my support to this excellent regional collaboration," she said. "It will offer local people the broadest possible range of higher education."

When the new campus is ready for its first intake of students - probably in 2004 - the Horsted centre of Mid Kent College - now styled the University of Kent at Medway - will revert to an all further education complex.