James Newton

Higher education is changing. Costs are rising, the internet is creating new ways of learning and the role of higher education is changing – going from educating a small elite to providing skills for the whole workforce. The University of Oxbridge takes this as an opportunity to speculate on the future of higher education by using the soon-to-be-reopened Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge as the pretext for a new university.

Focusing on the area midway between Oxford and Cambridge, the University of Oxbridge keys into a post-industrial landscape of distribution centres and small settlements developed around the brickworks of Bedfordshire. Partnering with local businesses, the university reverses traditional spin off models by collaborating with local expertise to develop campuses. Taking inspiration from Cedric Price's Potteries Thinkbelt it uses higher education as a tool to rejuvenate the area, redefining its place in the knowledge economy.