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Expansion plans drawn up jointly by Cumbria College of Art and Design, Carlisle's St Martin's College, the University of Central Lancashire, and the University of Northumbria have been boosted by approval of 1,400 extra degree-level student places over the next three years.

This will increase numbers by more than a third and help the local economy by as much as Pounds 10 million a year, the colleges say. At the moment more than 4,000 young people leave Cumbria to study every year. The four institutions commissioned a survey that found that there are potentially 39,000 Cumbrians who wish to study in higher education over the next three years.