Welcome to Multiversity

Plans for the Multiversity which will raise the aspirations of the local population by providing a world class learning facility and promote lifelong learning opportunities, are progressing at pace with the vision due to become a reality by September 2027.

Background: The Regeneration of Blackpool

As the UK's second most visited tourist attraction (after London), serious investment in Blackpool which has some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country has been long overdue.

Now thanks to the government's commitment to the Levelling Up Agenda in general and the announcement of a £40 million Levelling Up investment specifically ringfenced for Blackpool, the serious work of improving the town centre can begin in earnest.

The announcement came directly from Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove, who, on a recent visit to Blackpool, outlined what this funding will mean for the town, the local population and its visitors.

Michael Gove announces Levelling Up investment for Blackpool

Multiversity: The Vision

If industry 4.0 technological transition is as significant as previous industrial revolutions, securing sustainable economic growth will need new institutions to manage the transition and mitigate its societal side-effects. In the future, young and old alike will be in equal educational need; to train, retrain and retrain again throughout their 50 or 60 year careers.

The skills required for the future world of work will need to be evenly balanced between the cognitive, technical and social; head, hands and heart. Therefore educational institutions will need to provide a balanced educational offering of cognitive, technical and social skills.

Future higher education institutions will need to be very different creatures than in the past if we are to truly achieve levelling up. They will need to cater for multiple entry points and cater across the age distribution, rather than focusing on the young and traditional academic years.

They will need to support collaboration between businesses large and small to ensure that local businesses can access the skills they need to thrive and will incentivise employers to invest in the local area, by providing the facilities they need to upskill their workforce.

They will, in short, need to be multi-layered and multi-functional; a “Multiversity”, rather than a university.

The Multiversity campus will facilitate aspirations to create a world class learning environment with the target to be the country’s first carbon neutral Higher Education campus.
The project is underpinned by four key project objectives:

1. Increase footfall in the town centre to encourage regeneration alongside the newly announced civil service hub

2. Create an academic / business quarter breathing new life into the heart of the town centre

3. Promote high skill, lifelong learning opportunities across the town and beyond

4. Raise aspiration to support the levelling up agenda

Multiversity Blackpool will:

...Further enhance collaboration with businesses large and small

Located at the centre of Blackpool’s business district, the Multiversity campus will be an integral part of the wider town centre economic development vision and its curriculum assets will be co-created with employer partners. It will support collaboration between businesses large and small to ensure that local businesses can access the skills they need to thrive. It will incentivise employers to invest in the area, by providing the facilities they need to upskill their workforce. Managerial and professional training will be
available through B&FC’s Business School.

.…Offer state-of-the-art, next generation learning and teaching

A high quality, dedicated and distinctive technical and professional curriculum, co-created with employers and in partnership with Lancaster University, will be delivered in modern collaborative spaces, based in the dynamic Multiversity campus. Flexible learning environments and interactive spaces characterised by an increased use of simulators, simulated lecture space and augmented learning will facilitate experiential and problem-based learning to encourage expansive thinking. The curriculum will be delivered through blended learning, facilitated by a shared platform and interactive mobile environments. A multi-disciplinary approach will be an embedded feature of all curricula, enabling and facilitating connections and collaborations between and across traditional ‘subjects’, driving creativity and innovation to create future-ready students.

…Support and empower community and regional transformation

Multiversity Blackpool will be at the forefront of digital and business education, skills and innovation, ensuring Blackpool becomes a higher education and training town of choice. Multiversity will deliver the skills needed to drive the local, regional and national economy. It will locate economic, social and cultural development at the heart of the vision, creating demonstrable impact for Blackpool and beyond. This will be a collaborative learning community that merges business and education to support high level skills growth and drive individual success now and in the future.

…Attract students and employers from across the UK

Through new educational programmes, professional development opportunities, and colocation of research and development potential, Multiversity Blackpool will attract a broader range of students, employers and partners. Multiversity Blackpool will be well placed to benefit from a new industrial revolution that supports young people to develop the skills needed for the highly skilled jobs of the future. Building on the strengths of B&FC’s established technical and professional curriculum and outstanding collaborative approach with employers, Multiversity will capitalise on new opportunities arising out of invention, innovation and competition