AN ARDENT blues fan is today leading the project to bring a university to Suffolk. Season ticket holder Richard Lister, 50, has been appointed director of operations for University Campus Suffolk (UCS).

AN ARDENT blues fan is today leading the project to bring a university to Suffolk.

Season ticket holder Richard Lister, 50, has been appointed director of operations for University Campus Suffolk (UCS).

Seconded from the Colchester-based University of Essex where he was director of external relations, Mr Lister has lived in Ipswich for 12 years.

He said: "I am completely committed to delivering UCS here in Suffolk. I have always been interested in the project since I moved to Ipswich.

"I have always thought this would be an exciting place to develop a university presence."

Though not an academic the father-of-two has a long history of working in higher education. Before moving to the University of Essex he was director of admissions at the University of Hull.

Based in Felaw Maltings, Mr Lister said he would work closely with UCS project manager Carol Macaskill.

He added: "The secondment is four days a week for 18 months. It is very possible I might stay on after that period."

Mr Lister will be working with the UCS chief executive who is expected to be appointed in October and take up his or her position in January.

He said: "For the time being I am trying to keep the project moving forward and keep an overall view of progress."

Alison Lys, head of skills and employment for the East of England Development Agency, said: "EEDA has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with Richard through his involvement in the campus at Ipswich.

"We are delighted that he is now able to devote more of his energies into making the new University Campus Suffolk a reality."

Weblinks: www.suffolk.ac.uk; www.ucs.ac.uk

What do you think about the UCS project? How would you like to see the UCS developed in Ipswich? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

ONE of the largest schemes of its kind in the UK University Campus Suffolk (UCS) is due to open its doors to students in September 2007.

Costing and estimated £150million over the next ten years UCS was handed a £15 million kick-start in February by the Higher Education Funding Council For England (HEFCE).

Land has already been set aside for the project and UCS, plus a new Suffolk College, will create an 'education quarter' stretching from Rope Walk to the Ipswich Waterfront.

A partnership lead by the universities of East Anglia and Essex, the UCS project is supported by Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council. There will also be substantial private sector investment in the scheme.