A CORNWALL Council-led European project has brought delegates together to discuss how different models of higher education can benefit regional economic development.

The first UNICREDS event of 2011 took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. Participants from Cornwall and the Combined Universities in Cornwall promoted the success of their higher education partnership. UNICREDS is a project mainly funded by the EU for regions which share similar characteristics. Partners share experiences and knowledge of how the challenges of an underperforming economy can be overcome and how deprived or peripheral regions can be transformed into centres of excellence.

Representing Cornwall, and a keynote speaker was UNICREDS' project manager, Nicolas Wallet. He said: "One of the key challenges facing universities today is coming to terms with their changing role in society. Universities, as major creators of scientific and technical knowledge, must be more deeply involved in the region they operate."

More information is available at www.unicreds.eu