The chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council, Mark Batho, has confirmed that plans to create a £300 million 'super campus' in Glasgow city centre are still very much going ahead.

Despite the current economic crisis, Batho told Central College's annual staff conference "our planning is based upon a number of assumptions, the most critical of which are that costs are kept tightly under control as the planning proceeds; and that current levels of capital spending for colleges are carried forward into the next spending review.

"As long as those assumptions are met, it’s all systems go – it’s budgeted for and planned for.”

The project director for New Campus Glasgow, Iain Marley, welcomed the statement, commenting: “What can offer more long-term benefit than an investment in education to provide the skills the economy needs?

“We are in a really strong position now. We have a master plan that’s coming together very well. We are on the cusp of putting the project out to European Union tendering, which is a very important milestone, and the benefits we will bring to businesses is at the very heart of our business case to the Scottish Funding Council.”

Involving Central, Stow, Metropolitan, and Glasgow Nautical Colleges, New Campus Glasgow will be the biggest education building project in the UK, accommodating 50,000 students and 2,000 staff.

The new campus, which is set to be built at two sites in Cathedral Street and Thistle Street, will go out to tender this month. Work is scheduled for the start of 2011 and it is scheduled for completion in 2016.