Local enterprise funding for the University’s new Vinson Centre

Buckingham has been awarded £3m by Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP) which will enable it to build a new centre which will become the hub of the University.

The new Vinson Centre for Liberal Economics and Entrepreneurship will give the University campus a focal point for the first time.

Lord Vinson, entrepreneur and co-founder of the Centre for Policy Studies, made a gift of £5.5 million jointly to The University of Buckingham and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to widen understanding of the Constitution of Liberty through the project. With the extra funding from BTVLEP the project can now go ahead straight away.

At the Centre students will learn about free market economics and there will be research projects with the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) as well as conferences held in the lecture theatre.

Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Buckingham said: “We are enormously grateful to the Government and to the LEP for this extremely generous grant which will be used for the Vinson Centre for Liberal Economics and Entrepreneurship. This is the first major building development on campus as part of the broader campaign to expand the University. It shows that the Government and the local authority quite rightly regard us as an integral part of the local economy.

“The Vinson Centre for Liberal Economics and Entrepreneurship will provide excellent research and teaching opportunities as well as being a hub for the University and for the community.”

Lord Vinson said: “Invention and Entrepreneurism are what made this country a great trading nation. So it is both welcome and appropriate that the Government is backing, with matched funding of £3 million, the establishment of the new Vinson Centre at Buckingham whose purpose is to advance the understanding and encouragement of those attributes in a free society.

“The Vinson Centre will cement the relationship between the IEA and University of Buckingham. This gift marks the latest in an association that stretches back to the University’s beginnings. The IEA was one of the key forces and guiding spirits behind the foundation of the University.

“The Vice-Chancellor’s father, Arthur Seldon, was Editorial Director when it was helping to set up The University of Buckingham. At the time I was a Trustee of the IEA and I subsequently went on to be Chairman for seven years. It is a nice coincidence that Arthur’s son is now Vice-Chancellor of the University.”

Buckingham was founded on the principles of free thinking so it is fitting that the new building will provide a dedicated centre for research and study reflecting the continuing ethos of liberal thinking.