LONDON INSTITUTE TO BECOME BRITAIN’S FIRST ARTS UNIVERSITY

On Monday, the five separate arts colleges that comprise the London Institute won approval to join together as Britain’s first “arts university,” Rebecca Smithers reports in The Guardian. The colleges, which include Central St. Martins and the Camberwell College of Art, will retain their distinctive identities after the institute itself is renamed early next year. Sir Michael Bichard, rector of the London Institute, said the granting of university status by the government would help establish the federation as one of the world’s leading universities for the creative arts.