Based in the Soho area of Lower Manhattan, GCU New York hopes to begin teaching from next year, and will have an initial capacity for up 100 students.

It will offer a range of postgraduate programmes, including courses from the GCU British School of Fashion, which was launched in London earlier this month.

Subjects will initially include the business of fashion and international brand strategy, with plans in place to launch courses such as television fiction writing and engineering.

A ¡°small number¡± of staff will be based at the campus full time, a university spokesman said, with the key academic posts to be filled via a US-based recruitment process. Currently, there are no plans to introduce undergraduate programmes.

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Pamela Gillies, principal and vice-chancellor of GCU, said she was delighted to see her institution ¡°at the vanguard of Scotland¡¯s and Britain¡¯s contribution to enterprise, innovation and learning in one of the great cities of the world¡±.

¡°GCU New York will provide an important opportunity for us to work with new academic and business partners; will significantly raise our international profile; and will offer valuable exchange opportunities to students and staff on both sides of the Atlantic,¡± she said.

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The university opened a London branch in 2010, and Professor Gillies said the New York development would be ¡°modelled closely¡± on its base in the English capital.

The first vice-president of GCU New York, responsible for overseeing the establishment of the new campus, is Cara Smyth ¨C former director of designer clothing label Burberry, who joins from upmarket fashion retailer, Jeffrey.

Full details of the planned campus will be unveiled at a reception for 250 guests at the Stephan Weiss Studio in New York on 26 September. Among those attending will be Alistair Burt, UK parliamentary under secretary of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

¡°I hope that they are the first of many British universities to open in New York,¡± Mr Burt said. ¡°GCU¡¯s commitment to fostering lifelong learning across the globe is a noble endeavour, to which I am proud to show my support.¡±

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chris.parr@tsleducation.com