THE long-held objective of establishing a university in East Lancashire became closer to reality today as council and business leaders set themselves a five-year deadline to make the dream come true.

Certainly, East Lancashire's claim to a university is upheld in terms of its population alone. It is equal to that of many major cities which have universities of their own.

But this concept -- first properly firmed-up five years ago at the 'Vision for 2020' conference organised by the East Lancashire Partnership -- is not just a matter of prestige.

For an East Lancashire university in its own right, or the establishment in the region of a specialist satellite campus of one of the county's existing universities, would be a massive economic boost.

It would not only create jobs -- many of them high-calibre ones -- and increase spending power and prosperity in the region, it would also create skills and encourage their retention. It would add enormously to East Lancashire's economic diversity and lessen its dependence on manufacturing and raise its comparatively-depressed gross domestic product closer to the levels of Britain's better-off regions.

No doubt the Partnership consortium of councils, private-sector business and public bodies is aiming high in setting this goal and a strict timetable. But they are right and bold to do so, when the prize of its achievement is so immense.