The Essex new town of Harlow has been harbouring a secret for the past 50 years: a campus of Canada¡¯s Memorial University of Newfoundland, which follows a ¡°completely different model¡± to the standard overseas branch venture and is considering starting some local recruitment.

The campus was created in 1969, two years after Lord Taylor of Harlow, a former Labour MP and minister, became the vice-chancellor of Memorial. The university¡¯s main home is in St John¡¯s, capital of the Newfoundland and Labrador province, a city that can trace its history back to 1519.

Lord Taylor had a ¡°romantic notion¡± about ¡°the newest town in the old world and the oldest town in the new world establishing a relationship¡±, said Noreen Golfman, provost and vice-president (academic) at Memorial.

The campus was established in former maltings and disused school buildings in Old Harlow, with further buildings including a former butcher¡¯s shop and cottages acquired subsequently, meaning that 60 students can now be accommodated.

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All Memorial students ¡°have pathways¡± to spending ¡°at least one semester or part of a semester¡­at Harlow¡±, said Professor Golfman. For students from rural parts of Newfoundland and Labrador in particular, the experience can be ¡°transformative¡±, she added.

Harlow is just outside London. So Memorial theatre students can ¡°hop on a train and go see a play in the West End¡±, an ¡°astonishingly privileged experience for them¡±, said Professor Golfman. They then ¡°go back to Harlow and spend their days in their workshops or sessions with their instructors talking about what they have seen¡±, blending the ¡°academic and experiential¡±, she continued.

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Art history and visual art students also benefit from proximity to London¡¯s galleries, while business courses and history are also part of the course rotation at the campus. Lecturers travel over from Canada with the students.

This is a ¡°completely different model¡± from the conventional Western branch campus model, said Professor Golfman.

The ¡°scale is modest compared with, I think, the overreaching of other universities that have invested in bricks and mortar or refurbished bricks and mortar, and then imagined the branch campus as what we would typically call a cash cow to offset budget reductions¡­on their home campuses¡±, she continued. ¡°Harlow was never conceived that way.¡±

Harlow ¨C a town without its own university ¨C has seen a lot of growth in recent years and Memorial has been ¡°talking increasingly, engaging more, with the council¡±, said Professor Golfman.

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There was an idea to ¡°perhaps even lure some [local] students in for a course or two and maybe make the traffic go the other way ¨C encourage people to come to our university [in Canada]¡±, she said. ¡°Things are opening up and the world has gotten a lot smaller ¨C so who knows, there might be some potential there.¡±

In the eyes of some in the UK, Harlow would not be regarded as a glamorous place. What do Canadian students make of it?

¡°There¡¯s that whole snobbery about Essex¡­people have all kinds of attitudes about various places, especially new towns,¡± acknowledged Professor Golfman. ¡°But our students are largely oblivious.¡±

In fact, they are ¡°completely charmed¡± by Old Harlow, she said. ¡°It matches some¡­idea of Old England ¨C they might be shortly disabused of that.¡±

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But Old Harlow¡¯s pubs and tranquillity are ¡°very appealing to our students and they are very fond of the place¡±, she said.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com