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City University's Institute of Health Sciences, set up two years ago, is to double in size to nearly 2,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students this week with a Pounds 10 million contract for training and research from North Thames Regional Health Authority.

It is incorporating St Barth-olomew and Princess Alexandra Newnham College of Nursing and Midwifery, as well as the Charterhouse College of Radiography.

The move follows the Department of Health's decision that nursing and radiography training and education should be integrated into higher education.

Institute director Ewart Carson, said: "The incorporation strengthens the university's long-term future, underlining its commitment to the health-care sector. St Bartholomew's BSc course in nursing and human sciences has been run jointly with City for 25 years, and City has validated both BSc and MSc programmes at the College of Radiography."

Professor Carson said that nursing expertise would be valuable in moves to develop broader healthcare records for patients, while radiography provided a "missing link" in work on imaging, which already included research in computer science, optometry and psychology.