Leading article: Luton's new start

The University of Bedfordshire opens its doors this week as a new creation, an enlarged version of Luton University, which from henceforth will be serving the whole of the county. It is well positioned for the future, having sloughed off its unpopular humanities subjects, replacing them with a spiffy new Media, Art and Design school, as well as sorting out its finances and acquiring some new subjects in the merger with the Bedford campus of De Montfort University. Not only was the old Luton University too small, it had been dogged by bad publicity. The new incarnation looks a much sounder proposition.