THE oldest higher education establishment in York today moved a step closer to its ambition of gaining university status.

The Privy Council of the United Kingdom has granted York St John College the power to change its name - which means that from today it is known as York St John University College.

The name change comes after the college, which was founded in 1841, was granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers in September.

There will be a celebration on the Lord Mayor's Walk campus at a blessing later this month, attended by staff, students and invited guests.

College principal Professor Dianne Willcocks, said: "It is my belief that York St John has long deserved the title of university college, and the recognition of this in the Privy Council's approval of our choice of new name endorses the quality of teaching and learning which we have a proud tradition of providing here.

"For many years, York St John has been able to offer an excellent service as an educator to our students, as an employer to our staff and as a partner in the city, and I offer great thanks to our students, staff, colleagues and friends in York and beyond for helping to make this acknowledgment possible."

York St John has been teaching students in the heart of York, on its site on the corner of Lord Mayor's Walk and Clarence Street, since 1841, when it started life as a teacher training college.

Today, the college is the seventh largest provider of primary school teachers in the country, but has long since broadened its horizons, and subjects now include management, health studies, sport and psychology and arts.

The vast majority of students at York St John - two-thirds of the 5,062-strong student body - are from York or the surrounding area.

York St John is currently undergoing the next stage of assessment and scrutiny in the run up to an application for university status. It is expected that a decision on that will be made later this year.

Professor Willcocks said she thought the city could cope with two universities.

She said: "If the student population got up to 25,000, I think York has the capacity to cope. We are now a city of around 100,000 residents."

Key dates in college's history

1841: York Diocesan Training School, for teacher education, opened with one pupil on the register, 16-year-old Edward Preston Cordukes. (The Students' Union building is named in his honour).

1846: The foundation of the Female Training School. Both prospered and the lack of space in York resulted in the move of the Women's College to Ripon in 1862. The college in York was described as St John's College from the late 1890s.

1904: St John's was the largest diocesan college in the country with 112 students (today the college has more than 5,000 students).

1974: The two colleges unified as The College of Ripon & York St John.

1990: The college became a satellite of the University of Leeds, cementing a relationship dating back to the 1920s.

1999: The college relocated courses to the York campus.

2001: All students and staff had transferred across to York. In view of the change of location a new name was chosen, York St John.

2005: York St John is given the power to award its own degrees and within the next three years hopes to become the city's second university.

Updated: 11:04 Wednesday, February 01, 2006