YORK University's importance to the business community will be underlined tomorrow at a presentation by Professor Tony Robards, the pro-vice chancellor for external relations,.

He will be speaking at a York Business Forum breakfast meeting at the Middlethorpe Hall Hotel.

Prof Robards, who is based at the university's Centre for Enterprise and Development at York Science Park, will address topics ranging from the White Paper outlining the Government's plans for radical reform of investment in higher education, to York's role as one of the UK's leading research universities.

He will look at York's performance over the past ten years and address the university's objectives over the next decade, covering the expansion and creation of departments and the development of Heslington East - a major extension to the campus.

Updated: 08:35 Monday, March 24, 2003