THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN POLK COUNTY

The first dose of reality that the University of South Florida's Polk County campus will, indeed, came to fruition yesterday as an agreement was signed symbolizing the donation of two parcels of land totalling 518 acres of land by Williams Acquisition Holding Company for development of a self-sustaining campus which would accomodate up to 15,000 students.

The campus will be located near the east link of the Polk Parkway with Interstate 4, and will offer a full four year programme. That is a slight change from the original plan, where only junior, senior, and gradulate level courses would be offered. Currently USF shares a campus on U.S. Highway 98 south of Lakeland with Polk Community College.

The Master Plan for USF-Lakeland is to be part of the I-4 Technology Corridor which links the metro areas of Tampa/St. Petersburg and Orlando/Daytona Beach. It is a public-private inititaive to attract new technologicial development, and colleges such as USF, PCC, and the University of Central Florida in Orlando will all benefit from the research they will help perform in a number of areas.

If fully funded as intended, the new USF-Lakeland campus should be able to host it's first classes in 2008 or 2009, with a fully functioning campus by 2013. It will include student housing, and one of the parcels of land donated which is not suitable for building will be used as a wetlands preserve and recreational area with parks and trails.

Congratulations!