Tottenham Hotspur FC to launch degree programme

Tottenham Hotspur are to start running their own degree programme. The North London football club are the first Premier League side to turn their stadium into a "mini university".

They will offer 25 places each on two foundation courses: Applied Sport & Community Development and Sports Hospitality and Nutrition. Both could be the stepping stone to a full honours degree at Middlesex University.

Fees have been fixed at £6,000 a year – for which students are eligible for government loans as with mainstream universities. Grant Cornwell, chief executive of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation: "We are really trying to give young people an opportunity to go to university and link it with a football environment.

"We identify as a club with this community and the course is ideal for young people with GCSEs who might want to see whether a degree course is for them," he added.

Three-quarters of those people who have applied for the courses are said to come from an ethnic minority background and one in 10 are from the north London area.

The majority are aged between 18 and 24, the age group which is suffering most from unemployment.