The umbrella body for the leaders of higher education colleges is preparing to downsize and remould itself into an organisation mainly representing small specialist colleges as more of its members bid for university status.

Within a year, the Standing Conference of Principals expects its membership to shrink from 40 colleges to about 30, most of which will have fewer than 5,000 full-time equivalent students.

An ongoing review concluded that there needed to be a "major step change" in Scop's development as an organisation, Dianne Willcocks, principal of York St John College and chair of Scop, said at a reception in London this week.

Key messages emerging from the review included "the importance of strengthening Scop as the representative voice for smaller and specialist institutions" and identifying "clear opportunities for Scop to work more creatively with particular specialist clus-ters of institutions", she said.

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The Times Higher has learnt that out of the six colleges that will become universities this autumn, four - Southampton Institute, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Chester, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Winchester and Canterbury Christ Church 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College - are planning to leave Scop. The other two, Bath Spa 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College and Liverpool Hope 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College, are expected to reconsider their position in about a year.

Bids for university status from three other colleges were being considered by the Quality Assurance Agency's board as The Times Higher went to press this week.

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They include 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Chichester and 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Worcester, which failed to get a green light from the QAA when the other six were successful in March.

The third is understood to be 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Northampton, which has been aiming to gain university status under old rules that require a would-be university to have research degree-awarding powers.

An application from Buckinghamshire Chilterns 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College, however, has been rejected.

Bryan Mogford, its principal, said: "We are surprised and disappointed by the view of the QAA that BCUC has yet to meet the criteria necessary for the award of university title."

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* Scop has announced that its next chair will be Pam Taylor, principal of Newman College, in Birmingham. She will take office from November.

tony.tysome@thes.co.uk