The universities and science minister will recommend to the Privy Council that the institutions have met the criteria to be awarded the title.

It follows the government's decision to lower the threshold for university title from 4,000 full-time higher education students to 1,000 students.

The applicants being put forward to the Privy Council for formal approval are: Arts 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College at Bournemouth; Bishop Grosseteste 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Lincoln; Harper Adams 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College; Leeds Trinity 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College; Newman 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College, Birmingham; Norwich 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College of the Arts; Royal Agricultural College; 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Birmingham; 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Falmouth and 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College Plymouth St Mark & St John.

Mr Willetts said: "These well-known and highly-regarded university colleges represent over 1,200 years of history between them. It is right to remove the barriers preventing high-quality higher education providers like these calling themselves universities simply because of their size.

51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

"I am delighted that they have taken up the opportunity offered by our reforms. This will lead to the biggest creation of universities since 1992 and will enable more people to realise their aspiration of going to a university."

All 10 new institutions are members of GuildHE, which lobbied the government to make the change in the threshold for university title.

51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

Andy Westwood, chief executive of GuildHE, said: "The minister's recommendation that 10 institutions have met the criteria to become universities recognises the quality, diversity and tradition that they bring to UK higher education."

Peter Lutzeier, principal of Newman 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College, said that "the university college title did create confusion outside the sector. The clarification provided by obtaining full university status is particularly important in light of the recent marketisation of higher education and will prove invaluable as we look to strengthen our international links."

The announcement follows the news last week that the privately-funded College of Law would become the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Law after successfully applying through Companies House to use university title.

john.morgan@tsleducation.com