Leading legal figures have welcomed the metamorphosis of private equity-owned College of Law into Britain’s first for-profit university. The college announced yesterday that ministers had granted it permission to be known as The University of Law.

Nigel Savage, chief executive, described the ‘specialised university’ as ‘a new type of institution, focused on teaching and learning, which ‘will help to bring diversity and increased student choice to the higher education spectrum; broaden access to the legal profession, and export high-quality British education to aspiring lawyers across the globe’.

Desmond Hudson, chief executive of the Law Society, said that the creation of the University of Law would encourage investment from the private and not-for-profit sectors into legal education during a period when support from public funding will necessarily be highly restricted. The university will ‘prove very attractive to any well-qualified undergraduate and postgraduate UK or overseas student committed to a career in law or English law’.

The College of Law has held degree-awarding powers since 2006 and trains more than 7,000 students a year. In April this year it was acquired by Montagu Private Equity in £200m deal, which is due to be completed next week.

University status is expected to pave the way for international expansion, building on the college’s existing collaborations with institutions in Singapore, Spain and China.

David Willetts, minister for universities and science, said: ‘We congratulate the College of Law on becoming the University of Law. This is the first private university since the University of Buckingham and the first for-profit university in Britain. It adds to the diversity of a strong and vibrant sector.’