Sir Graham Hills, academic adviser to the Highlands project and former principal of Strathclyde University, says new technology could underpin a university in Dumfries in the south-west of Scotland.
Speaking at the first general meeting of the University of Southern Scotland action group, which has commissioned him to carry out a feasibility study, he said Dumfries could become the first of a range of "foundational" universities, concentrating on teaching and learning and firmly rooted in the region.