The University of Warwick has put in a bid to be the provider of 1,000 new doctors, which the Government says are urgently needed.

A university spokesman said:

"We have submitted a 200 page document detailing our case and we feel we have a very good chance of being selected."

The University of Warwick is already rated in the top four universities in the country for research, which includes some medical research, and it has forged a link with Leicester University and the Walsgrave Hospital Trust.

The spokesman explained:

"Leicester University already has a medical school but its research is not ranked as highly as our own. The idea is that the new super hospital, planned either for Walsgrave or on the Coventry & Warwickshire Hospital site in Coventry city centre, would be the teaching hospital for the medical students.

"Leicester University has the curriculum for the students and we have the quality research. We would all benefit. We envisage 64 students starting their courses in October 2000 and 128 per year from then on.

"More consultants would be attracted to the area because of the teaching hospital and a lot of costs would be avoided because the buildings, the research and the medical school are already in place. The Government would not have to pay either for expensive new buildings."