A group of prominent British academics said Sunday they are starting a private university in London to rival the country's elite institutions in Oxford and Cambridge.
The New College of the Humanities will be led by AC Grayling, a renowned philosophy professor, and the faculty will include Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and successful author, economics professor and writer Niall Ferguson, and other prominent educators.
It will be a relatively small university boasting at least one teacher for every 10 students and offering one-to-one tutorials and extensive contact between teachers and students, officials said.
In a message posted Sunday on the new university's website, Grayling said graduates would be ready to make ``an immediate contribution in business, government, media or the arts.' He also said college staff would help arrange internships. Grayling said the college will offer degrees in literature, history, economics, law and other disciplines, in conjunction with the University of London.