[1] Developed in the early 2000s, following the work of the Camborne and University of Cornwall Support Group (a pressure group that is composed mostly of Cornish graduates), professionals founded the CUC in 1997 to seek a collaboration of all HE providers in Cornwall in working towards the establishment of a free-standing Cornish university in the future and to oppose the loss of the Camborne School of Mines from the depressed towns, Camborne and Redruth.

[citation needed] With funds from the European Union Objective One and the South West Regional Development Agency, the CUC serves to fight the "brain drain" of students to the rest of the United Kingdom.

[citation needed] It is conceived on a "hub and spokes" model, with different institutions offering different kinds of provision in different locations.

The CUC central administration is based at Trevenson House in Pool, Cornwall, and the "rim" sites have been placed at a number of different locations.

The "rim" consists of two tertiary institutions: Cornwall College and Truro and Penwith College, which, in addition to their further education work, offer a range of higher education courses from sub-degree to master's degree level under franchise from the University of Plymouth.