 SIR PAUL McCARTNEY'S Liverpool "Fame" academy is to apply to become a University. The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts will apply to the Government to become the city's fourth university ahead of European Capital of Culture year in 2008. LIPA principal Mark Featherstone-Witty last night confirmed he has already started initial preparations to become independent from John Moores University, which now accredits the college's six undergraduate degrees. He hopes to establish an autonomous funding relationship with the Department for Education and Skills by 2006 - in time for LIPA's tenth birthday celebrations. It means LIPA would join the University of Liverpool, JMU, and Hope University which was granted university status in March this year. The proposal is revealed as new figures show LIPA saw a huge 19% rise in applications this year. Mr Featherstone-Witty said: "It means we have reached the end of the beginning. "The admission figures show we have established ourselves and we are ready to move on to the next level, and become a university. "The first thing is to separate ourselves from JMU and establish a direct funding relationship with the Government by 2006. "Then, by 2008 hopefully, we would be awarding our own degrees. "The main drive behind it is to give a bit of status to LIPA and to the students, because at the end of the day what they do is not about qualifications, but about whether they can perform - and no piece of paper can tell you that." LIPA offers three undergraduate degrees in the performing arts, in acting, music, and dance, and three non-performance degrees, in management, sound technology and theatre, technology and design. Latest figures show the college had 4,200 applicants for 227 places in 2004/5, compared with 3,637 for 200 places in 2003/4, and an impressive 13.5% increase in admissions. Liverpool Hope University saw an 18% increase in admissions over the same period, while JMU admissions went up by 11.6%, and the city's biggest educational establishment, the University of Liverpool, saw only a 0.65% rise. | 
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