BOLTON Institute chiefs are still waiting to hear whether their latest application for university status has been successful.

The institute's bid to become a university is currently being considered by the Privy Council. Institute bosses are expecting to hear the outcome later this year.

Institute principal Mollie Temple said: "The application is still in front of ministers. We think we'll know the outcome in weeks or months."

But she refused to be drawn on how confident institute bosses feel about their latest bid, saying only that they "were awaiting the outcome".

The institute was tipped by the DfES to be successful because of changes to the criteria institutions must meet in order to become universities.

Quality of teaching and the number of students are now the priorities. Bolton Institute was named by the DfES in June as being one of the first colleges most likely to benefit from the new rules. When the criteria took in the number of students on roll, whether an institute conducted research and had a specialist focus, Bolton's bid was unsuccessful.

The institute has staged a number of high-profile campaigns for university status over the past 10 years.

Many have not understood why when the university title has so far proved to be elusive as the Institute is widely considered to be a university in everything but name already.