AS hundreds of students at Bolton Institute receive their awards today the college is celebrating winning its own special "prize" - a £1.5 million contract to teach Malaysian students. Already 57 students are in the town to start a two-year HND (Higher National Diploma) course in computing and engineering. And the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources which is sponsoring them is looking to send "a steady stream of students" to Bolton in further lucrative deals for which the college is bidding.

Said delighted Institute principal Mollie Temple: "This is part of building on our international reputation and increasing it in the future." Their arrival in Bolton is due mainly to twin brothers William and Peter Hoole, former Boltonians who seized the chance to do a good turn for their native town.

William and Peter Hoole run the highly successful New College at Cardiff - an independent sixth form college which specialises in preparing young people from the UK and overseas for university.

Because of the reputation of New College, Cardiff, the Hoole brothers were approached by the education authorities of Malaysia with a view to providing engineering training to HND level for a selected group aged 18-24.

"Not quite in our line, but we know someone who can do it," the Hoole brothers, in effect, told the Malaysians.

The "someone" they recommended was Bolton Institute. Malaysian Government officials took a close look at the institute, its staff and its facilities and then accepted the recommendations.

"William and Peter Hoole told us they thought of Bolton because they wanted to do a good turn for the town where they were brought up.

"They certainly did that. It is a lucrative contract for Bolton Institute, with every chance of more to follow in future years," said Dr Danny Morton, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Technology at the institute.

The new students have been on an 18-week orientation course prior to starting the course, with senior lecturer Zubair Patel managing the programme for the Malaysians, ensuring that they will be thoroughly "at home" in Bolton.

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