Two design institutes are to merge, eventually forming a specialist university for arts in the South East.
Former students at Kent Institute of Art and Design (Kiad) include artist Tracey Emin, fashion designer Karen Millen and TV personality Tony Hart.
Now Kiad has said a merger with Surrey Institute of Art and Design will shape specialist art education and provide more job opportunities for students.
Professor Vaughan Grylls said: "It will be a better gateway to the industries."
The director of Kiad said preparation for work was partly through links with the staff who worked in the creative industries themselves.
"What it means is greater opportunities certainly in terms of employment for our students by sharing our expertise," he said.
The colleges' different specialisms currently include architecture at the Kent institute and broadcasting at Surrey, and the two institutions say they plan to combine existing strengths and build on similarities in size, focus and reputation.
A legal agreement to merge has been signed and the arts university college is to be established on 1 August this year, supported with a grant of £2.3m from the Higher Education Funding Council.
'No ivory tower'
Professor Elaine Thomas, director of the Surrey institute, said support for the project "further enhanced belief that the goal of achieving university status by 2007 is possible".
Professor Grylls said the colleges intended to keep existing campuses across Kent and Surrey, which currently include Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester.
"We are against the idea of the ivory tower university," he said.
"Having campuses in the centre of a town is important because artists, designers and architects are very much to do with the urban environment.
"It's a question of having a creative art institute that actually brings something extra to the town, for example each campus has its own art gallery."
