A university is vital to maintaining the growth and success Inverness has enjoyed in recent years, according to a new report by Inverness and Nairn Enterprise (INE) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

The study compared Inverness with five similar cities and reached an overwhelming conclusion that those with a sizeable university grew faster than the Highland capital.

The report concludes: "The glaring lesson from other fast-growing cities is of the opportunity that Inverness has not yet been able to grasp in a substantial way: the development of higher education.

"It will help first to obtain and then to earn resources, it will help maintain the momentum of growth and innovation, it will strengthen and broaden the process of city growth management and it will intensify local and national links for the community. And it confronts the main threat to communities in the Highlands and far beyond, the risk of losing young people."

Inverness was compared with Galway, Exeter, Stirling, Bury St Edmunds and Shrewsbury, the first three of which have universities. The research found that "the more spectacular the education sector, the more spectacular the growth."

The authors add: "Both directly and indirectly Galway, Exeter and Stirling plainly owe a great deal of their good economic and demographic performance to a good academic performance. In corroboration, the centres that do not have a university have a relatively mundane growth experience."

Stuart Black, chief executive of INE, said: "Inverness has been a success story in recent years, growing and developing into a vibrant modern city in the Highlands. It is important to the Highlands and Islands as a whole that strong sustainable growth continues.

"It is important that existing key industries such as the medical sector and tourism continue to prosper and new businesses are attracted to the area.

"This report clearly identifies that a university is vital to the aspirations of the city and the whole area. Much progress towards this has already been achieved. But there is still work to be done and the research findings underline the huge benefits completing the project will bring."

The study traced the development of Inverness from the early 1970s and examined the reasons for the city's growth.

Key factors identified were:

* Public sector employment - which saw steady growth for 13 years from 1971
* Offshore oil and gas industry - fabrication projects in the area and neighbouring parts of the Highlands flourished through the 1980s, peaking in 1983/84 and 1989. A significant number of offshore workers chose Inverness as their home base.
* Improved connections - development of the A9 route to the south enhanced access to the area, while the Kessock Bridge strengthened the city's role as a gateway for the northern Highlands and opened up the Black Isle as part of the Inverness commuter belt.
* Regional capital - In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Inverness began to prove it could operate as a regional capital for the Highlands and Islands, notably as a centre where business services could be reliably found and as a centre for healthcare.
* Healthcare cluster - In the early 1990s, the concentration of medical skills and expertise formed a base for the creation of Inverness Medical as the manufacturing part of an Inverness healthcare cluster that has grown beyond expectations.
* Retail - Inverness is becoming a significant regional retail centre. Instead of going out of the region, people can and do shop much more in the area.
* Tourism - The city's popularity as a tourist destination has proved an important recruiting tool for rapidly expanding Inverness firms.

The study concludes there is no evidence that Inverness is growing at the expense of its hinterland - in fact quite the reverse.