IN the shadow of the Criffel hills in south- west Scotland there nestles a unique institute of learning. Set within an 85-acre estate of parkland and gardens, the UK's first multiversity has inspired students for nearly eight years.

It is not difficult to see why. Save for the cawing cries of crows that punctuate the sky overhead, Crichton's multi-institutional campus, located above the River Nith, is positively retreat-like.

Step across the threshold of its Rutherford McCowan building, however, and visitors are greeted with the words "the battle still rages". The phrase, etched on a placard, forms part of a paraphernalia of protest - including petitions, T-shirts and flyers - that overwhelm the reception area of Glasgow University's satellite campus.

It is a motto that has united the campus and local community, crushed on learning last month that one the country's leading universities plans to withdraw after losses of £800,000 a year.

Announced in the same month it was revealed the university's principal, Sir Muir Russell, is to receive a 15% (£27,000) salary rise, the decision will end Glasgow's involvement in an award-winning project designed to regenerate Scotland's "impoverished" south.

Ted Cowan, director of Glasgow's Crichton campus, and professor of Scottish history at the university, said the plan was a "tragedy" for the area's economy and culture.

"I am desperately disappointed at the waste of resources and potential this decision brings. It will have a huge impact on one of the most deprived areas of the country," said Prof Cowan, who is a Doonhamer ("son of Dumfries").

"It is a tragedy for the economy and culture of the whole of southern Scotland and I mean that in the most real sense."

Prof Cowan urged a rethink on the decision which is due to be debated in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday. He also called the Crichton community "innocent victims" caught up in an apparent "stand-off" between Glasgow and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

The university's plans for a phased withdrawal from the campus - which also houses Paisley University, Bell College and Dumfries & Galloway College - have been blamed on the SFC's refusal to increase funded campus places from 88 to 300. In response, the SFC, which distributes higher education money for the Scottish Executive, said Glasgow could continue provision if it saw it as "sufficiently strategically important".

But Prof Cowan called the SFC's response "unfair", adding: "The start-up funding for Crichton was never adequate to begin with, which is indicative of a wider problem in the south. People here already feel off the radar of the executive's map when it comes to funding.

"We've developed an excellent programme, got first-rate students and increased research grants. Glasgow has always said it would stay if there had been adequate funding from the council. But it seems our achievements were not good enough to persuade the council we should receive additional funding, so this heartbreaking decision has been arrived at. We feel like we've been kicked in the face."

Glasgow University last month announced it had wiped out a debt of more than £5m and was in the black for the first time in more than a decade. This followed cost-cutting measures of £10m last year, when 230 staff took voluntary redundancy. Now the jobs of more than 40 Crichton staff are on the line.

The decision will also close the opportunity for students - many of whom come from "non-traditional" backgrounds - to immerse themselves in a liberal arts programme that, according to Prof Cowan, harked back to Scottish Enlightenment ideals of "what constitutes a decent education".

With this ethos, the university restored Crichton to what its original owner had hoped would be its purpose, Prof Cowan believes.

Elizabeth Crichton had, in 1829, proposed using her late husband's fortune to found a university in Dumfries and so widen the area's access to higher education. Opposed by the establishment, she used the money instead to fund a medical institution, which evolved into one of Europe's leading psychiatric hospitals.

It was not until the 1990s the land was secured by the local authority to establish a higher education facility, and Crichton's students are now often the first in the family to go to university.

Among them are a high proportion of mature female students. Indeed, the SFC was last week accused of "sexism and ageism" over its suggestion that future demand at the facility was likely to be from "locally based, mature, often female students" and, as such, it should consider "how much priority" it wants to give a provision primarily for adult learners.

Among the 260 students who benefit from Glasgow's Crichton facilities is Kathy Hobkirk, 44. She described the experience as life-changing.

Now in her final year of an honours degree, she said: "I would never have gone on to further education if it hadn't been for this place. This has increased my confidence and changed my life. I feel I can tackle anything now."

With class sizes smaller than the norm, the mother-of-one described the quality of teaching as "exceptional". She added: "And there are no high heid yins'. Professor Cowan is just Ted' to us. It is the same with the rest of the staff. Everyone is heartbroken that we might be the last students experiencing this."

Students at the campus's associated universities were also concerned at the changing dynamics the withdrawal of Glasgow would bring.

Among them was Matt Loveday, a business studies student at Paisley University.

Mr Loveday, 19, who relocated from London to study in Dumfries, and is vice-president of Crichton Students' Association, said: "This is a close university community. We come into much more contact with people from other courses we wouldn't really get to know at a bigger university.

"Pulling out hundreds of people will definitely affect the dynamic."

Describing the whole campus community as "very disappointed about the loss of potential", he added: "But perhaps Paisley and Bell can use the move as an opportunity to expand."

His classmate, Darren Vidler, also 19, added: "People are just gutted. Glasgow and Paisley students make up the majority here, and they are important to the atmosphere of the place."

With a formal decision to withdraw from Crichton expected at the university's court meeting on Wednesday, UCU Scotland, the lecturers' union, last week urged First Minister Jack McConnell to intervene.

The union also asked the university court to postpone a decision until after the next spending review, which it said may lead to an increase in the higher education funding.