THE idea of Oxford's two universities joining forces to form a giant new seat of learning has been floated by Jon Snow, the retiring Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University.o The celebrated broadcaster said he believed there could be "a fusion" of Brooks and Oxford University within the next 20 years. He made his prediction as he prepared to hand over as Chancellor of Brookes to civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti after a seven-year stint. Under his chancellorship, Brookes has undergone rapid expansion. Now Mr Snow thinks Oxford can look forward to a coming together of the old and the new, with economies of scales and their locations making the merging of Oxford University and the former polytechnic irresistible. He said: "This is an outrageous thing to say, but I wouldn't be surprised if, in 20 years time, there were not simply a huge university city, in which fusion had occurred." He said there could be "one major seat of learning, in which there would be a big vocational and academic element put in here, while down the road there would be a different sort of intellectual input". Prof Janet Beer, the vice chancellor of Brookes, said: "Fusion of the two universities is not something that's ever been considered, but on his last day as Chancellor Jon was entitled to be a bit controversial. "This is not something that either university would wish to pursue." A spokesman for Oxford University said: "While the University of Oxford welcomes collaboration with Oxford Brookes University on many issues, any kind of 'fusion' of the universities has never been considered, nor it is anticipated that such an idea would be considered in the future."