A scheme to transform a former Oxford hospital into one of the world's biggest private technology schools could bring up to 1,500 students to Littlemore.

A £20m multi-media school could open at the Littlemore Hospital site as early as September.

SAE, which specialises in degree-standard audio, film and multi-media education, bought Littlemore House last month for a reported £8.9m.

And it is now ready to spend £12m to create a campus that would be the company's global headquarters, with accommodation for an anticipated influx of overseas students.

SAE hopes to begin by offering two courses in the autumn for about 80 students.

It is envisaged that the school will eventually be significantly bigger than SAE's London college, which teaches 600 students. The Littlemore campus could even have up to 1,500 students from Europe, the Middle East and America.

But while a statement issued by SAE proclaimed that "the world's largest technology school is to open in Oxford", Oxford City Council's planning department said this week it knew nothing about the project. Council members and Littlemore Parish Council also said they were in the dark about SAE's plans.

A statement from the company said: "Not only will the Oxford campus be the largest SAE Institute to date, with more than 14,200sq m, it's also set to become the global headquarters of the SAE operation - the flagship school amongst the 50 existing SAE institutes that already exist on five continents."

Littlemore House is the first phase of a development scheme at Littlemore Park.

The Victorian building was formerly part of the hospital and sits within a 5.5-acre site with landscaping and 110 car parking spaces. The land is owned by RO Developments.

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said: "So far, no planning application has been submitted for this scheme."

Littlemore city councillor Gill Sanders added: "If they're seeking to have a campus housing hundreds of students, a development of that size would have to go to the area committee and perhaps strategic development committee."

David Wibberley, vice chairman of Littlemore Parish Council, said: "We don't know anything about this in the parish. I would not want to comment until I've seen the plans."