The purchase has enabled the university to bring more work in-house. It was previously outsourcing 30% of its work.

The press replaces one of two two-colour litho presses.

Head of print design services, Andrew Scott, said: "We bought the press because we wanted to move into print-on-demand, do more short-run work and improve turnaround times."

The business prints leaflets, flyers and posters, a lot of which requires a landscape feed and the printing of large solid areas.

"We needed the good ink roller coverage and the landscape format of the 52DI press," Scott said.

"We are now producing very high-quality work at 300lpi. It's all about reducing costs to be competitive against outside printers and that's where the speed of production of the DI press is vital to keeping the cost per print down."

He added that the kit was "the cleanest, most environmentally-friendly printing press available today".

According to GCU, the DI's waterless process means that ink drying times are much faster and automation reduces the use of harmful chemicals.

The press also helps eliminate paper wastage and produces a higher quality end result by using vegetable-based inks.