The Ministry of Education acted immediately on the Robbins' proposal that Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) should be created. Interested parties, including the universities and the local authority associations, were informed early in November 1963 that the Ministry wanted to set up this body with the least possible delay. Although the Government moved quickly over the establishment of CNAA, it dealt much more slowly with the question of the future of the regional colleges. During the 1964 election campaign both major parties were largely silent about the future of the regional colleges, and no public indication of Department of Education and Science (DES) policy was given at this juncture. The DES predicted that colleges which were not designated as either polytechnics or specialist centres would not be able to sustain advanced courses for long because of the increased competition.