Major university presence for Darlington on the cards

Senior staff from the University of Teesside and Darlington College have begun work on the development of plans to create a major new University presence in Darlington.

The initiative was enthusiastically welcomed today by civic and political leaders within the town who are keen to see a new physical, and identifiable, university presence in the centre of Darlington. ‘We see the proposed new development as complementing and extending the excellent progress that has already been achieved by the College in raising and broadening educational achievement,’ said Sarah Robinson, Principal and Chief Executive of Darlington College.

This new development is expected to take the form of a free-standing University building adjacent to the new Darlington College in Central Park – to create an enhanced further and higher education campus. It will build upon the longstanding partnership between the College and the University – a partnership which, having been strengthened by the opening of a University Centre within the new £35m College campus last year, has already seen higher education student numbers in the college grow to 700 this year as part of strategy to achieve 1,000 higher education learners by the end of the decade.

‘The new initiative is designed to deliver a much greater step change in the level of higher education in Darlington than originally envisaged by not only providing greatly enhanced access to higher education for residents of the town but also providing an improved gateway to higher education for individuals and employers in those parts of the west end of the Tees Valley, South West Durham and North Yorkshire who are currently not well served by existing local higher education provision,’ said Professor Graham Henderson, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Teesside.

The Vice-Chancellor said: ‘I’m delighted by the progress the joint plans have already made. The University of Teesside has a long history of widening access to higher education within the Tees Valley and we’ve felt for some time that the absence of a major physical university presence in the west of the Tees Valley has been constraining the level of engagement of both individuals and employers with University education and the development of the higher skills that are so desperately needed if the Tees Valley is to have a successful future.

“Darlington’s pivotal location on the east coast mainline and close to the A1 would mean that a University presence in the town could provide us with a number of exciting new development opportunities, particularly in relation to our rapidly-expanding programme of work with regional and national employers.’

Sarah Robinson added: ‘The College is ambitious to further develop its involvement in the delivery of higher education, and is very keen to work towards this end in partnership with the University of Teesside. A new university building adjacent to the College, and operated in partnership with the University, could add enormous value to the educational opportunities available within the town and contribute to securing its economic future. Like the University, we are really excited by this opportunity and look forward to progressing it as quickly as possible.’

And the idea has won enthusiastic backing from Darlington MP Alan Milburn, who said: ‘There have been discussions for many years about a university college for Darlington. I asked the University of Teesside and Darlington College to talk about how we could do this. Darlington's future lies in bringing high-skilled and high quality employment to the town. Having our own university centre is a new educational opportunity for school-leavers and we are making great progress on these plans.’

Darlington Council chiefs are also backing the idea, with Councillor John Williams, leader of the borough council, saying: ‘The prospect of Darlington becoming a university town is very exciting. Our potential to do this has always been there given the high degree of quality that exists within the Borough. The Council will do everything possible, working with our partners, to turn these plans into a reality.’

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