10:13am Tuesday 16th March 2010
LAST week, the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) welcomed more than 90 businesses to Gisborough Hall, Guisborough, east Cleveland, for the chamber’s Tees Valley annual meeting.
Chris Beaumont, chairman of the Tees Valley committee, spoke about the recent announcements at Corus and the difficult economic year that the Tees Valley and the North-East have been through. While it was reported that some businesses have seen a recovery, there is still some way to go.
Guest speaker at the meeting was Professor Graham Henderson, vice-chancellor of Teesside University, who gave a passionate speech about the university and its achievements to date, which included winning The Times’ University of the Year award last year.
As the first modern university to achieve such an award, it is testament to its outward approach and commitment to working with the business community.
The university has undergone a transformation, with student numbers of 9,000 a year in the early Nineties to 29,000 today. The university has taken an innovative approach to education. The formation of the Foundation in Leadership and Management, devised with the NECC, was launched three years ago and was the first of its kind in the North- East.
Prof Henderson also spoke of the university’s investment in buildings, spending £15m last year in the development of new sites – only one of the ways that the university has demonstrated its commitment to the area.
Following the meeting, NECC members stayed to listen to Ian Williams, of regional development agency One North East, who spoke exclusively to members on the Tees Valley Industrial Programme about measures that have been put in place following the announcement of the mothballing of the Teesside Cast Product plant last month.
The Industrial Programme, which has secured £60m to support the Tees Valley economy and to accelerate investment, particularly in the green and low carbon industries, was well received and highlighted new opportunities for the area.
■ Joanne Fryett is NECC head of member relations.
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