A university company is celebrating 20 years working with the biggest names in information technology.

University of Sunderland spin-off company MTC has been providing IT training for companies such as Microsoft since 1984. It is the only accredited IT training centre in the region to have been operating for two decades.

MTC has a large client base, ranging from small independent traders to multi nationals.

Its reputation has grown to such an extent during the past 20 years that it has trained clients from Iceland, Dubai, Kuwait, Scandinavia, France and Germany from its centre in Sunderland.

MTC began by offering clients training in applications such as word processing, databases and spreadsheets. But bosses spotted a niche market in accredited IT technical training.

MTC is now authorised to provide technical training for major IT companies, including Citrix, Red Hat Linux and Novell.

Marketing manager Paul Kitching said: "The reason MTC has secured this top position in the region over the past 20 years is its ability to tailor packages to suit company needs.

"We train absolute beginners through to IT specialists."