DURHAM University is aiming to have 4,000 more students as part of plans to make every department world class over the next ten years.

Since he took over as vice chancellor last September, Stuart Corbridge has spent much of his time developing a new strategy for the university, taking it up to 2027.

Over the next ten years, the university is expected to expand from its current 17,500 students by about 4,000.

It will also see investment in its building on the science site off South Road and at its lecture theatres in New Elvet, as well as building new colleges to the south of the city, including at Mount Oswald's, to accommodate more students.

Professor Corbridge said: "In Durham some of the concerns around students have been around housing. We are going to be building our own colleges at the south of the city.

"We are committed to having a higher percentage of students in Durham University accommodation in ten years time than we do now, even with this growth."

Meanwhile the campus at Stockton is due to be “repurposed” into a privately run foundation college aimed at international students, with the medical school transferred to Newcastle and the 1,700 other students moved to Durham.

Prof Corbridge said: “We are a great university. I would say the great university of the North of England.

"In ten years time we want all of our academic departments to be world class. We’re not saying we want everyone to be on a level with Princeton but top eight in the Russell Group.

“That will mean investing, in particular bringing in outstanding members of staff, upgrading facilities, not least in the sciences and going into town and New Elvet.”

The university is due to start consulting on an estate master plan in October.

“A lot of our building stock is from the 1960s is not in very good condition,” said Prof Corbridge. “A lot of it is classed as category C and we have a higher percentage of category C buildings than most Russell Group universities.

"The department of education at Hild Bede needs a lot of work, so does Elvet Riverside. It's very ugly. We can clearly do better."

Following the EU referendum result in June he is now calling for the Government to provide clarity on what the future holds.

He said: “I think universities are at their best when they are borderless entities and we recruit the best talent from around the world. I would lean very strongly towards ‘soft’ Brexit.

“The difficulty with our business plans is the uncertainty. What we want is some signalling to come out of the government about where we are heading.

“It’s very difficult for us to make firm plans about the future until we know where we are in terms of what Brexit means and what the visa regime will be. Some clarity would be helpful.”