A NEW international study centre is a "great boost" for the Stockton area, the council's leader has said.

The ISC, based at Durham University's Queen's campus in Thornaby and managed by private education provider Study Group, will welcome students from around the world when it opens in September.

Students attending the ISC, near Stockton town centre, will be in the area year-round.

And council leader Bob Cook said: “The Durham University name carries enormous worldwide prestige and while the arrival of international students will raise the borough’s profile overseas, it will be a great boost for Stockton town centre too.

“I’m sure it will be welcomed by town centre businesses offering places to shop, eat, drink, and have fun, as well as the developers planning to convert the former Swallow Hotel into purpose-built student accommodation.

“The ISC’s global focus makes it a perfect fit with our own ambitions for the town centre too, with the growing number of students, staff and visitors it will bring reinforcing the need for a quality town centre hotel like the Hilton one we’re investing in."

Professor Antony Long, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, added: “Durham University is fully committed to Queen’s Campus and to delivering high quality education at Stockton-on-Tees and Teesside. The ISC will bring many hundreds of students from around the world to Stockton each year and we look forward to welcoming the first to Queen’s Campus in September.”

There were fears the numbers of students on-site would fall to just 200 this year after that figure was announced as the starting point for the ISC, but it has since emerged that the other students on campus will boost that figure to 1,700, and the ISC students will grow in number as the scheme develops.