A PROFESSOR who heads up Teesside University’s business and enterprise agenda has been awarded and OBE in recognition of her services to business engagement.

Professor Jane Turner, who joined the University in November 2015, will be invited to Buckingham Palace to officially receive her OBE later in the year.

She is responsible for enterprise, knowledge transfer and business engagement as well as leading on student and graduate start-ups, strategic partnerships and the employability agenda.

“I am absolutely delighted to be honoured in this way," she said. "It is a testament of all the hard work and dedication of my colleagues at Teesside University who have shown a commitment and desire to embed our business engagement agenda.

“Working with businesses and providing our talented students and graduates with the skills, knowledge and confidence to become the business leaders of the future is something I am extremely passionate about.”

Under her stewardship, Teesside is the only institution in the North East of England to have been commended by the Higher Education Funding Council for England for its Knowledge Exchange strategy.

She has also helped to embed a string of ground-breaking new home building courses in partnership with renowned architect George Clarke and is driving forward plans for the £22m National Horizons Centre, scheduled to open in Darlington in 2019.