A UNIVERSITY has opened a centre providing a town with its first such facility.

Yesterday, the chancellor of Teesside University, Lord Sawyer, opened Darlington College's £2m University Centre.

The project is the first of a network of higher education centres across the Tees Valley, and is the culmination of six years of planning between the university and college.

The site provides a number of courses, including professional management and business, education, journalism and digital media, engineering, construction management, early years, and access to health.

Further courses planned for September will include foundation degrees in outdoor education and leisure and tourism, IT networking, working with young people and young people's services, and a degree in hospitality management.

College chief executive Sarah Robinson said: "Young people and adults in Darlington now have a university right on their doorstep."

Unveiling a plaque, Lord Sawyer, who is from the town and a former Darlington College student, said: "If you had said to me in the 1970s that we would have not only this amazing new college in my home town, but also with a University Centre in the heart of it, I would not have believed you.

"Darlington College, in its fantastic partnership with the University of Teesside, can face the future with huge confidence."