THE University of Teesside will be handed an extra £2.8m for the next academic year.

The money will mainly pay for an extra 684 student places on its foundation degrees.

The university has pioneered the new vocational two-year full-time and three-year part-time foundation degrees with courses ranging from police training and education, chemical technology and health-related programmes of study.

The provisional settlement also includes a grant of £4.7m to support widening participation and student retention - up by £800,000 on last year.

In total, the university will receive £41.9m.