SARAH Farley has a vision. She becomes very animated when talking about her dream of enrolling more than 1,000 students on degree courses at Darlington College of Technology.

Ms Farley, the college's principal, said she wanted to bring higher education on to the doorstep of people in Darlington, so that it can be accessed by everyone.

In partnership with the University of Teesside and Darlington's Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, that is exactly what she aims to do in two years' time.

When the college's £33m Haughton Road site opens, in September 2006, it will include a university centre, offering a variety of vocational degrees.

Although the technology college already offers degree courses to students, the centre will be Darlington's first dedicated higher education institution and Ms Farley believes the benefits to the town will be manifold.

She said: "I think it is really important for the growth of the town and to support the local economy that there is access to higher education on people's doorstep.

"There are still many, many families who have not experienced higher education. The thought of going to university is still seen as 'not for them'. I want to make university education part of the norm for the majority and not the minority."

The centre will initially offer about 20 foundation degrees - vocational qualifications in a range of subjects from journalism and computing to engineering and hospitality management - in a setting with university-standard facilities.

There will be full-time and part-time courses, opportunities to study in the workplace, professional and management qualifications and higher education certificates, which make up parts of a degree.

The aim is to enrol about 1,000 students initially, but there are plans to increase that number.

Staff from all three institutions will run the courses and all the degrees will be validated by the University of Teesside.

For the university's vice- chancellor, Professor Graham Henderson, the centre offers the chance to tap into a potentially massive student base in Darlington, south-west Durham and parts of North Yorkshire.

Last year, the university enrolled nearly 11,000 students from the Tees Valley, but less than 800 of those came from Darlington.

By contrast, it is estimated that 13 per cent of people aged 17 to 24 in the Tees Valley live in Darlington.

"Our view is that people from Darlington will not come to Middlesbrough to do higher education," said Prof Henderson.

"Therefore, if we want to encourage people from Darlington into higher education, we need to take it to them.

"We are hoping to provide a complete set of courses that will allow students to stay in Darlington."

Ms Farley believes the chance for people to have a "seamless education" within their home town, from primary school to university, will be the centre's main pulling power.

"We have a tradition in offering higher education but this takes it a step further," she said.

"It's about widening participation. The university centre on the campus will be a focus for the town and will engage the wider community in learning.