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Taking the lead through tough times

A North East University is dedicating itself to helping the region beat the economic downturn.

The University of Teesside’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Henderson, has been invited to speak at events across the country about what the university can do to help the region through the recession.

The University’s measures to help businesses include halving invoice turnaround time to help suppliers with their cash-flow, running future management master classes to help companies cope with the recession and offering bursaries to post-graduates and those new to higher education.

Professor Henderson said: “We’re accelerating some of our planned activities to give a further boost to the local community, such as having a second campus base in Darlington. We’re looking for temporary accommodation to start a range of courses this coming autumn and not waiting until we have a new purpose-built development. We believe there’s a lot the region can do to pull together to beat the recession.”

Margaret Fay, One North East Chairman, said: “The region’s businesses are the lifeblood of the economy and it is crucial that we act now to provide real help to support them through the downturn and see them emerge stronger on the other side. This campaign is an example of how public organisations, private businesses and academia can work collectively to support the North East during the recession. This is a practical approach that Teesside University is taking to help during these challenging times and it is very much welcome.”

The three conferences Professor Henderson has been asked to speak at are The Marketing and Communication Challenges of Engaging with Business in London, the annual conference of the British Universities Finance Directors Group in Leeds, and the Times Higher Education magazine’s ‘Employer Engagement: How far should universities go to meet the needs of employers?’, in London.

The University of Teesside’s suggestions for how businesses can ride out the recession can be found at www.tees.ac.uk/businesshelp.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .