World class universities
The North East is well served by five higher education institutions including two Russell Group universities – Durham University and Newcastle University – which attract students from all over the world.
The region is also home to the newer universities of Northumbria University in Newcastle, the University of Sunderland and Teesside University in Middlesbrough.
5
higher education institutions
2
Russell Group universities
100k
STEM students
Durham is the third oldest university in England and one of the best research universities in the world, attracting more than 20,000 students.
Durham has ten research institutes and several research centres that focus on specialist areas including the history of medicine and disease, molecular and nanoscale electronics, materials physics, innovation and technology management, and digital theology.
Newcastle University is a frontrunner in research excellence and a founding member of the prestigious Russell Group. With more than 29,000 students, the university offers in excess of 200 undergraduate and 300 postgraduate degrees.
The university’s main research strengths lie in the following areas: ageing and health, cities and place, culture and creative arts, one planet and data. The organisation also has nine world-class research institutes spanning subjects from biosciences to sustainability.
With around 26,000 students from more than 140 countries, Northumbria University is one of the UK’s largest universities and offers courses in most major subject areas, including engineering, computing, sciences, business, law and the built and natural environment. Northumbria is also the only business school in Europe with double recognition for accounting and business from AACSB.
With more than 95% of its graduates in work or education, Northumbria is among the most successful universities in the country for graduate employment.
Teesside University has more than 20,000 students enrolled on its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and recently invested in excess of £275 million in its town centre campus. This has enabled the organisation to build on its strong research capabilities in areas such as digital innovation, sport and health sciences. It plans to invest an additional £300 million in its facilities by 2026.
The University of Sunderland has 20,000 students at four campuses: two in Sunderland, one in London – which is used for teaching business, tourism and nursing degrees – and a new development in Hong Kong. The university has strong research capabilities in health, sciences, education, advanced manufacturing, software and the creative industries.
Some of the businesses we've helped
Inspiral Cycles’
“Business support helps you step back and look at the bigger picture. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day tasks, but having someone from outside the business to discuss ideas with, to push us forward, has been crucial.”
Fiona Ewing
Founder
Finance Durham
The benefit of speaking to Maven about the Finance Durham fund is the flexibility of the fund on offer, which means we can invest from a small amount up to several millions via equity or debt.
Michael Vassallo
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Power Roll
Maven helped us in terms of facilities by introductions into Business Durham, and also the funding opportunities here in County Durham, which really did help pull a package of measures together, which made the premises we're in today, Jade Business Park, that compelling proposition.
Neil Spann
CEO
TinkleGuard
For anyone looking to develop their business idea, DCI provides the resources and community to make that journey less daunting and more successful.
Angela Davidson
Founder
Empowerment Learning Ltd
The DCI programme has been fantastic. The personal support, mentoring, and different perspectives from the cohort have validated my belief that what I'm doing is correct and has a real impact.
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Reign Accounting Ltd
The support and friendships I've developed through DCI have been invaluable. Learning from other start-ups and having a community to lean on has made a significant difference in my entrepreneurial journey
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AImploy
The DCI program has been instrumental in our journey. The networking opportunities and support from DCI contributors have been invaluable in shaping AImploy into the company it is today.
Arjun Cheruvally
Co-founder
Marmax Products
We have been delighted with the support that Business Durham and their partners have provided our company and with additional funding, we hope to further develop our working practices to safeguard our existing business and expand our capabilities to meet new customer demands and expectations.
Dave Johnson
Managing Director
Redditch Medical
NETPark is a fantastic place to do business in terms of facilities, potential for growth and for collaboration.
Steve Brown
Managing Director
Tekgem
The facilities and ancillary business services here are second to none and the campus feel of the science park suits the culture within the company.
Ian Gemski
Director
SEEDS
The ecosystem in NETPark is just right for us; SEEDS first came here because of its partnership work with the CPI and now our vision is to have a busy lab facility developing various applications and licensing them out to companies.
Peter Chalder-Wood
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Magnitude Biosciences
We expect to more than double the team in Sedgefield to 45 over the next two to three years, with a larger commercial team allowing us to expand our global footprint.
Dr Fozia Saleem
CEO
Teescraft Engineering
Teescraft Engineering has been a major employer in County Durham for a number of years and I’m delighted that, with grant support through the County Durham Growth Fund, the company is embarking on ambitious plans to significantly expand.
Hazel Sykes
Business Durham
ATT Fabrications
We knew we had the space to add new machines which would not only improve productivity and efficiency but also allow us to add new products and processes, the County Durham Growth Fund helped this happen.
Andrew Devlin
ATT Fabrications
AAA Caring Caretaker
The Caring Caretaker is a company that’s grown from one to a team of 41 and is now, with grant support from the County Durham Growth Fund, in the process of taking its business journey to the next stage, moving to much larger premises and creating a further 10 jobs, cementing its long-term future here in County Durham.
Sarah Slaven
Managing Director, Business Durham
Renovo Solutions
We’ve been incredibly lucky to have secured financial investment from Business Durham which really has been crucial to the growth of the business and fast-tracked our plans in such a short space of time.
Antony Gray
Founder
Ashgarth Engineering
The grant we’ve received from the County Durham Growth Fund has been invaluable to us as without it we probably would have only been able to purchase one machine.
Niall Ash
Director
TO Mounter
We were looking at investing in new machinery which would enable us to expand our client base, and our accountant mentioned the County Durham Growth Fund to us.
Lisa Mounter
General Manager
Creator
Investing in this additional space means we now own our future – we’re not in anyone else’s hands and that’s a fantastic position to be in.
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