A MEMBER of the European Parliament has praised the work being done at Teesside University’s Darlington campus to promote and develop business.

North-East Labour MEP Jude Kirton-Darling visited the campus on Thursday, to learn about how the University has created a national business hub at the £13m venue.

The university works with hundreds of businesses, from small scale to multinational blue-chip companies, and won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for excellence at a world class level in the field of enterprise and business engagement.

Following her visit to the campus this week, Ms Kirton-Darling said: “Skills development plays such an important role in the North-East.

“Today we have a real problem with significant skills gaps which could potentially undermine our regional economy.

“Teesside University, by linking with further education colleges and business and industry to build the workforce, is playing a crucial part in helping to grow employment and also protect jobs here in the North-East.

“It’s great to see what I as an MEP can do to help.”

Deputy vice-chancellor (research and business engagement) Professor Cliff Hardcastle said: “We were delighted to welcome Jude Kirton-Darling to our Darlington campus.

“At Teesside it is our aim to be the country’s leading University for working with business.

“This was a great opportunity to showcase the work that we are doing with business and we hope that Jude will feed back our success to her colleagues in Brussels.”