At Durham we firmly believe that everyone should have fair and equal access to education and skills training. Our Vice-Chancellor Professor Karen O'Brien explores what we're doing to break down the barriers that can prevent people from progressing into further education and employment.
We're committed to working with local partners to help people achieve their full potential.
We recently formalised the Durham Learning Alliance partnership between the University and four County Durham colleges: New College Durham, East Durham College, Derwentside College and Bishop Auckland College.
Over the last couple of years, we've successfully worked together in areas such as expanding employment and apprenticeship opportunities, piloting T-level placements and improving progression routes for post-16 education in the North East.
The recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has now formalised this partnership and we're looking forward to seeing what more we can achieve together for the benefit of North East residents.
Our ongoing work to make further education open to all has also been recognised in an independent report published by The Purpose Coalition.
The Purpose Coalition is chaired by the Rt Hon Justine Greening, the UK's former Secretary of State for Education.
It helps organisations share best practice and enhance the positive role they can play in their local communities.
The resulting Breaking Down Barriers report highlighted the many positive ways we contribute to the North East region, socially, economically and culturally.
It praised our successful partnerships with organisations across County Durham such as our local NHS Trust and police force.
These partnerships demonstrate our firm commitment to the North East region and our willingness to work with others for the benefit of our communities.
The report acknowledges that our region has persistently low higher education participation rates and we want to play our part in changing that.
There is no 'quick fix' to remove complex barriers to opportunity, but we are steadfastly committed to working with community partners to improve life chances, raise aspirations and promote prosperity in our region.
