A CONSORTIUM of North-East universities is stepping up its efforts to increase the number of people going into higher education, with the appointment of its first executive director.

Helen Pickering, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Teesside, joins the Universities for the North East next month.

Her job will be to enhance university collaboration in support of regional business and extend access to higher education.

Consortium chairman and University of Sunderland vice-chancellor Professor Peter Fidler said: "Education Secretary Charles Clarke recently described Universities for the North East as being in the vanguard of regional collaboration in higher education.

"Helen Pickering has played a leading part in that collaboration and I know that all of the regional universities look forward to working with her in this new and important role."

She will help expand existing initiatives, including projects to promote knowledge transfer from universities to business, and increase access to higher education.

Ms Pickering said: "The Government has set us the challenge of building stronger partnerships regionally.

"Here in the North-East, we are already well advanced in such collaboration and I am immensely pleased to be able to play a key role in the next stage of those developments."