SPECIALIST equipment is helping blind, partially-sighted and dyslexic university students with their work.

Durham University has been given a £17,150 grant by the Northern Rock Foundation to equip special study rooms in the city and at Stockton.

The rooms now have computer work stations with software which can convert text into synthesised speech, and magnify text.

The equipment enables dyslexic students to turn text and backgrounds into their preferred colours for easier reading. Books and documents can also be read via a video camera reader.

Dr Margaret Collins, special advisor to the Durham University Service for Students with Disabilities, said: "The help of the Northern Rock Foundation is tremendously valuable. It enables students to make better use of items in the library, or the Internet, in an environment that is more suited to their particular study needs.''

About 450 undergraduates and postgraduates at the two campuses are helped by the Durham University Service for Students with Disabilities.

l A recent report by the Royal National Institute for the Blind revealed that many blind and partially-sighted school pupils do not have the specialist materials and equipment they need