Universities welcome funding for facility upgrades

The Office for Students allocated £2.5m to the University of Brighton

Universities in Sussex have welcomed government funding to redevelop teaching facilities.

The Office for Students (OfS) said on Tuesday it would distribute £88.5m to 60 universities and colleges in England.

The higher education regulator allocated £2.5m for University of Brighton to refurbish 16 teaching rooms and £300,000 for University of Chichester to convert offices into digital pathology labs.

The University of Brighton said the funds were "a big win", while University of Chichester said its labs represented "a major step forward in how we prepare our students for the future of biomedical science".

Successful bidders had to demonstrate how they would help the government's industrial strategy or meet the needs of local employers, according to the OfS.

Director of estates Steve Porcher said the University of Brighton would "make targeted improvements" to Moulsecoomb and Falmer teaching spaces "that support the skills the region needs most, from digital innovation to creative industries".

Meanwhile, the University of Chichester said its laboratories would include a cell culture lab and a tissue imaging lab for use in new biomedical science and digital pathology courses.

Executive dean Prof Mike Lauder said the funds were "ensuring our students are ready to meet real-world challenges".

OfS director of resources and finance, Nolan Smith, said the projects would "make a tangible difference to current and future students".