Teesside University 2015, the university acquired Teesside Central, adding 75 en-suite apartments to its accommodation portfolio. This accommodation is known as Central Halls. Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, or mima, is a contemporary art gallery in the centre of Middlesbrough. It is run in partnership with Teesside University. Teesside University has won seven National Teaching Fellowships. The Vice-Chancellor is Professor Paul Croney, who took up the position in May 2015 when Professor Graham Henderson retired. In April 2005, the University welcomed Lord Sawyer as its Chancellor, succeeding the University's first ever Chancellor, European Commissioner Leon Brittan. Teesside University's research is focused on
Durham University Middle Eastern Studies, the Department of Physics and the Wolfson Research Institute. In 1991, a joint venture between the university and the University of Teesside saw the Joint University College on Teesside of the Universities of Durham and Teesside (JUCOT) established at Thornaby-on-Tees in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, to the south of Durham. It opened under the name of University College Stockton (UCS) in 1992. UCS was initially intended to grant joint degrees validated by both institutions (BAs and BScs). However, Teesside, which had only become a university in 1992, had difficulties in