The exhibition features the work of 350 students graduating from 14 BA (Hons) courses - including fine art, photography, ceramics, graphics and glass.

Many of the students will go on to show their work at the prestigious New Designers exhibition which starts in London next week. Commenting on the exhibition at the University, Mr Farrelly said:

It is a real showcase for talent and design that we should be proud of. More than that, it shows Staffordshire University really is a university for industry. Following the decline of our traditional industry, Staffordshire University students really are showing the way in modern design and technology, especially in ceramics. We need to regenerate our area and industry. Education and this type of training really is the future. We've also been calling for a government department to be relocated to North Staffordshire. What Staffordshire University's efforts show is that we have the education, talent and ambitions to match any demands the government places upon us.

Paul Farrelly MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme

Stoke a 'sleeping beauty'

And Mr Farrelly isn't the only one looking to create a brighter future. Taking issue with claims that Stoke-on-Trent is the worst place in the country to live, fine art student Brian Landy produced his own film.

Brian, a former mechanic from Crewe, filmed his daily commute to the University - an experience which leads him to conclude that Stoke-on-Trent is a 'sleeping beauty'. Brian, 28, said:

My work deals with perception. I have tried to romanticise Stoke-on-Trent the way Atget and Brassai* romanticised Paris, transforming its perception to that of an inviting city.

Brian Landy Fine Art Graduate * Eugene Atget (1856 - 1927) an art photographer who spent thirty years photographing Paris. Gyula Halasz Brassai (1899 - 1984) is the photographer whose pictures form the basis upon which many non-Parisians ideas about Paris are formed.