The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has announced that five universities in the region will receive funding through a new enterprise scheme.

According to the NWDA, its Enterprise Champions funding will help to develop graduates and encourage them to be more enterprising entrepreneurs.

In total, £930,000 worth of funding has been approved for the venture in order to help guide graduates and provide them with more business opportunities.

"This exciting project will support fresh ideas at an early stage and encourage our graduates to take their entrepreneurial plans forward to profit making businesses," Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the NWDA commented.

Institutions included in the scheme have been confirmed as the University of Liverpool, University of Salford, University of Cumbria, Manchester Metropolitan University and Liverpool John Moores University.

The project is delivered by the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, which recently launched the China-UK Entrepreneurship Educators Network.

This is a collaborative venture with Shanghai Technology Entrepreneurship Foundation for Graduates and the Shanghai Institute for Foreign Trade, aiming to influence student and graduate entrepreneurship by improved collaboration between Chinese and UK institutions.