Confirmed: Northerners officially still in nappies

Geordie freshers are struggling to fit in at uni because they miss their teddy bears.

A study of student habits found first years from the North-East are the most likely to long for their cuddly toys in the UK.

And the stats also revealed kids from the East Midlands (Leicester, Derby, Nottingham) are the most likely to get homesick.

The news appears to confirm the long-standing prejudice that students from north of the Watford Gap are wetter than southerners.

A third of respondents to the survey – carried out by Modern Rugs – admitted they they missed their mum’s cooking more than anything else while 16 per cent miss their parents while at uni.

But people from Yorkshire are the laziest. They yearn for the luxury of a dishwasher and had the highest percentage of students that hate washing up.

Students normally feel some pangs of anxiety before they start their lives at uni but this year’s freshers are more concerned over which wacky inflatable to bring to impress their new pals.

The survey, conducted by online retailer Modern Rugs, asked 1000 students what the weirdest items were that they had taken up to uni for their freshers’ weeks. 

Bizarrely, 10 per cent of respondents said that they had taken blow-up paraphernalia up to their new unis.

Around six per cent said they had brought their pet reptiles to cope with the difficulties that lay ahead. And four per cent of those questioned said that they brought hammocks to string up in their new halls of residence.

More outlandish items included unicycles, disco lights and air horns and some even brought cut out posters of Princess Di.

Students were also quizzed about what the most useless items brought to uni were, with vacuum cleaners and irons named as the two most unused items brought by students.

This does little to dispel the myth that students aren’t the most turned out demographic out there.

Ben Dale, the sympathetic-bordering-on-patronising CEO and founder of Modern Rugs, said: “It can be hard to adjust to university life as a fresher. Most accommodation is small and sparsely furnished, and homesickness can easily kick in.

“To combat these pangs for parents or friends left behind, it is important to make your student accommodation feel homely – whether that be via a poster of Princess Di or a hammock.”

Check out the map to see how lame students are in your area.