Hereford-based start-up university NMITE (New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering) has received validation by The Open University (OU), and so is able to invite applications to fill 50 places in its ‘pioneer cohort’, which should produce its first MEng ‘integrated engineering’ degree graduates in three years’ time.

NMITE university invites applications for its pioneer cohort
“The Open University is delighted to join forces with NMITE to help educate the engineers of the future with this new and innovative pathway,” said OU deputy vice-chancellor Professor Josie Fraser. “The OU collaborates with over 40 partners in the UK and abroad, and validates nearly 400 programmes across a number of different levels and subject areas.”
The pioneer cohort will join in March 2021, and the organisation’s long-term goal is to educate more than 5,000 engineering students.
“Successful applicants will have their academic fees and accommodation costs covered in full for their first year thanks to a host of pioneer funders who, with other partners,” according to NMITE.

To attract students from a variety of backgrounds and at differing life stages, NMITE will consider every application individually, it said, and irrespective of the path they have travelled to get where they are today.
It is looking for entrepreneurial and socially-minded individuals who want to change the world for the better. As part of the admissions process, NMITE will be evaluating a person’s attitude, mindset and passion for engineering alongside their qualifications.
A-levels in maths and physics are not required as they are included in the university’s program.
According to NMITE, it exists to address the UK’s shortage of work-ready graduate engineers and will focus on an integrated engineering programme to train people to tackle global challenges such as sustainable food production, access to safe water and clean energy – which do not fall neatly into traditional mechanical, electrical or materials engineering boxes.
Learning-by-doing, is its ethos, with regular real-life projects and no lectures or traditional exams. Its teaching of theory and practice will integrates engineering and science with liberal arts in a series of ‘sprints’ and challenges, set by potential future employers.
During sprints (lasting three and half weeks) learners will study five main themes of engineering: integrated systems; electrical and electronic engineering; flow, heat and energy; materials and processes; and statics and dynamics. Sprints will incorporate tutorials, seminars, supervised practical work in engineering studio settings, direct work with NMITE employer partners, independent learning and reflection time.
‘Toolboxes’ will equip learners with all the skills such as: drawing, team-working, communication, certainty, management, business, creativity and design.
Working in small teams, similar to a workplace, students will integrate their toolbox and engineering sprint skills, as well as practical skills and perspectives from liberal arts, to work on community-based challenges with local and national organisations at major points throughout the course.
With no traditional exams, assessments have been designed to “be as reflective of real workplace scenarios as possible taking the form of in-studio quizzes, presentations and debates, display of artefacts students have created, industrial reports, development of specifications, test reports and project plans, creative media presentations, journal papers and white papers, as well as individual question and answer sessions.