NMITE

NMITE is designed to turn traditional STEM higher education on its head, enhancing lives through education and opportunity. Dropping traditional lectures and exams, making way for improved methods of learning in hands-on studios working in teams, on real-world challenges, set in collaboration with actual employers. NMITE is opening up higher education and social mobility opportunities, working towards solving the global shortage of engineers.

The NMITE difference

New models of STEM education are being established across the globe that are drawing in a wider range of students. These new models offer common characteristics, which are central to NMITE allowing all young people to flourish:

• Problem solving is at the core of our curriculum, creating opportunities for students to tackle real-world problems to enhance their ability to apply what they learn quickly and productively.
• We take an innovative approach to education delivery, creating new models of learning, expecting our students to learn by doing, adding context, making experiential learning a central part of their education programs rather than the traditional ’sit and listen’ style.
• The facilitation of multi-disciplinary study, recognising that 21st century problems cannot be solved within the boundaries of single disciplines.
• Partnering significantly with businesses and industry to integrate the evolving needs of employers into the fabric of our programme. Real-world challenges, set by real employers are at the core of each learning module.
• Accelerating graduation by removing the long summer break. This means an MEng in three years rather than four, a BEng in 2 years and two months.
• Removing the standard requirement of A Level mathematics and physics, a clear barrier to increasing diversity in the engineering profession. NMITE’s admission process identifies students who achieve maths at GCSE together with the aptitude and determination to develop their skills once they enrol. This gives many more people from diverse backgrounds an entry point into engineering as a career, while maintaining academic rigour.
• NMITE recruits its students based on their personal strengths and potential, not their traditional exam results. This opens a new route to degree level education and a path to professional success and economic security for groups normally excluded from universities and the engineering professions.

By nurturing a culture centered on co-creation, daring experimentation, and collaborative efforts, NMITE is pushing the boundaries of what's achievable in engineering education and beyond.

Progress to date

The tangible outcomes of this approach are evident: top academic accolades from the UK’s Higher Education quality assurance assessors, partnerships with major UK companies and a growing student body including many learners for whom traditional universities are not an option. NMITE is creating new opportunities for a region left behind by the traditional university sector. This pioneering university exemplifies a replicable model aimed at challenging the status quo, ensuring equitable access to higher education, providing high-quality teaching, and fostering promising employment prospects.