NMiTE is the first in a wave of new higher education 'challenger' institutions, intended to give students better choices, bring fresh approaches to teaching, and address Britain's 22,000 shortfall of engineering graduates with a curriculum that combines the best innovations from leading universities around the world.

Universities minister Sam Gyimah said: “Innovation must remain the driving force behind our higher education system; at the heart of the sector should be the desire to cultivate and explore ground-breaking opportunities for graduates, developing the skills our country needs. NMiTE embodies this by engaging employers, experts and academics to develop courses and opportunities that are right for students, and for the engineering sector.

“It is my aspiration that opportunities like these are widespread, and that all students with the talent, whatever their background and wherever they are from, are able to access high quality, pioneering higher education. I hope to see many more such new providers looking for ways to increase the diversity of our higher education system, delivering for the needs of our future.”

Dame Fiona Kendrick, chair of the Board of Trustees overseeing NMiTE’s creation (and also chairman of Nestlé UK & Ireland and deputy chairman of The Institute for Apprentices) said: “Britain desperately needs to boost productivity, technical skills and graduate employability. This pathfinding project, driven by employers, is contributing a potential solution to these challenges.  

“NMiTE aims to be a centre for innovative engineering education that broadens participation, especially for women. Valuing engineering and social science equally, NMiTE will deliver life-long learning from apprentice through to postgraduate.

“What NMiTE offers to employers is competitive advantage in a market where success is constrained by limited availability of talent.”

NMiTE is expected to open the doors to its purpose-built, Hereford city-centre campus in September 2019. With a focus on learning by doing, it intends to be educating more than 5,000 engineering students by 2032.