LOCAL MP Jesse Norman spoke at the first graduation ceremony of New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering in Hereford, at which students from Ross-on-Wye were also donning their cap and gowns.

Mr Norman said: “Historically Hereford had particular expertise in applied mathematics. By the early 13th century, Hereford was becoming a centre for the applied sciences.

“It had expertise in the use of instruments such as the abacus and astrolabe, and in computational methods such as those used to determine astronomical tables.

“A scholar known as Roger of Hereford even composed a set of astronomical tables in 1178 a meridian placed in Hereford.

“And the world’s navigation could have been tied today not to the Greenwich meridian, but the Hereford meridian. But then, nothing. This great scholarly tradition died out.

“In Herefordshire, there was nothing for more than 800 years. Think of all that talent unrealised, that lost opportunity, that gigantic human and economic potential squandered.

“And even today, in 2025, that same deep unfairness persists. Across the UK, 50 per cent of school leavers go to university. In Herefordshire, it’s just 18 per cent. “Until now. Our mission at New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering is to change all this. We want to create phenomenal opportunities for young people from here and elsewhere.

“But not only that, we want to change the nature of university education itself, to make it far more ambitious and effective.

What does that mean? It’s time to reinvent not just what students learn, but how they learn. To tie theory and practice together in real-world challenges.

“To forge professionals through immersion, intensity, and purpose. To build the right habits and prepare them not only for the world of work, but for a world in which work itself is constantly changing, and who are deeply aware of the power and responsibility that comes with being an engineer.”