THE county’s New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering has been selected as one of 24 universities and colleges across England to receive new Government investment to boost student places and strengthen the UK defence industry, writes Lottie Boyland.

The technology and engineering university is a hands-on higher educational institution that aims to adapt technical education for the 21st century, will receive a share of an £80 million national package which the government says will help universities and colleges expand places and improve facilities for courses vital to national security, including defence-focused engineering and computing.

The university aims to create almost 2,500 new places over five years for prospective students based in Ross-On-Wye and beyond, as well as supporting new facilities in high demand subject areas including engineering, computer science, cyber security, robotics, autonomous technology, aerospace engineering, and advanced manufacturing.

South Herefordshire MP and co-founder of New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering, Jesse Norman, said: “This is fantastic news for the university and for Herefordshire.

“We have been building NMITE to do exactly this: to give young people not just brilliant engineering degrees but the practical, high-level skills they need to work closely with employers, and to help meet some of the biggest national challenges of our time.”

The Government investment comes after the university’s recent chartered accreditation by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, signifying that the university has a ‘distinctive hands-on model of higher education,’ Mr Norman suggests.

The funding recognises the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering alongside major universities across the country for the first time in its history.

The increase in student spaces that this investment will allow further establishes Herefordshire as a centre for advanced technology and strengthens student pathways into high quality defence and engineering careers, brightening prospects for young people in Ross and across the county.