NMITE adds fast-track BEng Integrated Enginering degree to expand offering for prospective students
25 May 2022
Newly launched higher education institution for innovative engineering education, NMITE, which last year (September 2021) welcomed its first students onto its MEng Integrated Engineering course, has confirmed it will now also offer a Bachelor’s degree. From September 2022, NMITE will accept entries for its fast-track BEng programme, described as the “natural partner” to its existing MEng qualification.
The BEng (Hons) will have all the benefits of the MEng delivery in terms of the NMITE style and philosophy, centred around teams-based, multi-disciplinary, practical hands-on learning and problem-solving, running Monday–Friday, 9–5 across 46 weeks of the year. The BEng duration is confirmed as 26 months (September 2022 students will graduate in November 2024), so can be completed in just over two years, rather than the traditional three. Fees for the duration of the first BEng intake are £7,200 per annum.
Commenting on the news, Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, President & Chief Executive of NMITE said: “We had always planned to be a multi-course provider with a selection of pathways available. One advantage of being a new, nimble organisation is we can implement quickly, and we have taken this decision based on feedback from our existing cohorts and potential learners. We’re excited to be able to deliver on our ambition.”
Unlike the MEng, which will accept another intake in January 2023, the BEng will be available to UK students with intakes each September (from 2022 onwards). As with the MEng, students will not be required to have A level Physics or Maths, as these subjects will be taught as part of the course. Students will require 112 UCAS points, with GCSE Maths and English Grade 6 or above, so lower entry requirements than the MEng, but with the same emphasis on finding applicants with individuality coupled with passion, grit, determination, creativity and curiosity.?
Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon adds: “We are extremely confident of what we are already delivering, and it makes sense to make this great offer available to a bigger range of people. This move gives our cohorts more choice and more accessibility and we will also keep open options for switching between postgraduate and undergraduate courses. We recognise that some will prefer a two-year commitment, and some will have the ambition for three years.”
Abu-Huraira Ishfaq, who studied Psychology, Geography and English Language & Literature at A-Level in Peterborough, is one of the original September 2021 cohort. Commenting on his NMITE experience so far, he said “As an NMITE student, I have had to evolve my learning abilities from predominantly essay writing to include mathematical calculations – a challenge, but one I am enjoying.?My favourite experience has been the trip to JCB, an opportunity to learn the history of a large engineering company and how it has structured itself for global success.?I'm ready to make a change to the world we live in.”
ETL Systems, a world-leading manufacturer of satellites and RF products is one of NMITE’s partners and were the main challenge partner for NMITE’s Integrated Systems module. As part of this challenge, students needed to?develop a model which allowed the user to predict whether a satellite communications link would work. Simon Swift, Engineering Manager from ETL Systems said: “As a partner we have been impressed by the students we have encountered so far, and their rounded skillset gives them a highly useful systemwide appreciation of product engineering. We are delighted to have supported NMITE since the start of their journey and we are very excited about the introduction of the BEng.”
NMITE’s teaching, or more accurately learning to be an engineer, concentrates on the core engineering concepts and content as well as ethics and sustainability delivered through a series of Sprints, while NMITE’s Toolboxes equip learners with skills like drawing, teamworking, programming, communication, certainty, management and business, creativity and design. Working in small teams, similar to the real workplace, engineering and toolbox skills are used to work on substantial community-based challenges with local organisations. A forthcoming example is a project which will be delivered in partnership with Hereford Cathedral to create and develop a solution to illuminate the display areas of the Cathedral, while avoiding traditional electrical installation methods, which cannot be used in an important heritage setting. This project will include normal engineering challenges, but will also require learners to work with a client to understand precise requirements, comply with various regulatory and safety obligations and to protect the fabric of the building in which the solution will be deployed.
About NMITE??
NMITE’s BEng is subject to validation. https://nmite.ac.uk/beng-integrated-engineering
NMITE’s vision is to deliver a?different model of engineering higher education developing work-ready, talented engineers.?It aims to recruit a diverse cohort, including learners who may not have considered engineering as a career.?These learners won’t be studying?engineering, instead they’ll be learning how to become engineers.?NMITE’s curriculum?brings the engineering disciplines together and integrates the liberal arts and the interpersonal skills needed by today’s employers to tackle the world’s problems.?
NMITE?welcomed its first M Eng cohort in September 2021, the second joined in January 2022, with the another scheduled for September 2022.
NMITE was inaugurated on 19 October 2018, was listed in the register of English higher education providers by the Office for Students (OfS) in August 2020 and in November 2020 received validation by The Open University, the UK’s largest academic institution and a world leader in flexible distance learning. The?long-term?goal is to be educating 5,000 students.?
NMITE is supported by?engineering businesses, the Herefordshire community, Herefordshire Council, Olin College of Engineering (USA), professional engineering bodies and the UK?Government, which awarded up to £23million in initial funding. £8million of this funding was awarded by the Marches LEP via its Growth Deal with Government with details provided in two separate announcements in October and November 2019 regarding?our?redesigned city centre location, Blackfriars, and?the building of a new campus Centre on Hereford’s Enterprise Zone,?Skylon?Park.?A further £400k was awarded (March 2020) to enhance an additional building on the Blackfriars site and, in August 2020, £1.6m to accelerate the delivery of the Centre for Automated Manufacture (Skylon?Park) in response to the Government’s call for projects that can be brought forward to stimulate the economy.?
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