EDUCATION leaders in Hereford say they are enthusiastic about the growing engagement the new university is having with the city’s colleges.

New Model in Techonology & Engineering’s Ingenuity Studio has been hosting joint activities with local colleges over the last two months.

Five students from Hereford College of Arts and one from the Royal National College for the Blind joined forces in February to undertake a real-world engineering challenge in Studio 1 outside Shirehall.

And NMiTE professor Peter Goodhew delivered a presentation to students from Herefordshire, Ludlow & North Shropshire College at its Ludlow and Hereford campuses in March.

Programme Lead for NMiTE Ingenuity Studio Dr Emma Posey said: “We are seeking to improve the opportunities and environment for the region’s young people to further their learning closer to home.

“In particular, we are keen to inspire as many people as possible to enter engineering, as it is an exciting and rewarding career with fabulous opportunities.

“We are also keen as many students as possible know about NMiTE and we hope many will want to apply to study at NMiTE when we open in the near future.

“NMiTE was created because there was no university in Herefordshire for our talented youngsters and also mature students.

“This will be changing soon, and we are keen that as many sixth formers know about us so they have the option of studying locally at a first class and ground-breaking institution.”

University staff also promoted the opportunities available to students across Herefordshire when they leave education at a recent careers fair organised by Hereford Sixth Form College.

The Ingenuity Studio also worked with industrial tools supplier RS-Components to bring its 35-tonne interactive truck Titan II to inspire the next generation of engineers to Herefordshire, Ludlow & North Shropshire College’s campus on Folly Lane.

Principal at Hereford Sixth Form Centre Peter Cooper said it was a great pleasure to witness so many students engaged with the Ingenuity Studio.

“A huge reserve list meant that we had to arrange additional visits for students to visit it at Hereford’s Shirehall,” he said.

“The studio offers young people an insight in to the world of engineering and enables them to apply their creativity and problem-solving skills to addressing real-world challenges.

“Our history teacher James Mitchell set a very popular challenge – asking the students to create a device to aid his mobility when writing on a whiteboard”

Hereford College of Arts principal Abigail Appleton said she looks forward to working with NMiTE around both HCA’s college and degree provision in future.

“There’s a natural affinity between NMiTE’s ambition to teach engineering and technology by addressing real world problems and the way Hereford College of Arts engages students in real world creative challenges,” she said.

“It was great to welcome the Ingenuity Studio to our campus”.

Ian Peake, Principal at Herefordshire, Ludlow & North Shropshire College said that Ingenuity Studio staff enabled his students to develop their brainstorming and team working skills.

“NMiTE’s unique approach to real-world challenges appealed to our students because of their focus on social issues.

“These challenges were set by Hereford Sixth Form College and Hereford College of Arts, further strengthening the connection between the colleges along Folly Lane.”

“We are really interested in Ingenuity Studio’s Spring programme with a focus on the Internet of Things, especially for HLC’s Engineering and Computing students. We look forward to continued engagement with the programme.”

Royal National College for the Blind principal Mark Fisher said: “On visiting our students working in the Ingenuity Studio, I felt a real sense of stimulation and excitement.

“All the students spoke extremely constructively about the experience and considered the delivery was well suited to their leaning style.

“The opening of NMiTE will be a positive development for Hereford and also for the advancement in technology and engineering in the rest of the UK.”