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COUNTDOWN TO SEPTEMBER OPENING OF HEREFORD’S NEW UNIVERSITY IN THE MAKING
NMITE (New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering) will open its doors in Hereford on 21st September 2021 and is now just weeks away from welcoming its Pioneer Cohort of students to the purpose-fitted Blackfriars site in Central Hereford after years of planning.
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Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, President & Chief Executive Officer of NMITE explains why she believes NMITE will be such an important milestone locally and nationally. “There really is a feeling of excitement as we get ready for September. We have made no secret that we intend to do things differently and be a challenger institution for engineering education. We look forward to welcoming students from all walks of life and at varying life stages as we believe these differing perspectives is exactly what the engineering industry in the UK needs.” Originally conceived by the Rt Hon Jesse Norman MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire as a new, higher education offering, NMITE evolved over the years to become the institution it is today with an “innovative approach to engineering education which means that by the time our students graduate, they’ll have worked on real projects with employers and partner organisations and be ready to hit the ground running as a professional engineer.” According to Elena, NMITE’s MEng Integrated Engineering Degree has been designed to prepare its graduates with high quality, work-ready skills in just three years without lectures or traditional exams. Unlike other engineering institutions, prospective learners will not be required to have a Maths or Physics A-level as these subjects can be taught within the curriculum for those that require it. Applications have been considered on an individual basis to identify the qualities that will create a successful learner. Elena explains that curiosity, determination, grit and interpersonal skills are equally important as academic track record for their students. One of the key jobs this year, according to Elena, has been finalising the team of innovative educators for this unique engineering programme because NMITE’s approach is so distinct from traditional engineering education strategies. Led by Chief Academic Officer, Professor Beverley Gibbs, this team has been brought together to enable learning integrating both engineering science with liberal arts in a series of sprints and challenges, set by potential future employers in real-world contexts. The Pioneer Cohort will be learning at the Blackfriars site which includes seven teaching studios, a factory (manufacturing space with a range of specialist industrial equipment for metal working and wood working) and library space. From the start, NMITE set out to work in partnership with the local community - in particular with businesses who understood the need for this new engineering degree, many of whom have pledged much more than practical support. As Elena says: “We are hugely grateful to our Pioneer Funders who have understood our vision and helped remove the barrier to engineering education for our Pioneer Cohort by offering generous bursaries for our first learners.” NMITE’s Pioneer funders range from local and national businesses such as Prometheus Medical Ltd and Avara Foods, as well as groups and individuals within Herefordshire. NMITE has established itself as an attractive prospect for funders, having raised an initial £1m plus in its Founders Fund. More recently, NMITE has been awarded a European Social Fund grant to develop contemporary careers advice and skills in Herefordshire’s SME and Microbusiness communities. It will supply Herefordshire-wide graduate training, amongst other initiatives, to help make Herefordshire businesses more appealing on a national scale. Activities will run through until December 2023 and Herefordshire will see NMITE setting up a Future Skills Group and a series of Employer Engagement Forums. “This programme has three key areas of focus” says Elena: 1) Helping SMEs and Microbusinesses understand gaps and opportunities in their current and future workforce and offering support to enable them to reach their growth potential 2) Engaging SMEs and Microbusinesses with educators (schools, colleges, FE and HEIs) through extracurricular workshops to help individuals gain skills relevant to the needs of the local labour market 3) Developing enterprise and entrepreneurship skills amongst young people to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs who can start and grow businesses in the county. As the countdown to September continues, Elena says she is extremely proud of how much has been achieved in setting up this new higher education establishment from scratch. “It really has been a team effort from so many individuals, organisations and partners as well, of course, from the NMITE staff. Now we look to the next stage of our journey with huge optimism, the chance to educate the changemakers and gamechangers of tomorrow, and to put Hereford and engineering on the UK’s map for the future.”
CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY EMERGES FROM THE STORM FIGHTING FIT
With his lorries already on the road, heading for a huge job at Birmingham NEC, Dale Parmenter took the call on 5th March 2020 that signalled the seriousness of the situation descending.
He was informed that the exhibition and conference scheduled for 5,000 delegates – the type of event that was bread and butter for DRPG, one of the UK’s largest creative communications agencies - was cancelled. “All live events were just cancelled,” he said. “In late February, we were seeing through the news that people were getting nervous and we knew that COVID-19 was going to hit us at some point. So by early March we had already put an emergency three-point plan in place. “Having lived through numerous recessions, we knew we would have to act quickly. You know you won’t get it all right, but cash is the number one priority – profit goes out the window. “Just look after the cash and your people! That has been my mantra since day one.” Prince of the large-scale live event, DRPG’s sales plummeted by 60% in the months that followed. But having built the company he started in 1980 from the ground up, Dale is nothing if not adaptable. He is adept at moving with the times. DRPG’s roots are in video production and digital solutions. This background gave the team a great foundation to build virtual experiences. Before COVID-19, DRPG did around four or five virtual events a year. This past 12 months, it has done more than 600. “It’s been a huge learning curve,” he said. “We had a very small (virtual) team to begin with, and getting the digital, camera and production people we needed was time consuming. “The thing is, those types of people were also being sought by our competitors, so as well as going on a recruitment drive, we also started a big internal training programme to retrain our own people and redeploy them.” Rather than pulling its horns in, DRPG did just the opposite. It implemented the biggest investment programme in the company’s history, spending north of four million pounds on improving its facilities and hiring 80 new members of staff. The company, in effect, went onto a war footing and rearmed, ready to fight another day. Dale said: “At first, we described it as a ship we had to prevent sinking, but then there is this opportunity to refit the ship while it is out of the water. “You spot things and have the time to do something about them much faster than you can when you’re running at full speed. “We brought forward quite a few investments in new computer systems, buildings and technology we had planned in the next couple of years, so that when we come out of this, we will be in a better position to go forward.” The new virtual production arm, that operates out of the company HQ on Kidderminster’s Ikon Trading Estate, is now worth nine million pounds in its own right. Having begun as a one-man band with just a camera and local carpet company Brinton’s as his first client, Dale now employs 380 people in a handful of offices spread across Europe and America. DRPG’s remit includes FTSE 100 companies and contracts on just about every continent, chief among them BT, Nationwide, Triumph, Jaguar Land Rover and Hyundai. A succession of business acquisitions, made as and when he needed to bring new disciplines on board, has produced a deep pool of talent proficient in digital communication and ‘comms’ strategies in general, design, video, animation and events management, making it a self-sufficient, multi-channel provider. In May, His Royal Highness Prince Edward paid a visit to hear more about DRPG’s futureproofing, including the Corporate Social Responsibility charter that drives the ethical and sustainable policies at its heart.
