Avara Foods has formed a partnership with a newly formed engineering institute, which will offer masters degrees in integrated engineering, aimed at encouraging more young people to move into careers in manufacturing.
The poultry integrator is sponsoring five places at the NMITE (New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering), which will take its first cohort of students this week. NMITE is based in Hereford, where Avara Foods has one of its processing plants.
Successful applicants will have their academic fees and accommodation costs covered in full for their first year.
Avara Foods will also provide placements, and projects to support the cohort, and is also working closely with NMITE on short courses and lifelong learning.
Andrew Brodie, Avara’s People & Communications Director said: “For us, this is the start of a long-term relationship with NMITE. We are an integral part of the Hereford community and the largest private employer, providing jobs to over 2,000 people locally.
“We are committed to investing in our sites in technology and automation, so we have the common goal with NMITE of encouraging more young people to move into careers in manufacturing. NMITE offers the ideal combination of technical engineering in a modern educational style setting right here in Hereford, and this fits perfectly with our plans to invest in food manufacturing technology in our Hereford operation.”
NMITE was set up to address the UK’s shortage of work-ready graduate engineers and will focus on an integrated engineering programme to train and nurture learners ready to tackle global challenges – such as sustainable food production, access to safe water, and clean energy – which do not fall neatly into traditional mechanical, electrical or materials engineering boxes. NMITE believes that engineering is an exciting and varied career path, its students will learn what an engineer does and how she or he can make life better and plans to develop graduates who will make a positive impact on quality of life, the environment and industry.
To attract students from a variety of backgrounds and at differing life stages, NMITE will consider every application individually and irrespective of the path they have travelled to get where they are today. Engineers-in-training will experience NMITE’s “learning by doing” with regular real-life projects and no lectures or traditional exams and unlike other engineering institutions they will not be required to have a Maths or Physics A-level as these subjects will be taught within the curriculum. NMITE said that they are looking for entrepreneurial and socially-minded individuals who want to change the world for the better. As part of the admissions process, NMITE will be evaluating a person’s attitude, mindset and passion for engineering alongside their qualifications.
Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, President & Chief Executive of NMITE, said: “We are delighted to announce that NMITE is now open and ready to recruit its Pioneer Cohort of learners. Thank you to everyone who has played a part in getting us to today including those who had the inspirational vision and tenacity to push forwards, all my colleagues, funders and industry partners who have shared this vision and supported us. Our attention now turns to the exciting task of inviting applications and meeting prospective learners. What 2020 has shown more than ever is that we need more work-ready engineers, and we are delighted that NMITE will be playing a role in educating engineers equipped to tackle global challenges.”