NMITE joins forces with UCL to launch Safety Champions in Engineering Education programme

The New Model Institute of Technology and Engineering (NMITE), which is pioneering a new ‘Learning without Lectures’ approach and will welcome its first cohort this September to Hereford, has launched a Safety Champions in Engineering Education programme in partnership with UCL, London’s leading multidisciplinary university. 

The 10-week online programme, which is funded by Lloyds Register Foundation and the Royal Academy of Engineering through the Engineering X programme, will be delivered to international educators from Malaysia, the Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, will commence on 3rd May 2021. This is followed by a six-month mentoring phase in which participants develop proposals for educational innovation. The core aim of the programme is to support Engineering X’s ‘Skills Where They Are Most Needed’ mission, drawing on contemporary best practice in engineering education to support local educators in developing curriculum innovations that tackle the specific safety challenges engineering graduates in emerging economies face as critical infrastructure undergoes rapid expansion.  

NMITE and UCL will be working together to share the teaching and mentoring of the programme, led by Vice-Dean for Education (UCL Engineering) Professor John Mitchell, and NMITE’s Chief Academic Officer Professor Beverley Gibbs. They will be leading the learning activity, joined by members of their academic teams in online, synchronous and mentoring support roles. 

NMITE’s Chief Academic Officer, Professor Beverley Gibbs said: “We’re confident that the programme will provide educators with the frameworks and tools they need to have an impact on safe practice in their local contexts.” 

Professor John Mitchell, Vice-Dean for Education (UCL Engineering) added: “The combination of UCL and NMITE gives a truly unique perspective of the challenges and opportunities of innovating in the curriculum.” 

Although institutions with very different histories, UCL and NMITE believe that fundamental knowledge of mathematics and science is necessary but not sufficient for engineers and that deep and meaningful learning comes about only through experience, practice and integration of skills.