OU validation partner, New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE), has been granted new powers to award degrees going forward.
Open University Validation Partnerships (OUVP) was established in 1992 to enable The Open University (OU) to validate programmes for institutions that do not have their own degree awarding powers or that want to offer OU-validated awards in addition to their own. In the coming weeks, the OU will be celebrating its 200,000th student receiving a validated award.
NMITE partnership with the OU began in January 2021, and has added great value to its progress by allowing focus on developing and delivering its new model of engineering education. NMITE describes the OU as ‘the perfect partner’ and one with which they may want to collaborate further in the future.
James Newby, President and CEO of NMITE, describes this milestone as a hugely significant step change in NMITE’s accelerated journey of innovation and says:
“The important element for us, and our students, is that we have proved ourselves in terms of academic quality and are delighted that our practices have been considered academically robust. We see this as an endorsement of our new model and our academic pedagogy. Students choose us because of our size and innovative approach, not despite it.”
Viren Patel, Director of Employers & Partnerships, The Open University, commented:
“The OU is delighted that NMITE has achieved this significant milestone. Our core mission is to embrace inclusivity by being open to individuals, locations, approaches, and concepts and this is further amplified through validated collaborations with other education providers.
Viren added:
“The OU is dedicated to extending educational opportunities to communities that might not have otherwise had the chance to experience such an innovative and transformative learning approach and our partnership with NMITE exemplifies this.”
James also highlights NMITE’s civic role, pointing out that Herefordshire was, before NMITE, one of only a handful of counties in the UK with no university. So, albeit currently on a small scale with developing credentials, it acts as a civic institution, playing a leading role in its local area by supporting community projects, focusing on providing opportunities for local young people and working with businesses to provide the training needed to meet the skills shortages faced by employers.
