THE Hereford university project has been awarded £500,000 to show students “what engineering is all about”.

The funding to the New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE) has come from the Garfield Weston Foundation.

It will be used to develop mobile engineering studios to “engage students with the possibility of studying engineering as a career”.

The studios will allow prospective students and their teachers to engage in hands-on problem solving and to prototype ideas using state-of-the-art engineering equipment.

The programmes students engage with inside the studios aim to provide a very different prospective of what careers in engineering are all about and the kind that will be on offer when NMiTE opens its doors in September 2020 at a purpose-built campus in the city centre.

The Ingenuity Studios will be designed in collaboration with schools, students and industry partners over the next few months and will begin touring nationwide in the next school year.

Janusz Kozinski, CEO and Founding President of NMiTE, said: “We want to challenge the belief that engineering is only about building tunnels and bridges.

“Our Ingenuity Studios will be packed with the the most up-to-date equipment and the most innovative educators to help us show young people what engineering is really about: creativity, innovation and problem solving.”

Philippa Charles, from Garfield Weston, said: “We are always on the look out for innovative projects that inspire young people to explore and achieve their potential.

“We hope that NMiTE’s new hands-on approach, combined with the state of the art mobile Ingenuity Studios, will reach a wide range of young people who otherwise might never consider pursuing higher education or a career in engineering.”