Following the Secretary of State’s statement on the Government’s levelling up plans, Jesse Norman calls on the Government to roll out the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering form of learning and teaching across the country.
Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) (Con)
The Secretary of State will know that Herefordshire has one of the smallest and sparsest populations and some of the lowest gross value added in this country. He will also know of my passion for the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering, which promises to offer entirely new forms of learning and teaching, lower drop-out rates, lower levels of mental ill health, and much greater inclusiveness for young people in skills-based higher education—it is the small modular nuclear reactor of higher education. Will the Secretary of State encourage this model, and will he consider, call for and initiate a review of higher education in order to regenerate cities and towns across the UK?
Michael Gove (The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations)
My right hon. Friend’s new model institute is a perfect model of what was envisaged by the former Member of Parliament for Orpington when he was the higher education Minister and introduced reform to ensure that we improved access to higher education, but with a particular focus on skills and jobs. I look forward to working with him and the Education Secretary to spread this model through across the UK.