An Amman Valley teen has been chosen to help design the first new UK university in 40 years.

Geena Ware from Garnant finished her A levels at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman last summer and has been successful in securing a positing as part of the Design Cohort at the NMiTE – New Model in Technology and Engineering.

“I did not want to go straight into being a student at university after school nor did I know which course to do so I decided to take a gap year,” said the 18-year-old.

“I heard about NMiTE from Mr Damian Jones and Mr Steve Hagget at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman and I jumped at the opportunity to change the way higher education is taught.”

The new engineering university is based in Hereford and Geena’s year-long role is a paid position.

With support from the government, and the Universities of Warwick and Bristol, NMiTE’s aim is to create engineers with transferable skills who are ready to tackle real life engineering challenges.

There are 25 members of the Design Cohort aged between 18 and 25, and through collaborative and creative projects they give feedback and suggestions on what the student university experience should be like.

“NMiTE will have a different method of assessment whereby students will complete a Masters-level degree in Engineering within three-years as opposed to the regular four years and there will not be exams,” added Geena.

“I’m really enjoying living and working with open-minded people and our fresh opinions are valued and are making a real difference.”

NMiTE is creating links and partnerships with industry and the community to encourage local businesses to have their say on what they look for in employable engineers.