A report aiming to improve prospects for young people has concluded that Hartlepool would be one of the places to benefit most from a new wave of technical higher education institutions or universities.

The investigation by the Policy Exchange think tank focuses on the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE), in Hereford, an employer-focused technical institution which teaches engineering skills through block-taught modules, a 9am-5pm working week and offers a two-year degree.

The report also assessed 57 English towns and cities of 60,000 people or more with no university of their own and it found the “strongest cases” for new technical institutions are overwhelmingly in the north – including Hartlepool, Grimsby, Doncaster and Barnsley.

It has called on the Government to establish a £50 million fund to seed up to 10 more new NMITE-type providers in other higher education “cold spots” across the country.

Hartlepool is one of the towns which a study believes could benefit from a new higher education institution or university.

placeholder image — Hartlepool is one of the towns which a study believes could benefit from a new higher education institution or university.

The conclusions – endorsed by former Labour education secretary Lord David Blunkett and entrepreneur and inventor Sir James Dyson – warn that too many young people are acquiring qualifications of “limited economic value” when employers need a more skilled workforce.

They come after the number of young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training (Neets) topped a million earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade.

The paper warned: “The prospects for the youth of this country look increasingly dismal.

“Moreover, the risk of becoming Neet is not evenly spread socially. it is more than twice as high for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Sir James, the founder of the Dyson household appliance company, said: “Britain doesn’t produce enough engineers. Only about one in 11 British graduates studied engineering or related subjects.

“Without them, we can’t make things, invent new products and technologies – or compete against the rest of the world.

“Britain needs many more places like these. This report shows how to build them.”

An Universities UK (UUK) spokesperson said: “Proposals that make it easier for more people to get good degrees which lead them to rewarding, well-paid jobs are a good thing.

“Universities themselves recognise the need to go further in ensuring a degree prepares people for the world of work.”