This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Former name | Harper Adams Agricultural College |
---|---|
Motto | Utile Dulci (Latin) |
Motto in English | Useful and agreeable |
Type | Public |
Established | 1901: as Harper Adams Agricultural College 1998: gained University college status 2012: gained University Status |
Chancellor | The Princess Royal |
Vice-Chancellor | Professor Ken Sloan |
Students | 5,070 (2022/23) [1] |
Undergraduates | 4,630 (2022/23) [1] |
Postgraduates | 440 (2022/23) [1] |
Other students | 60 FE [2] |
Location | , , TF10 8NB , United Kingdom 52°46′47″N2°25′39″W / 52.779651°N 2.427517°W |
Website | www |
Harper Adams University, founded in 1901 as Harper Adams College, is a public university located close to the village of Edgmond, near Newport, in Shropshire, England. Established in 1901, the college is a specialist provider of higher education for the agricultural and rural sector. It gained university college status in 1998, and university status in 2012. [3]
The university provides more than 50 foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes to students from over 30 countries. The university is set within a 494-hectare working farm. [4]
Harper Adams College, which would become the university, was founded in 1901. Its first principal was Headworth Foulkes (1901–1922). Thomas Harper Adams, a wealthy Shropshire gentleman farmer, died in 1892, bequeathing the estate which was the original foundation. The college had just six students to begin with.
In 1909 a specialist poultry husbandry was created. [5]
During the First World War, Harper Adams remained open, and in 1915 the first women were admitted into the college on wartime farm courses. Harper Adams was the first institute to do so, and in 1916 women were admitted as full-time students onto a wide variety of courses. Approximately, 200 staff and former students served during the war and 40 are known to have died as a result. [6] In 2015, 10 additional names were added to the university's memorial board, after previously unrecorded alumni were also discovered to have been killed in action. [7] A board in the Old Library listing the names of those killed was dedicated in March 2015, crafted by Peter Nunn of the university's estate department, and a new memorial garden was also created outside the library.
The agricultural depression of the 1920s onward led to a drop in student numbers. In 1922, Charles Crowther (1922–1944) became Principal and efforts were taken to ensure the College stayed open. The National Institute of Poultry Husbandry opened in 1926, giving Harper a high profile in areas of teaching and research. The college remained open during the Second World War. Bill Price (1946–1962) became Principal in 1946 and student numbers steadily rose to 222. The Jubilee Hostel was opened in 1951. [8]
Reginald Kenny was principal from 1962 until 1977, followed by Tony Harris from 1977 until 1994. In 1964, the funding of the college was passed from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Department of Education and Science. The first Higher National Diploma students were enrolled in 1969. Degree courses were first introduced in 1981; Harper Adams was one of the first institutions to introduce a BSc. sandwich course. The CNAA granted Harper Adams the authority to validate its own courses. In 1985, the science building was opened by Princess Margaret. [8]
Student numbers passed 1000 for the first time in 1991. In 1994, three new student residences were opened. Wynn Jones became principal in 1996, and later that year the Privy Council granted the university degree awarding powers. In 1998, Harper Adams gained the title of University College. In 2004, Harper Adams was awarded £2.1 million in funding to develop its work with rural businesses. Harper Adams gained the power to award research degrees in 2006 and shortly after, a new Biomass Hall was opened. Dr David Llewellyn was appointed principal in 2009. [9] That September, a new £2.3 million dairy unit was opened [10] and in December, a £3 million Regional Food Academy (RFA) was officially opened by The Princess Royal. [11] In 2010, Nick Herbert opened a Postgraduate and Professional Development Centre, and in the same year the Faccenda student centre and a new student hall of residence were opened. Ken Sloan was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Harper Adams University in 2021, its eighth institutional leader.
Harper Adams is an academic sponsor of the JCB Academy, which opened in 2010. JCB Academy was the first university technical college to be established in England. [12]
In December 2012, Harper Adams had the title 'university' conferred upon it. This ended the institution's long history of being a college and consequently, Harper Adams became Shropshire's first university. [13] [14]
In 2020, the University received its first student intake to Harper and Keele Veterinary School, a new joint venture with Keele University offering a BVetMS degree. [15]
The campus is on farm land on the outskirts of Edgmond near Newport, Shropshire. Over the last decade more than £45 million has been invested in the campus.[ citation needed ] Harper Adams operates a 494-hectare commercial farm on campus.[ citation needed ] Undergraduate students live on campus in one of 15 halls. [16]
Undergraduate courses are offered via 5 academic departments and courses fall under 10 broad subject areas
In 2014 Harper Adams University has been recognised for the quality of its research by the Research Excellence Framework. [17]
Areas of research include; management of soil and water, crop disease resistance, agricultural technology, livestock carbon footprint reduction, genetic approaches to improving food quality, bioenergy and renewable sources, agricultural landscape biodiversity, pedagogy and animal welfare. [18]
Research facilities
Facilities for the university's research work include:
Since 2016 the "Hands Free Hectare" project within the engineering department has been developing robotic farming operations. [19]
National rankings | |
---|---|
Complete (2025) [22] | 33 |
Times / Sunday Times (2025) [23] | 53 |
Global rankings | |
QS (2025) [24] | 1201–1400 |
The 2020 Graduate Outcomes survey showed 98.8% were in work or further study 15 months after completing their studies. [28]
Harper Adams has a variety of sports clubs, including rugby, shooting, football, hockey, fencing, netball, polo, tug of war, basketball, motorsport, off-roading, rowing, running, field sports, equestrian and mountain biking. The university competes in the British Universities and Colleges Sport leagues and championships. [29]
Harper Adams University Boat Club (HAURC) is located at Pengwern Boat Club on the River Severn in Shrewsbury. [30] Members compete in the BUCS Rowing League, local regattas. The club's registered blades are dark blue, cyan and gold. [31]
Harper Adams University Clay Shooting Club (HAUSC) is the largest club in the university with over 100 members. [32] The club competes in local competitions, BUCS League, the Countryside Alliance Cirencester Cup Competition and also holds private matches against the Royal Agricultural University and St Andrews University. The HAUSC is consistently placed amongst the most successful shooting clubs in the UK. In 2011 and 2012, the HAUSC won the national title at the BUCS Clay Pigeon Shooting Championships. [33]
The Motorsport Team has its own VW Golf GTi rally car and Ford Fiesta R2 National. [34] [35] In January 2017, the team announced a partnership with the M-Sport World Rally Team. The team regularly competes in BRC events. [35]
The arms of the university are those of the Harper Adams family, which were formally transferred to the university by letters patent presented in May 2018 Rouge Croix Pursuivant, of the College of Arms in May 2018. [36] As a banner of arms these are in use as the university flag.
The arms appear in stained glass in the main building. [37]
The Chancellor of Harper Adams University has been HRH The Princess Royal since 2013. [14] This is a ceremonial role.
Ruth Archer, a character played by English actress Felicity Finch in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers , attended Harper Adams University College as part of her fictional backstory. [62]
The University of Bristol is a red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had been in existence since 1876. Bristol Medical School, founded in 1833, was merged with the University College in 1893, and later became the university's school of medicine.
The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institution was previously known as Battersea College of Technology and was located in Battersea Park, London. Its roots however, go back to Battersea Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1891 to provide further and higher education in London, including its poorer inhabitants.
Newcastle University is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a member of the Russell Group, an association of research-intensive UK universities.
Aston University is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first college of advanced technology in 1956. Aston University received its royal charter from Queen Elizabeth II on 22 April 1966.
Keele University is a public research university in Keele, approximately three miles from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted university status by Royal Charter as the University of Keele in 1962.
Lancaster University is a public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new universities created in the 1960s.
Loughborough University is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when Loughborough Technical Institute was founded. In March 2013, the university announced it had bought the former broadcast centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a second campus. The annual income of the institution for 2022–23 was £369.1 million, of which £48.3 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £339.1 million.
The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 1926 by royal charter from King George V and was the only university to receive such a charter between the two world wars. The university is usually categorised as a red brick university, reflecting its original foundation in the 19th century.
The University of Wolverhampton is a public university in Wolverhampton, England, located on four campuses across the West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire. Originally founded in 1827 as the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mechanics' Institute, the university was subject to a series of merges, incorporations, and expansions with other local colleges, one of which occurred under the supervision of Prince George, Duke of Kent.
The University of Gloucestershire is a public university based in Gloucestershire, England. It is located over five campuses, three in Cheltenham and two in Gloucester.
The University of Bolton, Bolton University or UoB is a public university in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. The university is commonly referred to as a 'post-92' institution, which is a reference to the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. It has approximately 11,000 students and more than 900 academic and professional staff.
Cardiff Metropolitan University, formerly the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff and commonly referred to as Cardiff Met, is a university located in the city of Cardiff.
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England.
The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) is an integrated, tertiary institution encompassing both further and higher education. It is composed of 12 colleges and research institutions spread around the Highlands and Islands, Moray and Perthshire regions of Scotland. UHI offers further education, undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes which can be studied at a range of locations across the area and online. It has 31,000 students, including 19,779 further education students and 11,210 higher education students.
The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots in further and higher education from 1882: it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The University changed its name to the University of Bedfordshire in 2006, following the merger of the University of Luton with the Bedford campus of De Montfort University.
Edge Hill University is a campus-based public university in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. The university, which originally opened in 1885 as Edge Hill College, was the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England, before admitting its first male students in 1959. In 2005, Edge Hill was granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers by the Privy Council and became Edge Hill University on 18 May 2006.
University of Southampton School of Medicine is a medical school in England. It is part of the University of Southampton with a site at Southampton General Hospital, offering 5 Medicine courses, all leading to the award of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (BMBS). Graduates of the BM5/BM6/BM(EU) programme are also awarded an integrated BMedSc (Hons) degree. Prior to 2013, the Bachelor of Medicine (BM) degree was awarded.
Bangor University is a public research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It received its Royal Charter in 1885 and was one of the founding institutions of the federal University of Wales.
The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948.
Kingston University London is a public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded in 1899. It received university status in 1992, before which the institution was known as Kingston Polytechnic.