Harper Adams University celebrates top half ranking

The agricultural university in Edgmond, near Newport, has been ranked 64th in the 2014 guide.

Harper Adams was the Sunday Times University College of the year for six years in a row but was granted full university status at the end of last year.

The league table is drawn up from criteria including student satisfaction, graduate prospects, degree results achieved, spending on facilities and dropout rates.

Harper Adams' latest Good University Guide ranking puts it ahead of more established institutions, including Plymouth University, Aberystwyth University, Liverpool John Moores University, The University of Central Lancashire and Birmingham City University.

Dr David Llewellyn, vice-chancellor of Harper Adams University, said: "We were delighted to be in the top half of the league table in the Sunday Times University Guide 2014.

"Of special importance is our high rating in student satisfaction and that we were listed in the top 20 universities created since 1992."

It has also been praised by Which? and The National Student Survey.

The university offers degrees in business, veterinary nursing, physiotherapy, land and property management, engineering, food studies and agriculture.

As part of the guide, students' union president Emily Hayman was asked quick-fire questions about studying at Harper Adams.

She praised the fact that students get to know people in all years, not just their own, and that the "social scene is all on campus". Asked what the worst thing about the university is, Miss Hayman said the smell of the working farm on campus.

The guide said: "Harper Adams has been close to the top in the National Student Survey in every year that it has been published, with its students praising the personal attention they receive."