Harper Adams is the UK's Modern University of the Year
Graduation is always a special time at Harper Adams University.
This year’s ceremonies saw our largest ever cohort of students graduate and provided a time to reflect on the student experience of the graduates and Harper Adams’ recent successes.
The morning of the graduation saw The Times & The Sunday Times Good University Guide name Harper Adams University as its Modern University of the Year. The university jumped from 33rd to 17th in the guide and was also named runner up for the award of University of the Year.
This is the first time in the guide’s history that a modern university has made it to the top 20 universities in the UK – another first for Harper Adams, bringing notable recognition to the industries with which we work and the county of Shropshire.
Throughout 2019 our investments in our students continued, with 132 students being awarded scholarships totalling £452,000 thanks to the work of the Harper Adams University Development Trust and the generous support of industry and other sponsors.
Internationally our activities have also continued apace. One important development this year was our collaboration with the Marshall Papworth Fund to bring 10 short course students to the university from countries including Ghana, Kenya and Sri Lanka, supported by organisations including Self-Help Africa, Leprosy Mission and Tree-Aid.
The students have since returned home to use new skills learned at Harper Adams to train other farmers in sustainable modern farming practices. Meanwhile, our work to improve veterinary pharmacy education, and hence food safety, in Namibia was recently featured in The Guardian.
Along with our awards and plaudits, 2019 has seen a variety of projects at Harper Adams go from strength to strength, both in the UK and internationally.
Our Hands Free Hectare project, that continues to extend industry understanding of farm automation and the economics that surround it, is expanding to 35 hectares of our recently purchased farmland. The Hands Free Farm programme will run over the next three years. Work on the Harper and Keele Veterinary School also continues, with building work on a brand new facility having commenced, student applications being received for the 2020 launch and new staff having been appointed.
As we celebrated the success of our graduates we noted that they were about to embark on careers in the farming, food, engineering, land management, environmental science and animal science sectors where there are many challenges, and opportunities, ahead.
We will need these talented people to help drive industry forward. Not only do we wish them well in the years ahead, but we are proud to be able to say that they are the product of the UK’s Modern University of the Year.
Dr David Llewellyn is Vice Chancellor of Harper Adams University
