Award-winning Harper Adams student prepares for dream career

Georgie Lee, from Sandiway near Northwich in Cheshire, graduated from her BSc (Hons) Rural Enterprise and Land Management degree this September – and was named the winner of the RICS undergraduate prize at the University’s annual Land and Property Management Graduation celebration.

She is now taking up a full-time role with her placement employer, Rostons, in Cheshire – and she is already looking forward to taking both her APC qualifications and her Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV) exams within the next 18 months.

With her focus already on a role as a rural chartered surveyor when she considered universities, Georgie was drawn to her degree at Harper Adams for the route it offered into the profession.

She was also impressed by the support she felt she would receive working towards the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) – which all chartered surveyors have to pass as a mark of their professionalism.

She said: “Courses accredited by the RICS are limited, and Harper Adams offers one of the best courses for rural chartered surveyors because of the dedicated course team, where many are chartered surveyors and agricultural valuers with industry experience - not to mention the integrated placement year which the university supports you throughout!

“The placement year is key to the end goal of passing the APC, as the year in industry counts towards your diary hours.

“The experience gained on placement was also so valuable to shaping my final year. I applied what I had learnt on placement to my assignments, which added a layer you cannot get from just books and lectures.

“The work I carried out on placement was fundamental to the research topic I chose to study for my honours research project and led me to tackle an unprecedented real-world challenge rural professionals are currently trying to understand and solve around the cancellation of High Speed Two Phase Two.”

She added: “I thrived on placement, I was pushed and worked extremely hard, but the hard work did pay off. There were peaks and troughs – as there are naturally in any job, which is part of learning - and I was glad I had the support of Harper Adams to navigate ‘the working world’ for the first time. A highlight for me on placement would have to have been going down to Parliament as part the work I assisted with for landowners affected by HS2 Phase 2b.”

Reflecting on her time at Harper Adams, she added: “It is unlike any other University. The Harper Adams community is unmatched.

“Every single person working or studying at the University wants you to thrive, from the grounds team who keep the campus immaculate so it is a beautiful place to walk around and get fresh air from your studies, the course team who consistently want to make the course better, to even the catering staff - who learn your breakfast order and wish you luck in your exams!”