Harper Adams University

By ALASTAIR MCCALL, DAILY MAIL UNIVERSITY GUIDE EDITOR Published: 13:06, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 13:06, 12 August 2026 Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. On the eve of its 125th anniversary, Harper Adams last year won the inaugural Specialist Institution of the Year award given by Times Higher Education magazine - a recognition of the sustained excellence that makes the university part of any conversation when it comes to considering land-based degrees and careers in farming. Located on a rural Shropshire campus, academic facilities sit alongside and within the university farm, which contains dairy, beef and pig units, two flocks of sheep, poultry facilities and hectares of arable land and grassland given over to research projects. Harper Adams students are regularly Young Farmers of the Year across a variety of agricultural disciplines, and graduates make their mark in the working world once they leave, ranking the university in the top ten nationally for students believing their careers to be on track 15 months after graduating. Most courses have a placement year where students gain valuable experience. A recently-opened second campus, a high-tech hub in central Telford, brought the university into an urban landscape for the first time to deliver digital skills training and immersive simulation technology. A £400,000 investment there will develop Ai:Mates, a new centre for AI in manufacturing, agri-tech and engineering skills. A further £150,000 investment at the main Edgmond campus will expand the existing Collaborative Simulation Laboratory. The first graduates emerged from the Harper and Keele Veterinary School in summer 2025 at the end of their five-year veterinary medicine and surgery degrees. The opening of the vet school in 2020 - rated number one in the UK by students in last year's National Student Survey - added the missing piece of the jigsaw to give Harper Adams 20:20 coverage of its specialist area. Your browser does not support iframes. Harper Adams focuses financial support on rewarding 'talent, ambition and contribution', with 134 undergraduates benefiting in 2024-25. The support encompasses academic and subject excellence awards, industry-funded scholarships, and leadership and contribution awards. Scholarships are typically awarded for one academic year, while some of the industry-backed awards are supplemented by placements and support into further study. Sponsors are as diverse as the Humane Slaughter Association and Albert Bartlett, the Scottish potato business. The latter offers up to two engineering scholarships to second-year students, which provide £4,500 of financial support, a placement year in the business, and the possibility of a place on the company's graduate programme. Nearly £30,000 was paid out in 2024-25 by the university's Access to Learning Fund, which helps with living and course-related costs including travel, accommodation, books and childcare for students in severe financial difficulties. Harper Adams also operates a community fridge, allowing students to access fresh food at no cost. Since January 2024, it has redistributed 49,272kg of food that would otherwise have gone to waste - the equivalent of 117,314 meals. Harper Adams offers both catered and self-catered accommodation, with 794 places available across both. An undergraduate contract for 36 weeks in a self-catered en suite accommodation costs £5,796, rising to £6,030 for a 40-week tenancy. Catered rooms on a 40-week basis range in price from £5,188 for rooms with shared bathrooms and kitchens up to £8,003 for a single en suite room. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Admissions, teaching and student support Access to Harper is the university's contextualised offer scheme, which seeks to bring fresh talent from under-represented backgrounds into the industries the university serves. The scheme, which typically reduces standard entry requirements by one A-level grade (or equivalent), is open to applicants who live in postcodes considered to be among the most deprived or from which few progress on to university, those who have been in care and those who have caring responsibilities. It applies to all courses bar veterinary medicine. New students from widening participation (WP) backgrounds get an extended induction with pre-arrival support to ease the transition into university life. A recent shift away from closed-book examinations with more open-book assessments has helped close awarding gaps for disabled students and those from WP backgrounds. Harper Adams makes an asset of its relatively small size (2,500 full-time undergraduates) when it comes to providing personal support to all students, irrespective of background. When students enrol, Harper Adams delivers compulsory sessions to students covering wellbeing and mental health support. Through its assistance programme, students have 24/7 access to counselling and wellbeing support (by phone or face-to-face). Out of hours support is provided by a residence officer and Student Life representatives. The university's support package remains available to students for up to one year post-graduation to help ease the transition to working life. Practical support is provided through workshops and training on everything from burnout prevention to life coaching and grief management to building emotional resilience. There are mandatory induction sessions for students on sexual consent and healthy relationships; drugs and alcohol; racial, sexual and social tolerance; and being an active bystander.