Wellingtons — and hairnets — at the ready. Harper Adams describes itself as “the university for food production and technology, animal health and wellbeing”. Set on a 494-hectare farm in the Shropshire countryside for more than a century, the university gives students access to arable, pig and dairy enterprises allowing them to put theories into practice and the Princess Royal — the university’s chancellor — is a regular visitor. From September 2024 its new site in Telford, Shropshire, will run core digital courses vital for the industry’s future. The Harper Adams School of Sustainable Food and Farming is a collaboration with Morrisons supermarket, McDonald’s UK and Ireland, and the National Farmers’ Union offering undergraduate courses to train new sustainable farmers as well as short courses and apprenticeships. 

Harper Adams was rocked by a report in August 2024 into claims of physical and sexual abuse during rugby club “hazing” initiation rites in 2022. A spokesman said the university had introduced new powers for the students’ union to stop funding clubs and exclude members involved in “unacceptable behaviours”.

What is Harper Adams University’s reputation? 

Founded in 1901, Harper Adams gained full university status in 2012. It was our top-ranked modern university for six years in a row (2017-2022) and was named our inaugural Specialist University of the Year 2024, rising to 36th place in our main league table.

Sixty per cent of the work submitted by Harper Adams to the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) was rated world-leading or internationally excellent — improving on the results from REF 2014, but not enough to stay in our top 100 for research. It now ranks 116th in our research quality table.  

The university’s Hands Free Farm was the first in the world to grow, tend and harvest a crop without operators on the ground and led to a new safety code for autonomous vehicles in agriculture and horticulture — increasingly seen as a solution to global labour shortages and intensive crop management. At the innovative Future Farm at Harper Adams, paludiculture — or wet peat farming — is an emerging research focus.   

Harper Adams was one of only two institutions to be rated gold two years running in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework, in 2017-18. In the latest assessment (TEF 2023), Harper Adams achieved gold overall, with silver for the student experience and gold for student outcomes. Results in the latest National Student Survey are mixed: Harper Adams is 16th for satisfaction with teaching quality (up from 37= last year) but has plunged from 21= to 95th for satisfaction with the wider student experience. 

Harper Adams was rocked by a report in August 2024 into claims of physical and sexual abuse during rugby club “hazing” initiation rites in 2022. A spokesman said the university had introduced new powers for the students’ union to stop funding clubs and exclude members involved in “unacceptable behaviours”.

What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?

Harper Adams is branching out into courses in robotics, automation, and mechatronic engineering; applied data science; and digital business management at its new site in Telford’s Station Quarter. From 2024 the university is offering degrees in crop production; farm business management; livestock production science; applied animal science (with specialisms in companion animals, equine science, farmed animals and zoo animals); and wildlife, conservation and ecology.

A BSc in rural property management accepted its last intake in 2024. 

What are Harper Adams University’s entry requirements – and my chances of getting in?

Applications and enrolments remain remarkably stable at Harper Adams. The highest demand of 136 Ucas tariff points is for the university’s integrated master’s degrees in engineering, while at the lowest end, foundation courses require 72 Ucas tariff points. To be eligible for a contextual offer (reducing the standard requirement by one A-level grade), applicants need to come from a low-participation postcode or have spent time in care. Mature students have a reduced GCSE requirement.

What are the graduate prospects?

All students have a work placement in their penultimate year of study — which means that about a quarter of students are on a sandwich year at any one time. The university collaborates with industry figures to shape its curriculum. More than 200 businesses come to the campus each year at careers and recruitment fairs. However, Harper Adams has dropped 19 places year on year to rank 78th, according to our analysis of the proportion of leavers in highly skilled jobs or postgraduate study within 15 months.

What is Harper Adams University’s campus like?

The university has planted its first vineyard on the main campus in Newport, Shropshire, as a platform for viticulture teaching and to test varieties suited to a changing British climate. The first grapes should be ready to produce wine from 2025. Harper Adams runs a working farm with 435 cows (with dairy and beef units), 200 sheep, 230 sows, and chickens and turkeys.

The Harper and Keele Veterinary School, a joint venture with the University of Keele, began in 2020. The Veterinary Education Centre on campus has benefited from £500,000 of equipment. An institute for diagnostics — with teaching facilities and laboratories for animal pathology — is due to open in Newport late in 2025.

Everything you need to know about Harper Adams University’s student life and wellbeing support

The Barn students’ union venue and the Welly Inn pub are the main hangouts on campus, while you can’t beat early milking shifts and volunteering during lambing season for building community spirit. Clubs offered by the students’ union range from beer brewing to astronomy.

Sports facilities include a shooting ground as well as a gymnasium, heated outdoor pool, rugby, cricket, football and hockey pitches, tennis courts and an all-weather sports pitch. There’s a rowing club on the River Severn in nearby Shrewsbury. 

The wellbeing team includes a counsellor, mental health adviser, sexual violence liaison officer and chaplain who work with academic staff to provide support.Out-of-hours help is also available. Student Life representatives live alongside students in university accommodation and there is 24/7 assistance over the phone.

What do the students say?

“I knew I wanted a place at Harper Adams as soon as I drove down the drive at open day. Lecturers were engaging and the practical elements — and placement year — embedded into Harper’s courses are incredibly valuable. At Harper, you don’t get the standard ‘university life’ you get at city-based campuses. At the students’ union, we say 'you can take the student out of Harper, but you can never take Harper out of the student!”
Ellie Mace, Harper Adams students’ union president 23/24 and veterinary nursing graduate 

What about student accommodation at Harper Adams University?

Accommodation is guaranteed on campus to those from abroad, or who are disabled or have left care. The university is almost always able to accommodate all first-years, and for those in catered accommodation, Queen Mother Hall serves three meals a day.

How diverse and inclusive is Harper Adams University?

Harper Adams is the least ethnically diverse university in our guide which places it 94th in our social inclusion index overall. However, it is placed third for recruitment of disabled students. To widen participation in its specialist education and outreach, Harper Adams works on outreach programmes with organisations such as the Royal Entomological Society, NFU Education and Uni Connect.

Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Harper Adams University

Scholarships funded by philanthropic and industry donations totalling over £564,000 were awarded post-admission to more than 136 students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) in 2022-23.