Access to Harper

Recognising potential – Our pledge to help you to access higher education

Harper Adams University is committed to bringing fresh talent into the industries we serve, regardless of background. As a result, we have developed a range of measures and initiatives to give everyone the best chance to access our undergraduate degree programmes. The main feature of Access to Harper is our contextualised offer scheme.

The aim of our Contextualised offer scheme is to make the University more accessible for those applicants who may not have previously thought that they were eligible to apply.

How do the entry requirements change if I am eligible?

Mature students

If you are aged 21 and over, and are applying to university after some time out of education, we can support you to embark upon degree study to help you pursue your passion, advance your learning or change career entirely.

We have adjusted our standard entry requirements to make them more accessible for mature applicants, by reducing the number of GCSEs required:

We welcome enquiries from mature applicants who do not meet our standard requirements, and will happily review CVs and make recommendations prior to formal application. For mature applicants, the Extended Degree programme may be a good way to get back into Higher education.

Depending on prior relevant employment history, mature applicants may be exempt from completing the placement year, following assessment by the Course Manager, meaning that a degree can be completed in three years rather than four.

Financial support towards attending interview sessions

A small number of our courses (Agriculture, Engineering and Veterinary Physiotherapy and the Extended Degree Programmes) require applicants to participate in an advice and interview session. These events aim to ensure that the course you have chosen is absolutely right for you and your career ambitions. When these events take place in person, on site, we offer financial support, to help with travel costs, if you are a UK resident in receipt of free school meals or a Care Leaver.  When you are invited for an advice and interview session, you will also be invited to contact the Admissions team if you are in receipt of free school meals and the team will confirm the financial contribution that you will receive, based on your distance from the university campus. We also arrange to collect all applicants from Stafford train station, free of charge.

Where an applicant is unable to travel to the campus when invited, even where financial assistance is available to them, we will be able to conduct interview and advice sessions over the phone or over video call. Any applicant in this position will not be at a disadvantage compared to others and their application will be considered in the same way.

Further initiatives to help all students access study at Harper Adams

• The Access to Agriculture Programme provides support for applicants of our Agriculture degrees with the requirements to gain 10 weeks work experience. Recognising the difficulty that some applicants may have in obtaining the 10 weeks practical work experience required for entry to Agriculture courses, Harper Adams is able to offer a point of contact to provide general advice and guidance on how to obtain relevant work experience. Please contact admissions@harper-adams.ac.uk.
• The Engineering team will make more telephone advice and interview sessions available, as an alternative to in-person sessions.
• Care Leavers will be provided with the contact of a named person to help with their transition to Harper Adams and they will be provided with details of the Care Leavers Covenant.
• The Disrupted Studies Policy provides applicants who have faced additional problems during the course of their studies, the opportunity to submit information to enable the Admissions Team to make additional considerations at confirmation if they miss their offer. This would be beyond any extenuating circumstances submitted to the exam board by their school/college. Details of the policy and the relevant forms can be found in the Admissions Policy.
• The Admissions Team will ensure that all applicants with a strong application will receive additional consideration at confirmation if they do not exactly meet the conditions of their offer (subject to places being available).

Access and Participation Plan

Collectively, these initiatives form just a small part of our Access and Participation Plan. Through this Plan we have identified that we need to do more to actively encourage those from areas which are disadvantaged or where it is unusual to go to University, as well as those from a Black, Asian or other Minority Ethnic (BAME) heritage, to study with us. In doing so, we hope to enrich the graduate Talent Pool for the industries we serve, as we have recently identified that students from these groups are not as well represented in the Harper Adams’ student community as we would like. Historic data is summarised below and provides the driver for us to ensure that, whatever their background, every applicant and every student who joins us is supported to succeed and reach their full potential. Our Access and Participation Plan 2020-25 sets out how we will achieve this.