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 Foundation Year 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 may be completed in three years rather than four.

Further initiatives to help all students access study at Harper Adams

• 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.