Minister praises University's expansion into urban areas

The UK’s Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs has said Harper Adams University’s drive to extend its work into urban areas is ‘a good idea.’

Dame Angela Eagle MP was speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on Government Support for Agriculture shortly before the prorogation of Parliament yesterday.

Among the queries which MPs raised with her was the issue of access of agriculture for young people – and she agreed more routes into farming were needed, saying: “It is really important that we try to give a younger generation of people the chances given by access to land so that they can farm.

I certainly think that we have not had a look at farming education and the ways into the sector for a very long time. I would certainly like to be able to do that.”

In December, the Minister came to visit both the Harper Adams University Edgmond Campus and Harper Adams University. Telford.

In Telford, she met students at the University’s digital skills hub in the Quad development - seeing examples of the robotics and mechatronics and  data science teaching and research carried out on-site.

She also heard how the University is helping introduce young people from Telford & Wrekin to new opportunities and new careers, how skills for local businesses are being boosted through short courses, and how the decision to invest in an urban site is helping Harper Adams drive forward regional prosperity.

At the University’s Edgmond campus, she visited its Veterinary Education Centre, met Harper Adams employees and students at a project showcase at the UK Agri-Tech Centre – and toured the Harper Adams Future Farm.

Looking back at her visit during yesterday’s debate, she added: “When I visited Harper Adams University recently, I noted that it now has a campus in an urban area.

“Consequently, people are likely to come across it in a way they were unlikely to come across that venerable old institution’s original building, which of course it still inhabits.

“That extension of the university into an urban area is a good idea.”