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    Undergraduate

    BSc (Hons)Rural Property and Real Estate (with placement)

    Course overview

    Rural Property and Real Estate is the ideal route for those keen to specialise in the property side of rural asset management.

    You could manage everything from the care of historic buildings to new developments in the countryside (or where town meets country) and the management of agricultural, residential and commercial tenancies.

    You will cover aspects of law, valuation, construction, taxation, property development, sustainable energy, conservation and more to ensure you have the full breadth of knowledge required to make the right business decisions about rural property.

    This RICS-accredited programme is ideal for aspiring rural practice chartered surveyors, with a specialist interest in property assets.

    If your interests lie closer to the agricultural side of rural asset management, explore our Rural Enterprise and Land Management route.

    The Harper Advantage

    • A full placement year in industry as part of your degree, enabling you to put knowledge into practice, develop your network and discover your future ambitions
    • Professional Accreditation: This degree course is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) for the Rural Surveying Pathway.
    • More than 15 competitive scholarships open to students on Land and Property Management routes

    Learn more

    For more information on the work undertaken by rural surveyors, please watch this RICS video.

    For information on careers in Rural Chartered Surveying visit the Grow Your Future website.

    Course key info

    Land management overview  ❯

    UCAS code D440

    Institution code: H12

    Duration

    4 years (full-time) including a one-year work placement. A three year programme is available for applicants with at least two years, full-time relevant work experience.

    Location

    Harper Adams University campus (and location of work placement)

    Accredited by

    Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

    Discover Uni

    97.5%

    of our Harper Adams graduates are in employment or further study!

    Graduate Outcomes, 2024

    Learn about our placement advantage  ❯

    Entry requirements for 2025

    Our typical offer

    104 UCAS points for A level students. See below for details of entry requirements for other accepted qualifications.

    Full requirements

    Use the drop-down tool to select the qualifications you have or are working towards to see what grades would be required for access to this programme. If you can’t see your qualification or would like any assistance with entry requirements, please contact the Admissions team: admissions@harper-adams.ac.uk

    Course modules

    Module Table
    Year 1
    Year 2
    Year 3
    Year 4

    How will I be taught?

    This course shares a common first and second year with the REALM course as both are aligned to the Rural Pathway of the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence. Students will specialise in the final year, post placement, with core modules covering strategic estate management, property development, events management and diversification. Optional modules will allow you to consider the conservation of historic estate assets, the provision of renewable energy or to study how rural property is managed internationally.

    A typical week in year 1 consists of:

    • 8hrs lectures
    • 8hrs seminars, site/estate visits, farm walks and surveying practicals

    Field trips have included visits to:

    • Attingham Park and other local estates
    • Earl of Plymouth Estate, Ludlow
    • Flax Mill Nr Shrewsbury (the oldest iron framed building in the world)
    • Commercial properties

    Assessment methods

    The course is assessed on a mixture of coursework and examinations.

    Transfer

    Students may transfer between BSc REALM and BSc RPM (and vice versa) at the end of the first two years, before commencing the placement year.

    Learning in Higher Education – how is it different?

    Whilst a student’s prior experience or qualifications should prepare them for Higher Education, most will find that study at university level is organised differently than they might have experienced at either school or college. Higher Education sets out to prepare students to think and learn independently, so that they are able to continue learning new things beyond their studies and into the workplace, without needing a tutor to guide them. This means that the time spent in classes with tutors provides direction, guidance and support for work that students undertake independently through:

    • finding useful information sources and compiling bibliographies of reading material, in paper and online
    • reading and making notes to help make fuller sense of subjects
    • engaging with online materials and activities found in the College’s own virtual learning environment
    • preparing assignments to practise skills and develop new insights and learning
    • preparing for future classes so you can participate fully

    In order to develop the skills of a graduate (whether at Foundation Degree or Honours Degree levels), students are expected to not only be able to recall and explain what they know but also to be able to:

    • apply what they know to new problems or situations
    • analyse information and data and make connections between topics to help make sense of a situation
    • synthesise, or draw together, the information and understanding gained from a range of sources, to create new plans or ideas
    • evaluate their own work and also the work of others, so that they can judge its value and relevance to a particular problem or situation

    Tutors will expect students working towards a Degree to be able to use what they know to solve problems and answer meaningful questions about the way in which aspects of the world work and not just rote-learn information that they have been told or read, for later recall. This means using all the bullet-pointed skills and thinking critically by questioning information, whilst also being rigorous in checking the value of the evidence used in making one’s own points.  Students will be expected to become increasingly responsible for recognising the areas where they themselves need to develop. Taking careful note of tutor feedback can help to identify the skills and abilities on which attention could usefully be focused. To be successful, students need to be self-motivated to study outside of classes, especially since in higher education, these higher level skills need to be practised independently. 

    At Harper Adams, students are gradually supported to become less reliant on class-based learning so that they are able to spend a greater proportion of their time in their final year working on projects of interest to themselves and in line with their future career aspirations. In the first year of a course, a student has 16 hours of contact per week with staff in lectures, seminars, estate/site visits, farm walks, etc. In the second year, students are given some independent study weeks to enhance their independent learning skills including project work and reading around subject areas.

    Harper Adams has an extensive estate and great facilities for students to use as a source of information and inspiration, we also have a well-stocked library and access to countless specialist sources of paper-based and online information. Many of the staff at Harper Adams are involved in research work, which helps ensure the content of the courses is at the forefront of the discipline.  This also means that amongst the library books and online journals that students use, there may be some familiar names.

    The Bamford Library and Faccenda Centre each have spaces in which students can work, either individually or in small groups, using either their own laptop computers or the provided desktop computers, all of which can access the network.  Working spaces are zoned to reflect different working conditions, so there is a study space for everybody, whether they need silence or work better in a livelier environment.

    Let us be your guide...

    For course related enquiries please contact:

    Admissions
    Telephone: 0300 131 3950
    Email: admissions@harper-adams.ac.uk

    Work Placement

    Placement will give you invaluable experience in your chosen area of work. It may be working with a national firm such as Carter Jonas, Savills, Strutt and Parker, Smiths Gore, or with a local firm such as Fisher German, Halls, Berry’s or Balfours.

    Alternatively, you may choose to work on a large traditional estate such as Buccleuch, Chatsworth, local authorities or the National Trust.

    Students who have performed well have often been offered a job when they graduate.

    Most students will count this placement as the first of two years of structured training needed for the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence.

    Careers

    Rural Property Management graduates are likely to progress to positions in the management of rural property, estates and land, often within a firm of chartered surveyors specialising in this work or in some instances as a resident agent on a larger estate.

    Accreditation

    Accredited by: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

    This degree course is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) for the Rural Surveying Pathway.

    MRICS candidates, who have accredited degrees, must in addition, complete the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence (APC). This involves two years of structured work experience, training and assessment. The placement year of this course usually counts as the first year of the APC, with the second undertaken after graduation.

    Fees and costs

    The latest fees for this course can be found in our fees and funding section. You will also find course related costs, specific to this course in this area.

    Disclaimer

    Whilst every opportunity has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information on this course page, Harper Adams University wishes to emphasise that the content is regularly reviewed and is subject to change from time-to-time as required. Our courses undergo reviews to ensure they are flexible, relevant and as up-to-date as possible.

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