Harper Adams contributes £40 million to UK economy

Posted 19 January 2012

Harper Adams University College contributes nearly £40 million to the UK economy each year, according to a new report. 

Harper Adams, in Shropshire, is the country’s largest specialist provider of higher education for the agri-food chain and rural economy. The University College commissioned Oxford Economics to undertake an impact study of its economic contribution to both the national and regional economies.

The report concluded that Harper Adams had contributed £38.3 million in Gross Value Added (GVA) and supported 1,290 jobs in the UK during the academic year 2009/10 – an outstanding achievement for an institution of its size, with 4,500 students.

In a summary of its findings, the report highlights that Harper Adams contributed £28.5 million to the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin economies and that for every one job supported by Harper Adams an additional two jobs were supported in the wider economy. This compares to an average of just 0.9 jobs supported in the university sector as a whole.

Included in these figures is a contribution of £1.6 million from its work with international students who study on the campus in Shropshire.

The report also outlines the key role Harper Adams has to play in skills provision and research: “Harper Adams maintains a high rate of retention of graduates in the regional area, helping to boost the supply of skilled labour in a region where the agricultural sector is a significant employer,” the report states.

“With a high rate of professional accreditation and a variety of flexible learning opportunities, Harper Adams is helping to address a number of skills gaps identified by Lantra in the sector.”

University College Principal, Dr David Llewellyn said: “Harper Adams has achieved outstanding success in so many areas in recent years, from high levels of student satisfaction and graduate employability, to being Best University College for five years running in the Sunday Times Good University Guide. The addition of these excellent economic contribution results, both nationally and regionally, is further evidence of how Harper Adams is increasingly being seen as a centre of excellence in the university sector.”