BIS delegation’s fact-finding mission to Harper Adams

Posted 25 February 2014

A team of delegates from the government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills visited Harper Adams University this week.

The group came to the campus of Shropshire’s only university on one of series of nationwide visits to help BIS staff learn more about the higher education institutions with which they engage.

Several of the visitors are working on the government’s Agricultural Technology Strategy, launched last July, which aims to deliver sustainable, healthy and affordable food for future generations, and includes a £160 million government investment in developing cutting edge technologies, to assist with food production and the management of the agricultural environment.

Other guests are involved in higher education strategy and in the development of policy from apprenticeships to postgraduate training.

Harper Adams Vice-Chancellor, Dr David Llewellyn, said: “We were delighted to welcome the BIS delegation to our campus to demonstrate the work Harper Adams is doing to develop new technologies that will play an important role in securing future food supplies, and to attract new entrants into the agri-food sector to address its requirement for higher-level skills.  We also had the opportunity to explain how Harper Adams has a unique role to play in the UK higher education sector and how our close connections with industry help deliver sector-leading graduate employment rates.”

The delegation met a variety of staff and students during their tour of the Harper Adams campus, and had the chance to see a range of cutting-edge facilities including the Regional Food Academy, new teaching accommodation and the recently-launched Agricultural Engineering Innovation Centre, home to the National Centre for Precision Farming.

The group also visited the university’s farm, laboratory facilities and anaerobic digestion plant, where they had the chance to see come of the uiversity’s latest research in areas ranging from new agricultural machinery to entomology.