HARPER ADAMS ON FOR THE WELSH WINTER FAIR

Posted 15 November 2001

A TEAM FROM Harper Adams University College, Shropshire, the UK’s largest institution of Higher Education for the land and food-based industries, will attend the Welsh Winter Fair next month.

The latest reports from Harper Adams show that their recruitment from Wales is up on all previous years – a fact that runs against the pattern of recruitment amongst some Welsh colleges offering land-based courses, where student numbers are struggling in the wake of Foot and Mouth Disease.

“We are delighted to have welcomed 58 new students from Wales this year,” said David Llewellyn, Director of Corporate Affairs at Harper Adams.

“This is the largest number of students from Wales recruited in the entire one hundred years of the history of Harper Adams. Our numbers have steadily climbed from 35 Welsh recruits in 1999, to 52 in 2000 and now to 58. You can be sure that our own Harper Cymry society has already made them feel at home.”

Principal Professor Wynne Jones is pleased with this year’s recruitment to the many degree courses now available: “We are very pleased with our student recruitment this year and although we are a few down on Agriculture compared to last year, we are still in a very strong position indeed.

“In addition, if you look at Harper Adams as a whole, we now have a total student body of 1,797, which is all the more remarkable when you remember that this is an increase of 59 students on last year.”

But will there be jobs for all those students and should Harper Adams be recruiting during such a difficult time for the countryside and for those in rural careers? Professor Jones maintains his upbeat message.

“All the evidence indicates that there are far less students, nationally, coming into the industry and that we are concentrating them here. As a consequence, there will be less people qualifying and chasing jobs.

“You must also remember that at Harper Adams we are dealing in Higher Education and that our students have access to graduate level employment. This means that there is a wide scope of opportunities in front of them rather than total dependence on one avenue of employment.

“The employment statistics for all our graduates continue to look good as a degree is widely recognised both for its academic worth and its employability.”

Harper Adams will have an exhibition stand at the Winter Fair, at Builth Wells, on Tuesday, December 4, 2001. Staff and members of Harper Cymry will be pleased to meet with anybody interested in knowing more about the University College and its many educational services.