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Posted 1 September 2005

A Harper Adams University College Student has been honoured with a coveted award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Access course.

George Trippick from Emborough, near Bath in Somerset has been awarded the Philip Oldcorn Memorial Award following a successful year on the University Access Course at Harper Adams. George was nominated for the award by fellow students and staff.

Nicky Hunter, course manager, described George as an excellent ambassador for the course. Principal, Professor Wynne Jones, added: “It is an honour to be selected for the Philip Oldcorn Memorial Award by peers and teaching staff. I am delighted that George is the recipient of this year’s award as it reflects his commitment to the course and fellow students.”

George Trippick is a former head boy at Brymore School in Somerset and his excellent academic performance on the Access course has been rewarded with a place to study a degree on the popular Rural Enterprise and Land Management course at Harper Adams next year. Eventually he hopes to work in property development and land management in the future.

The University Access course is a one-year course for students to want to gain access to higher education but do not have A-Levels or other suitable qualifications. It has run since 1971 with hundreds of students progressing on to higher education courses, both at Harper Adams and other institutions. This year thirty-three former Access students will gain awards at the graduation ceremony in September and many of these students have out-performed students who entered with traditional A-Level qualifications.

The UK’s Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for higher education has also recently confirmed that it has ’broad confidence’ in Harper Adams University College as an effective institution in assuring the quality of its educational provision and standard of awards. This underlines a previous QAA assessment when Harper Adams scored 23 out of 24 for the quality of its provision and confirms that the highest academic quality continues to be maintained at Harper Adams.

In addition, Harper Adams University College has recently been named a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). The University College is one of only 74 higher education institutions across England to be awarded the title, by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
The purpose of the centre, which will be known as Aspire (Advancing Skills for Professionals in the Rural Economy), will be to promote excellence in teaching and learning in higher education. Not only does the award of the Aspire CETL recognise the substantial efforts and achievements of staff and students, the £1.8 million funding the University College will receive over five years will allow Harper Adams to develop and improve its facilities and services.

• Philip Oldcorn was a Foundation course student from 1992-1993, during which time he was involved in a car accident. He was in a coma for three years until his death in 1996. As well as establishing the Oldcorn award, Philip’s parent’s John and Sylvia were founder donors to the Harper Adams Club Scholarship fund, established to mark the College's centenary in 2001.