Hartpury College

History

The college was established in the post-World War II era of the late 1940s, as an agricultural college with 50 students. The college remained relatively unchanged until 1990, when a rapid expansion programme started with the provision of a larger variety of further education courses. The first higher education programme in Equine Studies was introduced in 1992, followed by the first degree programme in Equine Science in 1994. Malcolm Wharton retired from his post after 22 years, in August 2012, and was succeeded by current college principal, Russell Marchant.

Hartpury’s link with the University of the West of England (UWE) began in 1997 when Hartpury was awarded Associate Faculty status.

1999 saw the introduction of the first master's degree programme – an MSc in Equine Science. The college was able to offer Foundation degree programmes from 2003, and 2004 saw the first PhD Student.

The college was awarded ‘Good with Outstanding features' status by Ofsted for its further education courses and facilities in May 2015.

Further education

The college offers a number of further education opportunities in areas such as Agriculture and Countryside Management, Animal Care, Veterinary Nursing, Equine Studies, Sport, Outdoor Adventure and Uniformed Public Services.

The college also offers a range of A levels to pre-university students including Art, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Economics, English Literature, English Language, Environmental Studies, Geography, History, ICT, Mathematics, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology and Sociology. The pre-Veterinary programme is designed to prepare students for the rigors of university entrance onto Veterinary Science degrees.

There are a number of one year full-time Foundation Studies courses available, which offer students a variety of rural related activities as well as an opportunity to improve numeracy, literacy, IT, communication and life skills.

Higher education

Hartpury University Centre is an Associate Faculty of the University of the West of England (UWE) and has been working in partnership with them since 1997. Today it has more than 1500 students working towards foundation degrees, honours degrees and postgraduate qualifications in the fields of animal, agriculture, equine and sport.

Hartpury’s university level provision received a very positive report from the Quality Assurance Agency in 2014, with seven areas of best practice identified and highlighting the quality of the student experience, while it achieved its highest ever National Student Survey results in 2015 with 86% student satisfaction, significantly above the national average of 80% for comparable institutions.

Undergraduate Programmes

There is a range of specialist degree study options available. Subjects in Animal and Land Sciences, Applied Equine Science and Management, Veterinary Nursing Science (including Equine), Sports Coaching, Management and Business.

Postgraduate Programmes

Since 1999, the college has expanded its range of postgraduate programmes. These now include Equine Science, Equestrian Performance, Veterinary Physiotherapy, Anthrozoology, Animal Behaviour and Welfare and Coaching Science and Strength and Conditioning.

Campus and Facilities

The main campus and estate covers an area in excess of 360 hectares (890 acres) and is based 4 miles (6.4 km) from Gloucester and 12 miles (19 km) from Cheltenham.

The College can accommodate over 1,000 residential students on-site. Facilities include catering and self-catering, on-site under 18 accommodation in separate male and female blocks, 24hr student support/warden service, en-suite facilities and communal ‘social’ areas. There are leisure facilities, including Legends Bar, Hereos common room (for under 18s) and the new Red & Black Cafe.

The College is also able to offer off-campus accommodation in the city of Gloucester.

The international student population at Hartpury College has grown rapidly over the past few years, with up to 120 students from 30 different countries studying at the college.

Teaching

Teaching and learning facilities include the Learning Resources Centre and the Mark Davison Centre – a 15,613 square feet (1,450.5 m²) lecture theatre and classroom complex.

Animal and Veterinary Nursing facilities at the College include the Animal Science Centre, a well-stocked animal house, aquariums, vivariums, a hydrotherapy unit, an operating theatre, grooming parlour and an equine veterinary and therapy centre.

Home Farm

Home Farm facilities include a service/repair, welding and projects workshop, Home Farm Shoot, a trout lake, woodland, game rearing unit and a farm information centre. The new Malcolm Wharton Centre is a 1500 m2 classroom, office and learning resource centre block for agriculture, countryside (game), farm mechanisation and land-based technology students based at the Home Farm. The building is aimed at achieving the highest BREEAM rating. BREEAM sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the effective measure used to describe a building's environmental performance.

Hartpury Sport

Hartpury operates a large sports programme at both university and U18 level. There are academies in rugby union, football, netball, golf, modern pentathlon and rowing, and the college consistently ranks amongst the country's elite in many of those sports. Most recently, the college have been crowned BUCS Rugby Union Champions 2013/14 and ECFA Football Champions in the same year.

Hartpury College's Director of Elite Sport (since early 2012) is Phil de Glanville. After gaining a Blue at Oxford University, Phil enjoyed a long and successful career in Rugby Union, captaining Bath RFC and appearing 38 times for England, who he also skippered. Since his retirement from the game, he worked for Sport England before joining Hartpury.

Hartpury offers a number of scholarships and bursaries to national and international students of exceptional athletic ability.

Facilities at the college include a Sports Academy Centre, grass football and rugby pitches, human performance laboratory, sports rehabilitation suite, rugby and football floodlit rubber crumbs, golf driving range, golf swing studio and short game practice areas, Modern Pentathlon Combined Event range, fitness and power gyms, performance analysis suite, a nine-hole pitch-and-putt golf, and tennis courts.

Hartpury Equine

The college has extensive equine facilities including eight indoor and outdoor arenas including a purpose built championship indoor arena complex, cross-country courses up to CIC*** level, Home Farm Stud, stabling for 230 (including over 100 boxes for student DIY livery), on-site equine therapy centre, rehabilitation centre which includes a water and high- speed treadmill and science laboratories.

The College is an equine events venue. Previous international events include the 1994 World Championships for Disabled Riders, 1997 European Pony Championships, 2000 European Young Rider Championships and 2007 FEI World Para Dressage Championships.

Major annual equine events include the Hartpury Festival of Dressage (CDI***), NAF International Hartpury CCI */** CIC*** Horse Trials and the Hartpury Show Jumping Spectacular.

Hartpury Equine is also committed to the development of riders to the highest levels of competition. The Equine Academy covers the major disciplines of Dressage, Show Jumping and Eventing and operates squads at Elite, Development and Foundation level. Coaches within the Academy include current and former international riders such as Carl Hester and Corinne Bracken.

Hartpury Animal and Land

Animal students at Hartpury learn about and work with a wide variety of small and large domestic and exotic species with the extensive on-site animal collection, at Hartpury’s farm and in the canine hydrotherapy and equine therapy centres. The new walled garden animal collection is the home of meerkats, prairie dogs and four aviaries, while the collection also includes wallabies, llamas and even piranha. Dedicated dissection and microbiology laboratories help students put into practice what they learn in lectures.

While animal degree courses range from Animal Management and Animal Behaviour and Welfare to Animal Science with Therapy, there are also a range of BTEC Diplomas in Animal Management and Animal Science available.

Hartpury also provides land-based degrees and BTEC Diplomas. These include Agriculture (degree and BTEC) and diplomas in Farm Mechanisation, Agricultural Engineering and Gamekeeping, as well as agricultural apprenticeships. Land students have the 360-hectare Hartpury estate as their classroom, including the fully working commercial farm, working dairy, a lake and woodland, plus there’s a commercial shoot run on site. Students help out with lambing, milking, calving, rearing and observe veterinary procedures.

Alumni Association

The college has an Alumni Association, with membership automatically conferred on former students from both Further and Higher Education programmes, as well as current and former members of staff.