Number of new College students at Hartpury hits record high

During a busy enrolment week last week, 1096 students started their journey as new College students – the highest ever number of new starters.

While the majority will be studying vocational diplomas in Sport, Animal, Equine, Agriculture and Land-based studies, Outdoor Adventure and Uniformed Public Services, 126 will be starting the first year of their A-levels at the College, many of them combining their academic development with elite sport commitments.

Some of the new cohort enjoyed a fun day of watersports activities at Croft Farm in Tewkesbury during enrolment week, while they are now enjoying an action-packed Freshers’ Week, including barbecues, quiz and games nights and the ever-popular Freshers’ Party.

It’s no surprise that the popularity of studying at the College is increasing, given last year’s ‘outstanding’ rating from Ofsted for the care and support offered to students living on campus at Hartpury, which has the most residential students of any Further Education provider in the UK.

Department for Education results released in January also showed that Hartpury again ranked as the top specialist land-based college in England for its vocational diploma courses, with the average grade being a Distinction and students making more progress from their starting points than at any similar college; achieving significantly higher grades than would have been expected based on their GCSE results. 

Russell Marchant, Hartpury Principal, said: “We’re always striving to improve the student experience here and it’s great to see those efforts paying off, with student numbers and satisfaction levels rising. We were particularly proud that in a survey of 1567 College students in May, 96% of them said they would recommend Hartpury College.

“It’s clear that awareness is continually growing of the quality of the teaching, facilities and opportunities for real world experience available to students here, who go on to some really exciting careers and places at top universities.

“But being a student at Hartpury is about so much more than results. They are important as a benchmark, but nowhere near as important as ensuring every young person here does as well as they possibly can. How we support our students to be successful in later life is just as important.

“We are delighted to be welcoming so many of them into the Pury family this September. It should be the start of an incredible journey for them.”