Hartpury University guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
Hartpury University shares a site with Hartpury College, five miles from Gloucester. This allows students to move seamlessly on to higher education, with many enrolling to study A-level, T-level and BTEC qualifications and leaving with a degree after five years. It is one of the few places in the country where this progression is possible and it is proving popular, with record numbers of students at both the university and college. Applications have topped 3,000 for four successive years since the pandemic, and admissions have exceeded 800 for the past five years. The university, which became independent in 2018, offers just over 30 degrees with a strong accent on agriculture and sports - areas in which the university has a national standing. Hartpury has a 360-hectare farming estate, which operates as a commercial farm and is home to cows, sheep and arable land. It has a national reputation in rugby union, world-class equestrian facilities, and numerous social sports teams. High standards have been recognised with a triple gold award - covering student experience, student outcomes and overall rating - in the 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework, an outcome secured by only 15% of institutions nationally. University facilities have been upgraded since university status was achieved, with the new veterinary nursing and technical skills centre that opened this year being the latest addition.
Paying the bills
Hartpury's eminence in inter-university sport is reflected in the fact that sports scholarships offer the largest potential sum of supplementary income for students by some distance. Last year, more than £250,000 was shared between 148 sports scholars, with the size of individual awards variable and payable across all years of study. Hartpury is also unusual in that it pays a larger bursary to students from wealthier homes. The Hartpury Low Income bursary is worth £400 a year to students where household income is no more than £25,000, but this rises to £1,000 a year for students from homes where income sits between £25,001 and £42,000. Just under 250 bursaries were paid out last year, with the bulk of them being the lower sum. Care leavers and estranged students get bursaries of £1,500 a year, and carers qualify for £1,000 a year, while a progression scholarship is tailored to the university's rare combination of further and higher education under one roof. Worth £1,000 in the first year, it is paid to students who move directly from Hartpury College to the university and achieve at least BBB at A-level or DDM at BTEC. Overall, about one quarter of Hartpury's students receive a bursary or scholarship of one kind or another. There are nearly 400 university-owned rooms on campus, which are priced between £6,474 and £8,775 for a 39-week tenancy.
What's new?
Doc Martin is more used to treating human patients in his long-running TV drama, but actor Martin Clunes, who is also Hartpury's chancellor, was on hand for the opening of a new facility for our four-legged friends at the university earlier this year. Hartpury's veterinary nursing and technical skills centre greatly enhances facilities for students on veterinary nursing programmes, which are fully accredited by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. With two 40-workspace laboratories and a preparation room downstairs, the upstairs is given over to a clinical area where students can make use of animal simulators and training models under guidance from veterinary professionals and teachers. The new building, which doubles the size of existing teaching accommodation for veterinary nurses, is built according to the latest Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method-certified (BREEAM) environmental standards. Making use of this new facility, an MSci degree in veterinary physiotherapy will recruit its first students for admissions in September 2026. There are two further degrees being added to Hartpury's course portfolio: a BSc in environmental science, also beginning in September 2026, and a BSc in sports performance, which admits its first students in September this year.
Admissions, teaching and student support
When it comes to access activities, Hartpury targets children living in areas with low rates of participation in higher education; care leavers; those receiving free school meals; those from ethnic minority backgrounds; mature students; and those with non-standard or vocational entry qualifications. Reduced offers of between eight and 16 Ucas tariff points are made for all but foundation-year programmes (where entry criteria are set at a level that already encourages fair access). The exact reduction in tariff points depends on the standard offer. So, courses normally offered at 120 to 128 points will be offered at the reduced rate of 112; those in the range of 104 to 112 points come down to 96. Teaching is predominantly in-person. Any online hours are often made up of lectures delivered remotely by guest lecturers, 'enabling global speakers to input into [our] programmes'. All students have a personal tutor who maintains regular contact and monitors engagement. They guide students towards Hartpury's Achievement and Success Centre for help with study skills; the employability, skills and careers team for jobs advice; and the wellbeing service if needed. As well as offering daily drop-ins and one-to-one appointments, the latter assists students who are struggling with loneliness and homesickness; stress and anxiety; and drug, alcohol or gambling dependency. It runs an annual WellFest during freshers' week to promote its services and raise awareness, with more than 90 exhibitors taking part. As part of enrolment, all students complete mandatory workshops and presentations on healthy relationships, safeguarding, substance misuse awareness and social tolerance.