Hartpury University has been awarded Gold in all three areas of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) - Overall, Student Experience, and Student Outcomes.
Notably, this impressive accolade places Hartpury in the top 15% of published institutions in England. Hartpury is also the only Gloucestershire university to have been awarded the prestigious triple Gold status.
The outstanding results, based in part from student feedback, come during the same month that Hartpury celebrates its fifth anniversary of holding university status.
After assessing a combination of data that included a submission by the university as well as a separate student submission, the TEF panel highlighted the following Student Experience and Student Outcomes sub-categories as ‘outstanding quality’:
- Student Experience: Teaching, assessment, and feedback; Course content and delivery; Research; Learning environment and academic support; Learning resources.
- Student Outcomes: Approaches to supporting student success, Progression rates, Intended educational gains, and Approaches to supporting educational gains.
The university submission set out its strategy and framework for offering students a relevant and high quality educational experience. The student submission drew on a range of data sources including a TEF survey, focus groups across the equine and animal subject areas, qualitative data such as comments from the National Student Survey (NSS), internal feedback mechanisms (e.g. staff-student committees and course representatives) and other surveys (e.g. mid- and end of module evaluations). Positive student feedback once again highlights how much they value the academic experience at Hartpury.
228 universities, colleges, and alternative providers of higher education took part in the TEF; a national scheme run by the Office for Students (OfS) that aims to encourage higher education providers to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies. The TEF does this by assessing and rating universities and colleges for excellence above a set of minimum requirements for quality and standards. Each provider was rated Gold, Silver, or Bronze, or received a Provisional award where there was not enough data for a full assessment.
Students are encouraged to use TEF ratings – which provide a clear signal of a provider's excellence – as useful context to the range of more detailed information they will want to consider when deciding what and where to study.
During the last few months alone, Hartpury has received numerous accolades each highlighting the quality of its teaching and student experience. The inaugural Daily Mail University Guide 2024 ranked Hartpury in 2nd place in the UK for Student Support and 4th in the UK for Teaching Excellence, while The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 ranked Hartpury as 6th in the UK for Teaching Quality and 14th in the UK for Student Experience. In the National Student Survey (NSS), Hartpury University was ranked as the number one university in England in the ‘Academic Support’ category.
This reinforces the student-centred Hartpury Academic Strategy, which leads with a commitment that ‘teaching practice will provide learning opportunities that will enable students to realise their potential’, and also that its ‘graduates will be highly employable, recognise the value in what they do, and be able to make positive contributions to society.’
Professor Andy Collop, Vice-Chancellor of Hartpury University said: “TEF Gold is an outstanding achievement and I’m incredibly proud to have the honour of congratulating our hardworking staff who work tirelessly to ensure students receive the very best teaching possible. To be the only Gloucestershire university to have received triple Gold status feels very special.
“Hartpury itself is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and this accolade provides an ideal opportunity to reflect on and thank not only the staff and students of today, but all those who came before us. They each played a role in creating what we’re so proud to be part of today. Here’s to the next chapter.”
Rosie Scott-Ward, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Hartpury University added: “This is a remarkable way for us to celebrate our fifth anniversary as a university and I’m so proud of our amazing staff who’ve played a central role in securing TEF Gold status and out place in the top 15% of published higher education institutions in England.
“Time and again, feedback surveys and league tables are highlighting the quality of our teaching from the voices that matter most - our students! I want to thank them in particular for not only choosing Hartpury, but for providing ongoing feedback that shapes everything we do. We’re committed to providing the very best higher education experience for each and every one of them.”
The university continues to invest in facilities to complement the wider higher education experience. A new £12.75m University Learning Hub will open later this year and be at the centre of an immersive higher education experience at Hartpury. This is the first new building project implemented exclusively for the institution’s growing undergraduate and postgraduate student population. It follows on from the unveiling of Graze in September 2022, a contemporary catering, teaching and conference facility for use by college and university students.
