The Office for Students (OfS) has published summary statements from the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) panel explaining the rationale for Hartpury University’s impressive triple Gold rating, awarded in September.
The TEF panel’s summary statements show that the panel concluded that ‘the experience students have at Hartpury University and the outcomes it leads to are outstanding’.
Outstanding quality features in the student experience section include:
- feedback and assessment practices have been embedded that are highly effective and tailored to supporting students' learning, progression, and attainment
- a range of things that support practical, industry-focused and engaging learning experiences and evidence of stretching students to develop knowledge and skills to their fullest potential
- active use of research in relevant disciplines, and professional practice and employer engagement in the delivery of courses (research submitted as part of REF 2021 was recognised as ‘world leading’ and ‘internationally excellent’)
- a supportive learning environment, and access to a wide and readily available range of outstanding quality academic support tailored to the needs of students
- physical and virtual learning resources are tailored and used effectively to support outstanding teaching and learning.
There are also some very high quality features including:
- excellent support for staff professional development and excellent promotion of academic practice
- effective engagement with students, leading to improvements to their experiences and outcomes.
Outstanding quality features in the student outcomes section include:
- deploys and tailors approaches that are highly effective in ensuring that students succeed in and progress beyond their studies
- outstanding rates of successful progression for the provider’s students and courses
- clear articulation of the range of educational gains it intends its students to achieve
- approaches to supporting students to achieve educational gains are evidence-based and tailored to different starting points.
There are also some very high quality features including:
- very high continuation and completion rates
- evaluation of the gains made by students and clear plans for the further development.
Student submission
For TEF 2023, the OfS invited students to submit their views on the quality of their educational experience and outcomes through an independent student submission. This supplements the institution’s submission and the OfS’s TEF indicators, and provides important insights from students to the TEF panel.
The following areas were praised in their submission:
Graduate employability
The submission shows that students feel Hartpury has equipped them well for post-graduation life, and this is supported by previous graduates. Results from the Graduate Outcomes surveys conducted for 2019-2020 and 2020-21 graduates showed that 97% of graduates were in employment, further study, or purposeful activity.
Skills and work experience
To support students in preparing for their future, Hartpury has the Innovation, Careers and Enterprise (ICE) centre which offers CV and interview support, as well as advice about presentation skills. They can also assist students in finding placements to increase their employability. The ICE department helps students start their own enterprises and runs an annual Enterprise Finals competition where students can win money to help start or further develop their business venture.
Hartpury encourages students to find placements or undertake work experience to get the opportunity to enhance their CV and give the student the chance to try the sector they may want to work in after graduating, before applying for jobs. For example, Hartpury students can work in one of the 11 commercial businesses onsite including the Equine Therapy Centre or Sports Academy.
Wellbeing and support
The wellbeing team provides students with mental health support and advice, and therapy dog Ralph can often be seen being taken on walks by students around campus. Hartpury has multiple quiet rooms with comfortable furniture for students who need time away from louder study spaces and lecture rooms and frequent seminars allow for students to add additional notes or ask any questions they may have.
Facilities and practical learning
The strong presence of practical learning and assessment using on-campus facilities such as Home Farm, the equine centre and the Sports Academy enables students to gain real life experience and become work ready before entering the workplace. The close community feel between students and staff, including non-academic staff, results in personal development for students in areas such as communication skills and time management as previously mentioned. Students also reported that they can see how their learning will support future careers, and that the wide variety of subjects covered can help them identify future career paths.
For more information, click here to view Hartpury University’s provider’s outcome page.
Rosie Scott-Ward, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Hartpury University said: “We were absolutely delighted to be awarded triple Gold in the TEF 2023 during our fifth anniversary celebrations in September. We remain so very proud of the incredible teaching staff who’ve worked hard to secure our place in the top 15% of UK higher education institutions.
The publication of these additional statements allows us and future prospective students to gain an intrinsic understanding of Hartpury University. The student submission is immensely valuable because it demonstrates how our approach to bringing learning to life through practical sessions within our incredible facilities is having a positive impact on student outcomes and graduate employability.”
Jean Arnold, Deputy Director of Quality for the OfS, said: “The outcomes from the TEF demonstrate the extent of outstanding teaching and student outcomes in universities and colleges right across the higher education sector. TEF is an important tool for driving improvement and the information published today will increase transparency and allow students and all those with an interest in higher education to better understand the work of the TEF panel and the reasoning for the awards it has made.
Students are at the heart of our approach to quality, and for the first time we are able to publish students’ TEF submissions. The TEF panel found these valuable in deepening its understanding of the experiences and perspectives of students at individual universities and colleges and they demonstrate why students' views should always be a central part of conversations about excellence across the sector.”
Hartpury has received numerous accolades this year, each highlighting the quality of its teaching and student experience. 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. 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. In the National Student Survey (NSS), Hartpury University was ranked as the number one university in England in the ‘Academic Support’ category.
