Hartpury College Accountability Statement 2026-27

Hartpury College | 2026-2027 Accountability Statement

DEVELOPING DIGITAL SKILLS

We have continued to embed and consolidate the LSIP findings relating to further developing the digital and communication skills of young people into our Hartpury Certificate Programme, monitoring student progress made throughout the year relating to these specific skills to determine the impact. We have continued to use the LSIP findings around Digital Skills for our current Agriculture Diploma and T-Level students to further develop Agri-digital skills and knowledge using our Agri-Tech Centre and SDF-funded Agri-digital Studio. During 2023-2024, we were successful in securing £500k of LSIF funds through the Gloucestershire colleges collaboration led by SGS College to support a SMART Farming Hub capital development, delivered on time and on budget by 31st March 2025, with an official opening planned for June 2025. This provided further invaluable opportunities for the development of Agri-digital skills during 2025 2026 and beyond. Development of industry-specific digital skills is a focus within all our curriculum areas, for example biomechanics and performance analysis for our Sport students and robotic milking and feeding for our Agriculture students within our Home Farm Dairy, coupled with access to the data sets provided for analysis and interpretation. Furthermore, we have plans to continue the investment we have made in industry-specific technology in support of this.

DEVELOPING AN AGRI-TECH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFFER FOR ADULTS Last year, our LSIF revenue fund was targeted to enable implementation and delivery of agri-tech professional development workshops for adults employed within the industry in support of advancing agri-tech skills. These were well attended, attracting thirty-two delegates over three workshops last year, and we have continued to use this model and our industry partners to provide further workshops and support for industry in the agri-tech and agri-digital space. We have continued the momentum with supporting those in the agricultural industry with development of Agri-Tech and data skills through our Agri-Tech outreach workshops, proactively securing funding to support this activity delivered at farmers’ markets, for example, to support further accessibility and engagement.

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