Thomas Harper Adams was a wealthy Shropshire gentleman farmer. On his death in 1892 he bequeathed his considerable estate ‘for the purpose of teaching practical and theoretical agriculture’. The marriage of the developing science of agriculture to the practice of farming was seen by an increasing number of people as the only solution to the agricultural depression. The 1890s saw substantial financial support for agricultural education and several colleges and university departments specializing in agriculture made their appearance at this time. Harper Adams Agricultural College, however, was the first institution of its kind to be financed by private bequest. Harper Adams currently has more than 4,000 students, with about 2,600 students on undergraduate and postgraduate awards, a number which is growing year on year. The high quality of teaching, learning resources, and personal and career development opportunities offered at Harper Adams University led to it achieving the sixth highest score in the country for student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2014.Undergraduate courses are offered in the fields of agriculture, animal health and veterinary nursing, agricultural engineering and off-road vehicle design, estate and countryside management, tourism, agri-food marketing and business management, fresh produce management, food studies and food retail management. The University also offers a range of masters courses (MSc and MBA) and research opportunities at PhD and post-doctoral levels.