Veterinary education centre gets royal approval

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Chancellor of Harper Adams University, has visited the Shropshire campus to officially open the Veterinary Education Centre.

The special guest enjoyed a tour of the £8.6M million new facility which serves staff and students of the Harper & Keele Veterinary School and Harper Adams University. The centre is packed with facilities and equipment required to educate veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses, veterinary physiotherapists and other students working towards veterinary professional careers.

Having been welcomed by the Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, Anna Turner, and Harper Adams University Vice Chancellor, Dr David Llewellyn, Her Royal Highness was treated to a range of displays and demonstrations while she chatted to students, staff and guests.

The Princess Royal was able to see the building’s learning technology in action in a practical teaching room, where a dissection demonstration - being conducted remotely at Vet School partner Keele University - was streamed to an audience including Vet School leaders and Harper Adams student representatives.

Further activities included a demonstration of diagnostic imaging techniques, a practical physiotherapy tutorial, a veterinary medicine clinical skills session and a display of clinical models.

In the Burgess Study Area, the Chancellor met the family of Anthony Burgess, the late chairman of the Harper Adams Development Trust, whose legacy helped to support the development of the new building.

In the Kildare Lecture Theatre, Her Royal Highness met trustees of the Kildare Charitable Trust, which has supported the provision of one of the two large lecture theatres in the Veterinary Education Centre.

Members of the Tinneveld family were introduced to the Chancellor in the Tinneveld Lecture Theatre. The family helped fund the development of a second lecture theatre using a legacy from the estate of the late Mr Theo Tinneveld.

The University also welcomed Lord Kirkham, former deputy president of the Animal Health Trust (AHT) and Dr Andrew Higgins, former director of the AHT, who, alongside the Vet School’s head of operations Dr Jane Richardson, showcased items from the Animal Health Trust library, which has been donated in its entirety to the School and is now housed in the Harper Adams Bamford Library.

The University’s Vice-Chancellor Dr David Llewellyn said: “We were delighted to be able to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal back to Harper Adams to officially open the Veterinary Education Centre.

“This is a major new facility for the University and will not only support the education of those entering a variety of veterinary professions, but will also enable us, through the work of the Vet School, to ensure that future generations of veterinary surgeons are able to train alongside those seeking a career in the agri-food industry.

"We need excellent people in both fields, with a thorough understanding of the issues that impact on animal health and welfare that they will have to address when pursuing their future careers. 

"The new centre will provide a great starting point for that to happen, and we are extremely grateful to those who have supported the project, and the aims of the Vet School, along the way.

"Finally, I should like to thank our Chancellor for spending time with us to celebrate the opening of this landmark building, and for all the support she provides to the University, our staff and our students.”