More than 600 former students flung their caps in the air to celebrate as they graduated from Shropshire’s university college in Edgmond, near Newport.

The students joined their proud parents and teachers for the ceremony at Harper Adams University College on Friday.

And they were joined by five leading lights from the world of agriculture and food production who were there to receive honorary degrees or university college fellowships.

Harper Adams principal Dr David Llewellyn led the ceremony and welcomed guests from across the world, which included representatives from China’s Beijing University of Agriculture.

He said the university’s reputation was further cemented by last year’s achievements.

“Our academic community has continued to excel in terms of the quality of our provision,” he said.

“Our national student survey performance this year placed us in the top 10 of all UK universities and the employment rates for our graduates have remained extremely strong this year.

“On September 11, we were named, for the fifth year in a row, the University College of the Year in the Sunday Times University Guide.”

Honorary degrees were presented to Justin King CBE, chief executive of Sainsbury’s PLC; Matthew Dempsey, editor and chief executive of the Irish Farmers’ Journal; and Dr Geoffrey Davies OBE, managing director of Alamo Group Europe.