Facts and figures

The University of Plymouth in numbers

Latest awards and accreditations

Plymouth ranked among world’s 100 best universities for sustainability 19 June 2025
National award for Devon Resilience Innovation Project 16 June 2025
University celebrates national awards in nursing and midwifery 7 May 2025
From professional sailor to celebrated midwife 30 April 2025
Students who changed paths are recognised in national awards 24 April 2025
University shortlisted for national careers award 23 April 2025

More related news

View of Roland Levinsky Building with wild flowers in the foreground

UK Top 5 for life below water and top 3 for zero hunger

Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024
TEF gold across all three categories

Teaching Excellence Framework 2023
Second carbon-neutral university in the UK

Verified to PAS 2060 standard (2023)
3 Queen’s Anniversary Prizes

Our most recent award was for leading work in microplastics
High rate of graduate employment

Over 95% of our graduates are working or studying 15 months after graduating*

Student experience

Rated TEF Gold across the board in September 2023 for teaching quality and student experience

Millions invested in hands-on, cutting edge facilities including Babbage Building, InterCity Place and Fitzroy Building

Construction building surveying placement

Ranked among the UK’s top 25 universities for career prospects (source: Whatuni 2025)

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The first university in the UK to achieve accreditation from the International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE)
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The first university to be awarded the Social Enterprise Mark
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We oversee a £100m network of business support facilities, including incubation, innovation and science park infrastructure
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Plymouth Compass – future-facing attributes to help navigate the whole university experience
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Over 4,500 University of Plymouth students per year benefit from placements and work-based learning
~Every student is allocated a personal tutor for academic and pastoral matters
?28 National Teaching Fellowships in HE since 2000
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UPSU awarded the Best Student Venue in the City and accredited with Highly Commended Best Late Night venue in the Best Bar None Awards 2023
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In the top 20 of the most friendly vegan universities in the UK (source: PETA UK)
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One of the UK's most affordable cities for students (source: WhatUni)

Research rich

Mechanical and Marine Engineering students were running Inclining Test in the wave flume of the University’s Marine Building.

Top UK university for Marine and Ocean Engineering (Shanghai Ranking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2019)

Research the world - Earth image provided by http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/

More than three quarters of our research ranked either World-Leading or Internationally Excellent in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF)

A three-time winner of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, most recently in 2019 for marine microplastics pollution research

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European Commission HR Excellence in Research Award

Sustainable achievements

Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024

United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

Ranked 3rd in the UK for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal number 2: zero hunger

SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production graphic

Ranked 6th in the world for the United Nations' SDG goal number 12: responsible consumption and production

Ranked 4th in the UK for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal number 14: life below water

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Winner of two Green Gown Awards 2024 in recognition of our long-held commitment to sustainability research, education and action
'One of just six institutions internationally to receive a Global Showcase award from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
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Drake’s Place historic gardens and reservoir – Green Flag Award Winner 2023/2024
'The House and Marine Station building projects are BREEAM Excellent (an environmental assessment method rating system for buildings)
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59% of waste recycled in 2020–21
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We have over 290 bicycle parking spaces on campus
@Our Students' Union has NUS Green Impact ‘Excellence Outstanding’ status
'Achieved ISO 14001 accreditation for all our operations on the Plymouth campus since 2009
254% reduction in CO2e emissions since 1990
'We are a zero landfill University
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Ranked in the top 20 1st Class Universities for sustainability (People and Planet University League 2023/24)
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Our campus cafes received a Three Star rating (the highest possible) from the Sustainable Restaurant Association in the Food Made Good report 2024
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The University's Peninsula Medical School was ranked within the top 10 in the UK for 2024 by the Planetary Health Report Card Initiative

Facts and stats

AOver 19,000 students
AOver 2,500 staff
*£239.4m annual turnover
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£24m contracting with local businesses
,Founded in 1862 as the School of Navigation
<150 partnerships with institutions from 30 countries for collaborations in teaching and research
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7,500 studying for a Plymouth degree at partner institutions in the UK and around the world
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An alumni community with 181,000 graduates pursuing their careers globally
@58% of academic staff are PhD qualified
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The first and only post-1992 university to launch its own medical and dental school
_The Peninsula Dental School was the first in the UK to achieve RCS Surgical Education Centre accreditation

Awards in detail

Queen's Anniversary Prize

In 2019 we were awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize in recognition of our ground-breaking research and policy impact on microplastics pollution in the oceans.

It recognised nearly two decades of world-leading enquiry by Plymouth researchers, led by Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS, which has resulted in repeated scientific breakthroughs and influenced national and international legislation.

It is the third time that the University has been honoured with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize, which celebrate excellence, innovation and public benefit. The last occasion was in 2012 when the University was recognised for the breadth and excellence of its marine and maritime research, teaching and training. The University also won the award for widening access to education in rural communities in 1994.

Stonewall Diversity Champions

In September 2013 we were proud to join the acclaimed Stonewall Diversity Champions programme, Britain's good practice employers’ forum on sexual orientation. This partnership means that as a university we receive one-to-one advice from Stonewall’s workplace team, and benefit from an extensive network of over a hundred high-profile employers.

^{*Excludes those travelling, retired or caring for someone, out of all UK domiciled, full-time first-degree graduates. Contains HESA Data: Copyright JISC 2022. JISC cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from its data.}