About the University of Plymouth

Our roots go back 150 years, but our modernity and contemporary thinking give us our energy and direction

Our teaching emphasises practical ‘real world’ experiential learning and our stimulating student experience facilitates personal challenge and development. Our curriculum is built around employment success. Plymouth graduates are highly capable, confident and adaptable global citizens – we give our students the freedom to define the world they will help to build.

We’ve refreshed our strategy and we’ve just been ranked top 10 in the UK: Times Higher Education young universities 2021 – and we’ve just started. 

We’ve been awarded TEF silver and we continue to move up in the league tables – joint 56th in the UK in the QS World Rankings, and in the 2021 Guardian University League table, the University has placed 53rd.

As part of a new Estates Strategy adopted in 2017, we are just beginning an exciting new period of developments across our campus which will see investment in the estate of around £250 million over the next ten years. 

With a mission to advance knowledge and transform lives through education and research, the University of Plymouth is among the emerging elite of modern higher education institutions. We are also a top 50 research university with clusters of world-class research across a wide range of disciplines, including marine science and engineering, medicine, robotics and psychology*.

We are well known for the quality of our research-informed teaching and are committed to delivering high-quality, research-led and professionally-relevant teaching. Our commitment to teaching excellence is evident in 23 National Teaching Fellowships awarded since 2000, and 13 Principal Fellows and 81 Senior Fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). We are in 15th position nationally (HESA 2017) for the percentage of staff carrying a recognised teaching qualification. In 2017, we were shortlisted by the HEA for the Global Teaching Excellence Award.

A two-time winner of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education, the University of Plymouth continues to grow in stature and reputation.

With 23,000 students, and a further 17,000 studying for a Plymouth degree at partner institutions in the UK and around the world, and over 135,000 alumni pursuing their chosen careers globally, we have a growing global presence.

*Research Fortnight Research Power League Table 2014.

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