TEACHING
QUALITY
Plymouth University
80
th
NATIONAL
RANK
RANK
63%
FIRSTS
2:1s
2:1s
84.6%
COMPLETION
RATE
RATE
Key Stats
n/a
70th
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
58th
RESEARCH
QUALITY
QUALITY
98th
GRADUATE
PROSPECTS
PROSPECTS
Contact details
University Profile
Plymouth ranked 42= in this year’s Times Higher Education magazine’s ranking of the leading universities in the world that are under 50 years old, ahead of the likes of Loughborough, Aston, Surrey and Kent. It was reward for a university that has invested heavily in its courses and fabric.
It is also the only post-1992 university with its own medical school, which came about after Plymouth ended its partnership with the University of Exeter in the management of the former Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
The new school is small, with an annual entry of only 86 students taking medicine, but Plymouth has kept all 58 of Peninsula’s places in dentistry. As part of the plans, Plymouth has invested £25m to further medical and health research in the southwest. The university is the largest provider of nursing, midwifery and health professional education and training in the region.
Plymouth is one of the largest universities in Britain, with more than 30,000 students, and is aiming to be the country’s top “enterprise university”. It was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2012
The university has one of the country’s top 10 business incubation facilities – part of its managed portfolio of £100m worth of incubation and innovation assets. In 2013, it became the first university in the world to be awarded the Social Enterprise Mark, the only independent accreditation of social enterprise.
Although the university has made marginal gains in six of the performance measures in our league table, it has slipped seven places to 80 in our ranking due to bigger moves made by other universities around it in the table – a reflection on the speed of advances being made presently across British higher education in terms of student experience, graduate employability, entry standards and completion rates.
Plymouth will need to match the pace of development elsewhere to remain in the vanguard of the modern university sector and will want to resolve the present position at the top which sees the vice-chancellor, Prof Wendy Purcell currently suspended pending a review by the governing body.
Over £200m has been spent on the main city campus. The library has been extended and upgraded and the students’ union refurbished. There have been new buildings for the Faculty of Health and the Faculty of Education and Society, as well as a £35m arts complex.
More recently, Plymouth has opened a £1m Immersive Vision Theatre, thought to be the first of its kind at a UK university, which gives the feeling of being “in”, rather than just observing, different types of image.
In 2012, the university added the £19m Marine Building, which contains the country’s most advanced wave tanks, a navigation centre with ship simulator, and business incubation space for companies in the marine renewables sector. A £7m centre for performing arts opens in September.
The university’s commitment to sustainability has also been recognised through two successive rankings as the second greenest university in the People and Planet league.
Plymouth is a partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall, which is boosting further and higher education in the county. Plymouth has established a unique relationship with its 18 partner colleges, which have become a faculty of the university, sharing £3.5m in capital investment. They spread from Cornwall to Somerset, taking in Jersey, and have 10,000 students taking university courses.
The intake reflects Plymouth’s position as the working-class hub of the southwest, with 93% of students state-educated and nearly a third from the lowest social classes. The projected dropout rate of less than 11% is below average for the courses and entry grades. Some 12,000 students undertake work-based learning or placements with employability skills embedded throughout the curriculum from day one, while the new Plymouth Award recognises extra-curricular achievements.
Plymouth was awarded national teaching centres in health and social care, experiential learning in environmental and natural sciences, institutional partnerships, and education for sustainable development – all of which have now been brought into the university’s core activities.
No university has exceeded the 16 National Teaching Fellowships won by its academics. Plymouth entered by far the largest number of academics of any post-1992 university in the latest research assessments – twice the proportion entered by some of its peer group. More than a third of the submission was rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
A 1,300-bed student village costing £15m, has greatly improved the university’s residential stock.
Upgraded facilities for water sports and a new fitness centre have added to the sports facilities, while a range of sports scholarships and bursaries support high-fliers.
The university has a partnership with Plymouth Albion Rugby Club to promote and support sport in the city and it invested £2.5m in the new £45m Plymouth Life Centre. There are exclusive sessions for students at the international-standard swimming and fitness facility.
Making the most of its coastal location, Plymouth is the only university in the UK to have its own diving and water sports centre.
It is also the only post-1992 university with its own medical school, which came about after Plymouth ended its partnership with the University of Exeter in the management of the former Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
The new school is small, with an annual entry of only 86 students taking medicine, but Plymouth has kept all 58 of Peninsula’s places in dentistry. As part of the plans, Plymouth has invested £25m to further medical and health research in the southwest. The university is the largest provider of nursing, midwifery and health professional education and training in the region.
Plymouth is one of the largest universities in Britain, with more than 30,000 students, and is aiming to be the country’s top “enterprise university”. It was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2012
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and was the first university to be awarded Regional Growth Fund money to promote economic development.The university has one of the country’s top 10 business incubation facilities – part of its managed portfolio of £100m worth of incubation and innovation assets. In 2013, it became the first university in the world to be awarded the Social Enterprise Mark, the only independent accreditation of social enterprise.
Although the university has made marginal gains in six of the performance measures in our league table, it has slipped seven places to 80 in our ranking due to bigger moves made by other universities around it in the table – a reflection on the speed of advances being made presently across British higher education in terms of student experience, graduate employability, entry standards and completion rates.
Plymouth will need to match the pace of development elsewhere to remain in the vanguard of the modern university sector and will want to resolve the present position at the top which sees the vice-chancellor, Prof Wendy Purcell currently suspended pending a review by the governing body.
More recently, Plymouth has opened a £1m Immersive Vision Theatre, thought to be the first of its kind at a UK university, which gives the feeling of being “in”, rather than just observing, different types of image.
In 2012, the university added the £19m Marine Building, which contains the country’s most advanced wave tanks, a navigation centre with ship simulator, and business incubation space for companies in the marine renewables sector. A £7m centre for performing arts opens in September.
The university’s commitment to sustainability has also been recognised through two successive rankings as the second greenest university in the People and Planet league.
Plymouth is a partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall, which is boosting further and higher education in the county. Plymouth has established a unique relationship with its 18 partner colleges, which have become a faculty of the university, sharing £3.5m in capital investment. They spread from Cornwall to Somerset, taking in Jersey, and have 10,000 students taking university courses.
The intake reflects Plymouth’s position as the working-class hub of the southwest, with 93% of students state-educated and nearly a third from the lowest social classes. The projected dropout rate of less than 11% is below average for the courses and entry grades. Some 12,000 students undertake work-based learning or placements with employability skills embedded throughout the curriculum from day one, while the new Plymouth Award recognises extra-curricular achievements.
Plymouth was awarded national teaching centres in health and social care, experiential learning in environmental and natural sciences, institutional partnerships, and education for sustainable development – all of which have now been brought into the university’s core activities.
No university has exceeded the 16 National Teaching Fellowships won by its academics. Plymouth entered by far the largest number of academics of any post-1992 university in the latest research assessments – twice the proportion entered by some of its peer group. More than a third of the submission was rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
A 1,300-bed student village costing £15m, has greatly improved the university’s residential stock.
Upgraded facilities for water sports and a new fitness centre have added to the sports facilities, while a range of sports scholarships and bursaries support high-fliers.
The university has a partnership with Plymouth Albion Rugby Club to promote and support sport in the city and it invested £2.5m in the new £45m Plymouth Life Centre. There are exclusive sessions for students at the international-standard swimming and fitness facility.
Making the most of its coastal location, Plymouth is the only university in the UK to have its own diving and water sports centre.
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Detailed Statistics
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
CATEGORY
SCORE
RANK
Ranking
-
80 (73=)
Student experience
81.8
70th
Research quality
6.7
58th
Ucas entry points
316
82nd=
Graduate prospects
57.9
98th
Firsts and 2:1s
63
84th
Completion rate
84.6
73rd
Student-staff ratio
16.2:1
45th=
Services/facilities spend (£)
1,285
95th
World ranking
-
701= (651=)
VITAL STATISTICS
Undergraduates
(Full-time)
20,540
Undergraduates
(Part-time)
4,130
Postgraduates
(Full-time)
1,645
Postgraduates
(Part-time)
2,310
Applications/places
23,705/5,360
Applications/places ratio
4.4:1
STUDENT CITIES
Sarah Bowman, students’ union president
Despite the wind and rain on open day, the ambassadors and atmosphere on campus made Plymouth click in a way no other university did.
The library gets very busy and hot, but it is open 24 hours a day so it is always possible to dodge the crowds.
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Cost of living
Nightlife
Transport
Culture
ACCOMMODATION
Places in accommodation
3,000
Accommodation costs
£91-£151
Accommodation contact
FEES
UK/EU fees
£9,000
Fees (placement year)
£900
Fees (international)
£11,500
Fees (international, medical)
£17,500-£32,000
Finance website
Graduate salaries
£20,001
BURSARIES/SCHOLARSHIPS
>
Details of bursaries and scholarships in 2015–16 were not available in August 2014. Consult university website for details.
>
Care leaver and sports bursaries.
SPORT
Sports points/rank
839, 35th
Sport website
Student satisfaction
96.7%
91.7%
88.6%
87.8%
87.0%
86.9%
86.9%
86.9%
86.7%
86.4%
85.0%
84.3%
83.8%
83.6%
82.5%
82.2%
81.8%
81.6%
81.3%
80.8%
80.1%
79.8%
79.8%
79.8%
79.4%
79.4%
78.8%
77.6%
75.8%
70.6%