It is known as Britain’s ocean city, and Plymouth’s coastal location provides the perfect learning and research environment for the university’s renowned marine-related courses. It has been busy transforming its city campus to provide skills-boosting training for students, opening £100 million of facilities in the 2023-24 academic year, which range from a new design and engineering building to a moot court and a cold case unit where policing and criminology students get to grips with crime scenes, forensics and interviews. An updated Bloomberg suite is among resources awaiting Plymouth Business School in 2025. Located in the southwest, where Devon meets Cornwall, students have their pick of seaside pursuits and Dartmoor outdoor adventures.

What is the University of Plymouth’s reputation? 

Founded in 1862 as the School of Navigation, Plymouth has been a university since 1992 with an ambition to drive economic innovation and change. Its new InterCity Place health facility, at the railway station, is in keeping with that goal as part of a broader regeneration of the area. As well as being among  the small minority of modern universities to have both a medical and a dental school, Plymouth has schools of nursing in Exeter and Truro — adding up to providing the largest range of healthcare courses in the southwest of England.

Plymouth earned triple gold in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023) — overall and for the student experience and student outcomes. Assessors commended its “wide and readily available range of outstanding quality academic support ensuring a supportive learning environment for students”, and found that its course content and delivery “inspire students to actively engage in and commit to their learning” and stretches them “to develop knowledge and skills to their fullest potential”.

The university has won three Queen’s Anniversary Awards for its research on microplastics and marine litter, and for widening access. Verified as a carbon neutral university in 2023, the University of Plymouth is pushing towards net zero and its environmental and ethical performance puts it 20th in the 2023-24 People & Planet University League table.

Although more than three quarters of its submission to the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) was rated world-leading or internationally excellent, its performance was outclassed by rival institutions and it fell nine places in our research quality index, to 65th in the UK. 

Plymouth ranks in the top half of UK universities for student satisfaction with teaching quality, but has fallen to 97= for their evaluation of the wider undergraduate experience, based on our analysis of the latest National Student Survey.

What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?

Foundation years have joined a wide range of nursing and allied healthcare courses from 2024. Plymouth’s expanding curriculum is planning to add degrees in social work with a foundation year; chiropractic; osteopathy; technical game design; primary education; and education for sustainability for 2025. At time of writing, no courses were due to close in 2024 or 2025.

What are the University of Plymouth’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?

Entry ranges from 104 to 144 Ucas tariff points, excluding medicine and dentistry, which require A*AA. A contextual admissions policy allows “appropriate flexibility” to offer some places that require a lower set of grades, or tariff points, than may be advertised.

What are the graduate prospects?

Plymouth is in the top 50 (43rd) in our analysis of the Graduate Outcomes survey, with 79.7 per cent of its graduates in high-skilled jobs or further study within 15 months. The university seeks employers' help to review the curriculum and provide mentoring, mock interviews and work placements for students, and its Cube incubator aims to inspire student and graduate entrepreneurs, nursing their business ideas through to its execution and beyond. 

What is the University of Plymouth’s campus like?

Plymouth has opened new facilities at pace as part of its long-term £250 million master plan. A brain research and imaging centre opened in 2021 at Plymouth Science Park, where medicine and dentistry are based close to Derriford Hospital. On the main city-centre campus, the recently opened Babbage Building provides engineering and design facilities with purpose-built space for collaborative projects with industrial partners in the region.

As well as in Plymouth itself, many students are working towards the university’s degree qualification in partner colleges, mainly in the southwest and the Channel Islands. A new campus in Penang, Malaysia, opened in 2022. 

Everything you need to know about the University of Plymouth’s student life and wellbeing support

Discovery Week, a new initiative, offers the chance to engage with honorary doctorate recipients at Q&A and masterclass sessions, with Angela Rippon and Sir Roger Deakins among recent guests. Arts and performance venues and a public arts programme bring culture to campus.

As well as the great outdoors, Plymouth has great nightlife. The summer ball is an annual highlight. 

Anyone worried about their mental health — or that of a friend — can seek help at a weekly drop-in session run by Plymouth’s mental health, counselling and pastoral and spiritual support team. Students can refer themselves to the wellbeing team for bespoke support, such as mental health assessments, counselling and workshops. On campus there is a sports hall, fitness centre, dance studio and squash courts, while upgraded facilities at the Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre are a ten-minute ferry ride away.

What do the students say?

“Plymouth is a fantastic place to be a student. Our coastal location provides an inspiring backdrop, and the city has vibrant culture. The university is a great community of both staff and students who really do show that they care for each other. The students’ union amplifies the voices of our diverse student community, shaping an inclusive environment where academic excellence thrives hand in hand with personal growth.”
Tonari Arikekpar, Plymouth students’ union president and a biomedical sciences graduate

What about student accommodation at the University of Plymouth?

A place in university halls (or an accredited private alternative) is guaranteed to those who make Plymouth their first choice and apply by the deadline. 

How diverse and inclusive is the University of Plymouth?

In 72nd place in our social inclusion index, Plymouth is among the top 20 universities for its recruitment of white working-class male students (7.5 per cent), one of the most underrepresented groups in higher education.

Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at the University of Plymouth

Plymouth offers more than 20 bursaries and scholarships. The International Undergraduate Gold Scholarship is £4,000, and the Tamar Engineering Project offers £3,000 towards living costs, plus a £1,500 pa fee waiver. The Mayflower Award is for students from households with incomes under £35,000 and in 2023-24 was worth £1,500. There is a range of financial help to support students in a tight spot — such as the What Just Happened Fund to help towards costs incurred during emergency hospital care, and a summer support fund for those unable to work in the holidays and who meet eligibility criteria. Plymouth extends extra help to students who have left care, are carers themselves or who are estranged from their families.