Overview
‘A regional university with a global outlook that takes its civic responsibilities seriously’, is how the University of Plymouth, our Community University of the Year, describes itself to us. Far from being hyperbole, there is ample evidence of it delivering on this mission statement. Regional meets global when it comes to the university working with and supporting Plymouth’s defence-based industries. Located near to the largest naval dockyard in western Europe, the university is the anchor institution for the newly created National Centre for Marine Autonomy, which will draw on the university’s expertise in configuring autonomous systems for environmental monitoring as well as defence and commercial operations. As the UK looks to ramp up defence spending, the university collaborates with several defence industry partners, including the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Navy and Babcock International. The university’s regional presence meets civic responsibility in Plymouth’s Centre for Eyecare Excellence (CEE), a £7.7m project due to open in September this year. The CEE’s new home will offer more appointments, often delivered by supervised students, alongside specialist clinics. It will seek to build on the impact made by the Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, which welcomed its first patients – locals without a regular NHS dentist – in February. Both enterprises are part of Plymouth’s substantial healthcare footprint, demonstrating how a university can be transformative not just for its students but for the wider community around it. Plymouth is one of 13 modern universities to have a medical school, alongside a dental school and a range of other healthcare degrees spanning nursing, midwifery and paramedicine. The university is seeking to embed real-world, hands-on experience of the workplace across all courses, with the university already punching well above its weight for both the proportion of graduates in high-skilled jobs and the salaries they earn.
Paying the bills
Students from homes with annual income of £35,000 or under qualify for a Mayflower Award, Plymouth’s main undergraduate bursary. Where household income is £25,000 or lower, the bursary is worth £1,000 payable in the first year only, reducing to £400 (also for just the first year of study) for students from homes where annual income is between £25,001 and £35,000. Care leavers and estranged students qualify for a £1,500 annual Mayflower Award, while carers get payments of between £300 and £1,500 per year, with an average payment of £950 in 2024-25. The university paid out just over £1m in these bursaries in 2024-25 out of a total student support package that runs to a generous £2.47m. This includes more than £460,000 from the Hardship Assistance Fund to students experiencing unexpected and extreme financial difficulties. The fund’s budget has increased by 30% in the past year to meet demand. Several further bursary and scholarship schemes – paying out a combined total of £869,000 to UK and overseas students – provide support too, including the innovative What Just Happened Fund to cover costs of travel, accommodation and food for families of students who need inpatient treatment due to serious injury or illness during their studies. There are more than 1,750 places in student residential accommodation. Prices begin at £5,781 for a 41-week tenancy for standard rooms with shared facilities in Robbins Hall (two showers between eight) and Gilwell Hall (one shower between six). The most expensive rooms are 48 large en suite ones in Mary Newman Hall, which cost £233 per week or £9,553 for a 41-week let. An additional £1,925 includes two meals a day, Monday to Friday, for 35 weeks of term time.
Admissions, teaching and student support
One in seven students who enrolled in September 2025 benefitted from a contextual offer of up to three A-level grades (24 UCAS points) below standard entry requirements. This proportion is expected to increase after the university widened the eligibility criteria, now extending offers to applicants from postcodes among the 20% with the highest levels of deprivation as well as to all applicants from non-selective schools and colleges in the South West and Wales, and those who have received free school meals. Plymouth University also offers a large programme of 54 degrees with foundation years as an alternative route to admission for students who are unlikely to meet entry requirements to progress directly on to a three-year undergraduate programme. The socially diverse intake is supported from pre-induction to the completion of their courses. A peer-assisted learning scheme run by second and third-year students offers guidance, advice and information, and the university runs both a Writing Cafe to provide help with academic writing, and SUM:UP for students who need a hand with maths. Social mobility charity CoachBright works with students from the most deprived postcodes and of ethnic minorities to help build confidence and a sense of belonging. Student wellbeing services encompass wellbeing, counselling, mental health and disability inclusion support. There is a range of preventative support, including wellbeing activities, a 24/7 wellbeing app and regular student events to build connection and belonging. Students are also encouraged to take responsibility for keeping each other safe. All students must complete online training in preventing, spotting and reporting harassment and sexual misconduct and in how to be an active bystander.
