University of Plymouth

The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the  largest in the United Kingdom by total number of students (including the Open University).

1862 – 2000
The university was originally founded as the Plymouth School of Navigation in 1862,  before becoming a university college in 1920 and a polytechnic institute in 1970, with its constituent bodies being Plymouth Polytechnic, Rolle College in Exmouth, the Exeter College of Art and Design (which were, before April 1989, run by Devon County Council) and Seale-Hayne College (which before April 1989 was an independent charity). It was renamed Polytechnic South West in 1989, a move that was unpopular with students as the name lacked identity. It was the only polytechnic to be renamed and remained as "PSW" until gaining university status in 1992 along with the other polytechnics. The new university absorbed the Plymouth School of Maritime Studies.

2000 – 2020
In 2006, part of the remains of the World War II Portland Square air-raid shelter were rediscovered on the Plymouth campus. On the night of 22 April 1941, during the Blitz, a bomb fell on the site killing over 70 civilians, including a mother and her six children. The bomb blast was so strong that human remains were found in the tops of trees. Only three people escaped alive, all children.

The university's first vice-chancellor was John Bull. He was succeeded by Roland Levinsky until his death on 1 January 2007, when he walked into live electrical cables brought down during a storm. He was temporarily replaced by Mark Cleary (who then became vice-chancellor of the University of Bradford until 2013), and then by Steve Newstead. Wendy Purcell became VC on 1 December 2007. She was placed on leave on 2 July 2014 by the university's governors while an internal review was conducted. A month later the Higher Education Funding Council for England requested an independent external review of the university's governance. In August 2014, the university was instructed by HEFCE to undertake an external review of its governance after vice-chancellor Wendy Purcell was placed on leave.

Judith Petts CBE was appointed the University of Plymouth's vice-chancellor and chief executive in February 2016. She joined Plymouth from the University of Southampton, where she had been pro-vice-chancellor research and enterprise and previously the inaugural dean of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences (2010–2013).

The university was selected by the Royal Statistical Society in October 2008 to be the home of its Centre for Statistical Education. It also runs courses in maritime business, marine engineering, marine biology, and Earth, ocean and environmental sciences.

In 2010, students from the university occupied a room in the main campus to protest against rising tuition fees and cuts to courses.

Babbage Building renovation
In 2021 work began to completely renovate the interior and exterior of the Babbage Building. The renovations will add an extra 10,000m² worth of space to the building, and create rooftop gardens which will be open to students. Renovation works also began on the Intercity Place tower down by the Plymouth railway station.

The university has plans to tear down the Brunel Building which currently sits opposite Babbage and turn it into an urban park, but no timeline has been released yet.

Campus
When university status was gained in 1992, the university was based in on multiple sites. Under Vice-Chancellor Levinsky the university began a policy of centralising its campus activities in Plymouth.

The Exmouth campus Rolle College housed the Faculty of Education and relocated to the new Rolle Building in August 2008. The decision was unpopular with students and the town of Exmouth itself. There were several protest marches and a campaign to keep the campus open.

The Exeter campus [Earl Richards Road North] housed the Arts and Design faculty from 1989 to 2007. Purpose-built in the 1970s to re-locate Exeter College of Art and Design from the city centre, the college became amalgamated with Polytechnic South West in 1989 and permanently relocated its facilities to Plymouth in 2007. In 2011 planning permission was granted to demolish and redevelop the Earl Richards Road North site to provide 39 dwellings with parking and landscaping.

Completed developments include Portland Square, a library extension, refurbished and new laboratory and teaching facilities in many of the campus buildings, halls of residence near the Business School and a new £16 million Peninsula Medical School headquarters at Derriford Hospital, in the north of the city. A Marine Building has been constructed behind the Babbage Building to house civil engineering, coastal engineering and marine sciences.

An exception to the trend of centralising activities are the university's extensive activities in education for the health professions. In addition, many of its students are taught at further education colleges throughout Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, such as South Devon College. A building which opened in 2008 is shared between the Peninsula Medical School and the Faculty of Health and Human Sciences.

Roland Levinsky building
The Roland Levinsky Building, designed by architects Henning Larsen with Building Design Partnership, is clad with copper sheets in a seamed-cladding technique, is nine storeys high and has 13000 m2 of floor space. The Faculty of Arts, previously based in Exmouth and Exeter moved here in August 2007. The building contains two large lecture theatres, the Jill Craigie Cinema, used by the film students to display their films and for showing of films to the public; three performance rehearsal studios; digital media suites; and a public art gallery which displays work by local artists groups, students and famous artists.

InterCity Place
InterCity Place is an 11-storey tower building adjacent to Plymouth railway station currently undergoing renovations to turn the building into a centre for students studying medical degrees. The tower is being renovated by contractor Kier Group and is set to open in 2023. The building used to be the Intercity House office block. The building is currently owned by Network Rail, but is being given to the university on a 150-year lease.

During construction a fire broke out in the building resulting in the railway station and surrounding area to be evacuated, nobody was hurt from the incident.

Student accommodation
University-managed or approved accommodation in the first year of study is guaranteed for all applicants who choose Plymouth as their first choice institution. There are six university-managed halls: Francis Drake, Gilwell, Mary Newman, Pilgrim, Radnor and Robbins. Special accommodation arrangements can be made for students with disabilities or medical conditions.

Francis Drake
Francis Drake Hall is located on-campus at the university's main campus. It has a café, Circuit Laundry, a bicycle storage room, and post room service in the building.

In April 2021 at around 3pm, a woman set fire to the 6th floor of the accommodation building. She was later arrested for arson. One person was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.

During the 2021/22 academic year, planned maintenance works were undertaken to replace external cladding on the building. Scaffolding was erected and students remained living in halls that year.

Faculties and Schools
There are three faculties which each contain a number of schools:

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business
This faculty contains the School of Art, Design and Architecture, Plymouth Business School, and the School of Society and Culture, including the Plymouth Institute of Education.

The faculty offers degrees in Anthropology, Architecture, Built environment, Business and Management, Criminology, Education, English, Game design, History, Illustration, Art history, 3D Design, Fine Art, Law, Marketing, Music, Photography, Professional Policing, Media arts, Sociology, and Theatre & Performance.

Faculty of Health
The Faculty of Health contains the Peninsula Dental School, Peninsula Medical School, School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Psychology, School of Health Professions, and School of Nursing and Midwifery. The Faculty runs degrees in Adult Nursing, Biomedical Sciences, Child Health Nursing, Dentistry, Medicine, Mental Health Nursing, Midwifery, Dietetics, Optometry, Social Work, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, Physiotherapy and Paramedicine.

Medicine and Dentistry were first established as part of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in 2000, which operated as a partnership between Plymouth University and the University of Exeter. In January 2012 the two founding members of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD), the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, outlined their plans to expand independently and grow the success of the now nationally recognised professional health education provider. These changes came into effect from the start of the 2013 academic year.

Faculty of Science and Engineering
This faculty contains the School of Biological and Marine Sciences, the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, and the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Subjects taught in the Schools include Biological Sciences, Marine Biology, Marine Sciences, Chemistry, Geography, Environmental Science, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Games Development, Mathematics, Data Science, Mechanical Engineering, Civil and coastal Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Robotics.

The university provides professional diving qualifications on a number of its courses. The university has a diving centre is located within its Marine Station facility with a team of instructors and dedicated research equipment.

Coat of arms
The arms, crest, badge and supporters forming the university's coat of arms were granted on 10 April 2008, in Grant 173/189, by the College of Arms.

The books represent the university's focus on learning and scholarship. The scattering of small stars, represent navigation, which has played a key role in the history of the city and the university. The scallop shells in gold, represents pilgrimage, a sign of the importance of the departure of the Pilgrim Fathers from a site near the Mayflower Steps in the Plymouth Barbican aboard the Mayflower in 1620. A Pelican and a Golden Hind support the shield and reflect both the original and later, better known, name of Sir Francis Drake's ship. The crest contains the Latin motto, "Indagate Fingite Invenite" which translates as "Explore Dream Discover" and is a quote from Mark Twain, reflecting the university's ambitions for its students and Plymouth's history of great seafarers.

The letters patent granting arms to the University of Plymouth were presented by Eric Dancer, Lord Lieutenant of Devon, in a ceremony on 27 November 2008, in the presence of Henry Paston-Bedingfeld, York Herald of the College of Arms, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Plymouth, Judge William Taylor, the Recorder of Plymouth, and Baroness Judith Wilcox.

The coat of arms are rarely seen in use, other than at graduation. The university uses the "with Plymouth University" brand on stationery and signs and keeps the coat of arms exclusive. The use of the arms is therefore restricted to graduations and other formal ceremonies, degree certificates and associated materials and the exclusive use by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor.

Academic Partnerships
The Academic Partnerships network is a collaboration between the university and local colleges across the England and the world.

Plymouth is the main sponsor of Marine Academy Plymouth. It is also the main sponsor of UTC Plymouth, which opened in September 2013.

Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
In 2005 the university was awarded four HEFCE funded Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs). In addition, Plymouth was a partner in a fifth successful bid, led by Liverpool Hope University.

The university's CETLs are:
 * Centre for Excellence in Professional Placement Learning (CEPPL)
 * Experiential Learning in the Environmental and Natural Sciences
 * Higher Education Learning Partnerships CETL
 * Centre for Sustainable Futures (Education for Sustainable Development)
 * Learn Higher

Reputation and rankings
The University of Plymouth ranks 503rd in the CWUR World University Rankings 2017 In The Times and Sunday Times University League Table 2018, the University of Plymouth's world ranking was listed as joint 701st and 601–650 in QS World University Rankings 2019. Times Higher Education ranked Plymouth 401–500 in its World University Rankings 2017–18, and ranked it 65th among 200 institutions in its World Young University Rankings 2017.

The results of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework showed that, overall, Plymouth was ranked joint 66 of 128 UK institutions, rising 9 places from the previous Research Assessment Exercise in 2008. Across all assessed subject areas Plymouth showed substantial evidence of 3* (internationally excellent) and 4* (world leading) research, and this was particularly evident in Clinical Medicine, Computer Sciences & Informatics, Psychology, Psychiatry & Neuroscience, and Earth Systems & Environmental Sciences, where 79–85% of research was ranked as 3* or 4*.

Plymouth was the first university to be awarded the Social Enterprise Mark in recognition of working as a genuine social enterprise, caring for communities and protecting the planet.

Notable academics

 * Colin Rallings, political scientist
 * Michael Thrasher, political scientist
 * Richard Jozsa, mathematician
 * Maged N. Kamel Boulos, health informatician
 * Alexis Kirke, composer and filmmaker;
 * Eduardo Reck Miranda, professor in Computer music and composer
 * Roy Lowry, August 2006 world record holder for launching the most rockets at once;
 * Iain Stewart, geologist and BBC documentary host.
 * Alexis Kirke, performer and artist
 * John Scott, sociologist.
 * Jacqueline Andrade, professor of psychology
 * Richard Thompson, marine biologist who coined the term "microplastics".
 * Jonathan St B. T. Evans, professor from the school of Psychology who has contributed greatly to the discussion of Dual-Process theory

Notable alumni

 * Seb Clover, world's youngest single-handed cross-Atlantic sailor
 * Philip Payton, historian.
 * Monty Halls, BBC wildlife presenter
 * Michael Underwood, television presenter
 * Judith Wilcox, Baroness Wilcox, life peer
 * Jane Wilson-Howarth, travel writer and physician.
 * Steve Augarde, children's author.
 * Sue Austin, artist.
 * Julian Bovis, artist.
 * Pen Dalton, artist.
 * Andrea Polli, artist.
 * Hatice Güleryüz, artist.
 * Ellen Levy, multimedia artist and scholar.
 * Mandy Chessell, computer scientist at IBM.
 * Darren Jones, MP for Bristol North West.
 * Matt Cooke, journalist.
 * Laura Anne Jones, politician.
 * Mark Williams, politician.
 * Darius J. Pearce, politician.
 * Heather Koldewey, marine biologist.
 * David Sims, marine biologist.
 * Clare Nasir, meteorologist.
 * Members of the band Meeky Rosie.
 * Jaka Singgih, Indonesian businessman and politician.
 * Tom Rivett-Carnac, Officer of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
 * Gareth Owen (sound designer), sound designer.

Students' union
University of Plymouth Students' Union, usually abbreviated "UPSU" is a non-profit making organisation. Each year, students elect the officers who will represent them for the following year. The Union offers a range of services and stages a number of events throughout the year. As well as events, the Union is the base for most of the sports teams and societies at the university.

Controversies
In 2014 a clash of personalities at the top of the university led the then vice-chancellor Wendy Purcell to be suspended. Part of the dispute was over the commissioning of ceremonial chairs at a cost of £95,000 without the board's approval. A linked case saw the chair of the board of governors, which had suspended Purcell, William Taylor investigated of sexual harassment of female staff. Purcell was later appointed to a newly created role of president with compensation of £125,000 for loss of office and maintaining her salary of £250,000.