University of Plymouth

Our strategy

University of Plymouth 2030: a future of excellence

Our mission

Advancing knowledge, transforming lives.

Our vision

We will be a broad-based, research-intensive university, open to all who can benefit from a University of Plymouth education, and delivering excellent interdisciplinary research, experiential education and civic engagement.

The Core Principles

We will adapt our existing core strategic principles to enhance the University’s reputation and to understand sustainability as an embedded principle across everything we do.

• Quality: striving for the highest quality in everything we do.
• One Team: working, planning for and delivering a shared vision, underpinned by a strong sense of collegiality.
• Reputation: building our institutional reputation through confidence in our pioneering contributions, excellence in education and research, socio-economic impact, and thought leadership.
• Sustainability: sustainability in our finances, reputation, services, partnerships, environmental performance and global contribution.

Marine and maritime environments and societies

We want to maintain and build upon our pre-eminence internationally for contributions to the sustainability of marine and maritime environments and societies.

The marine environment is integral to the well-being of life on Earth. Covering 70% of the Earth’s surface, the marine environment is home to 95% of the Earth’s species. Humans are dependent on the oceans more than ever before – for food, oxygen, water, mineral, sustainable energy.

Yet vast areas remain unexplored. Mega cities of the world are on coasts, capitalising on economic and trade benefits but impacting on, and vulnerable to, marine environments and climate change impacts.

Of growing economic importance, marine and maritime industries support over 950,000 jobs in the UK. The UK has a Maritime Strategy to 2050 which supports significant investment as well as protection.

In the South-West, regional development strategy is strongly anchored in offshore renewable energy, autonomous shipping, marine cyber security and the health and well-being of both coastal and rural communities.

The University of Plymouth is pre-eminent in these matters, and more.

From its foundations as a College of Navigation in the 19th century, the University has built a unique breadth of disciplinary interests in matters relating to marine and maritime environments and societies.

Leading education and research in Marine Biology (not least in marine microplastics), Ocean Science and Marine Engineering is complemented by marine and maritime themes across the University, including in History, English, Education, Architecture and the Built Environment, the Business School, Law, Geography and Psychology.

Three times recipient of the Queen’s Anniversary prize, two of which were awarded for the University’s strengths in marine and maritime research.

Furthermore, Plymouth is the first choice for Health in the South-West, a focus for training of professionals in a system that can capitalise on
the well-being opportunities of the ‘blue environment’, while responding to the problems common amongst ageing populations and the health inequalities of coastal communities. Interdisciplinary health research includes links between marine biology and the discovery of novel antibiotics.

The University of Plymouth is equipped to build upon this base – given our location, the history and priorities of our City, our leading-edge education and research facilities, and our strong partnerships with research organisations and industries in Plymouth itself and internationally.

Our strategic priorities 

Three strategic priorities underpin our Strategy for Excellence supported by a fourth enabling priority. Each priority has high level objectives which are
introduced here and will be developed further through an Implementation Plan which defines the key areas of work over the 10-year period, supported by key performance indicators. The plan will be responsive to changing circumstances and opportunities over the decade.

Enabling priority

Invest to ensure a leading-edge, sustainable university:

• Enable investment through optimisation of resource allocation.

• Optimise emerging technologies and digital trends for the benefit of all.

• Deliver transparent and responsible institutional stewardship.