If you’re ambitious and keen to further develop your career prospects, Plymouth is well placed to support you. With a wide variety of higher and further education offers, apprenticeships and a well-defined STEM Plymouth strategy the city offers a multitude of ways that professionals can grow and develop.

With an ambitious growth agenda Plymouth is also working to equip young people with relevant skills to enable businesses to access a pipeline of work ready future employees. 

Universities and Colleges 

Plymouth benefits from a population of over 29,000 students studying in the city, providing a highly skilled and adaptable workforce for businesses. 

University of Plymouth

With more than 23,000 students, the University is the 9th biggest in the country and ranked among the top 10 modern universities in the UK. A winner of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education and shortlisted for University of the Year in 2012, the institution has come a long way since it was founded as a School of Navigation in 1862. 

University of St Mark and St John

Awarded university status in 2013 meaning Plymouth is now home to two universities providing full and part-time higher education with a range of courses from foundation degrees and progression courses to honours degrees and postgraduate study. 

City College Plymouth

One of the largest professional, vocational and technical colleges in the South West with a national reputation for promoting enterprise and employability. The skills needs of the region are a priority for the College’s new £13million state-of-the-art Regional Centre of Excellence for STEM (science technology, engineering and mathematics). City College is one of the best places in the country to be an apprentice, with an achievement rate 16% above the national average.

Plymouth College of Art

A specialist school for artists, run by artists combining over a century’s worth of history with up-to-the-minute thinking and facilities including a new £7.7m art, craft and digital design block. 

Marine Academy Plymouth

Marine Academy Plymouth is the UK’s first marine academy and reflects the city’s nautical evolution and the importance of the sea for its future prosperity. As the university school, the academy is making huge strides and working hard to reach its ambitious targets to raise educational achievement to the very highest levels.

Apprenticeships

Apprentices bring many benefits to employers and can help make an organisation more effective, productive and competitive by directly addressing skills gaps and succession planning.

City College Plymouth

City College Plymouth is one of the highest performing apprenticeship providers in the South West, with success rates 15% above the national average. 

Skills Group

With over 20 years’ experience in delivering apprenticeships and upskilling programmes across the South West, Skills Group partners with top local employers to kick-start careers and ensure business success. They offer a wide range of apprenticeship programmes with success rates of 90.7%, nearly 20% above the national average. 

Devon and Cornwall Training Services

Devon and Cornwall Training Services specialises in food hygiene licensing training programs specific to individuals and businesses. They offer courses at various venues across the South West or at a venue of your choice. With over 25 years’ experience within the food and retail industries they have the ability to offer cost effective training solutions for you or your business. 

Marine Learning Alliance

MLA College offers higher education degree qualifications in a range of Maritime and Marine based subjects in partnership with University of Plymouth. They provide both distance and online learning degrees through advanced technological facilities. 

STEM Plymouth

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths but encompasses so much more. It is the aim of getting our residents the competitive skills that STEM represents so they can maximize their career opportunities and meet the demand of our employers. 

In Autumn 2017, City College Plymouth opened its £13m Regional Centre of Excellence for STEM. The Centre was developed with the input of over 200 employers and will give City College students the opportunity to work together across traditional subject boundaries, getting them the transferable skills which will provide the edge in a competitive job market.

The STEM Plymouth Strategic Plan has been produced by Plymouth’s private, public, military and third sectors and lays the foundations to 2022 to secure Plymouth’s future and support our region as the South West’s STEM city.