Arts University Plymouth wins at the WhatUni Student Choice Awards

Arts University Plymouth, the new name for Plymouth College of Art after a successful application for University Title, has been announced as the first institution to win top place in the new category of Small or Specialist Institution at the annual Whatuni Student Choice Awards. The nominees and winners of these unique awards are selected by students based on reviews submitted by students from across the UK, and winners judged by a panel made up of prospective and current university students.

Highlighting the quality of Arts University Plymouth’s provision as a specialist creative university, the Small or Specialist category celebrates the overall experience of students, focusing on lecturers and teaching quality, the Students’ Union experience, facilities and student life.  

Arts University Plymouth came top of a list of well-respected specialist universities, including the likes of Arts University Bournemouth, Norwich University of the Arts and the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. Student submissions praised “fantastic lectures” and “incredible support” while others singled the university out for the “accepting and accommodating nature” of staff and other students, with others telling the panel that “the mountain of student resources combined with great lecturers makes for a very welcoming campus, a place I feel I can achieve my artistic goals.”  

Harriet Moore, Student Union President 2020-2022 said,

“Any award is exciting news, but even more so when it is one that has the student voice at the centre of it! It’s really great to be recognised for the incredible specialist work that we do and it’s testament to our amazing community of staff and students. To be eligible for nomination, institutions need to get a minimum of 100 reviews, so we’d like to thank all our students for submitting over 225 positive comments, contributing to our win!”

One student review of Arts University Plymouth said:

“The uni itself has so many great facilities available to all students (once inducted in them), even if you aren’t studying that particular course. The Students’ Union is run effectively with loads of great events throughout the year, and always maintained to be in a great condition. A fantastic student environment. I absolutely love studying here, and couldn’t recommend it enough to other soon-to-be students!” 

The Whatuni Student Choice Awards are now in their 10th year and are collated from 30,000 student reviews. Awards were given out at a ceremony in Canary Wharf, hosted by multi-award-winning comedian, actor, writer and director Richard Ayoade. As winners Arts University Plymouth have received £10,000 to be awarded to five eligible students as Whatuni Bursaries in 2022 (£2,000 each).