City College Plymouth Strikes Academic Gold with Prestigious Teaching Excellence Award

City College Plymouth has been awarded a national Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold Award for their “overall outstanding” higher education (HE) teaching and student experience.

Spotlighting the high quality student experience at City College Plymouth, the judging panel stated that the College delivered “excellence for all of its students”, including those who are often underrepresented in UK Higher Education.

Ben Manning, the College’s Executive of Curriculum, Quality & Student Experience, explained:

“We have over 500 undergraduate students and higher apprentices studying university-level courses in everything from business management to engineering, both full or part-time, every year,”

“Our HE student body reflects the diverse nature of our local community, which is something we actively embrace as an organisation. Our students’ academic experience, alongside our support services, is designed to meet their needs and support them to achieve their best possible outcomes – whether that is onto the next level of their degree or into employment.”

The TEF assessment particularly praised the College for its close links with employers in the region and with other education providers, such as the University of Plymouth and Plymouth Marjon University, who award qualifications to their HE students. In particular, the panel highlighted City College’s “strong industry engagement to promote excellent graduate opportunities” for its students. 

The College is well-known for embedding vocational learning in real-world settings into its courses and often has direct involvement from industry professionals in the shaping of its provision, including its university-level HNC/D, foundation and bachelor programmes.

Jackie Grubb, Chief Executive of the College, states:

“City College Plymouth is strategically chosen by numerous students as an alternative pathway to a BA/BSc degree due to the unique experience to be gained thanks to our smaller class sizes, extensive one-to-one interactions with our industry-experienced lecturers, and reduced tuition fees,”

“Since this award particularly focuses on the experience of our students, I’m proud that our College has retained the gold rating that we first achieved at our last assessment in 2018. This achievement highlights the exceptional contributions of our higher education lecturers and the outstanding support of our corporate teams. I am delighted that the panel recognised the investments we have made in our university-level provision, such as our dedicated HE careers adviser who provides individualised support for students as they plan their next steps.”

The TEF, a UK-wide scheme run by the UK’s Office for Students, aims to encourage universities and colleges to improve and deliver excellence in the areas that students care about the most: teaching, learning and student outcomes related to employment or further study. All educational institutions providing university-level courses in England are assessed against the TEF every few years and rated either bronze, silver or gold.

Further information about City College Plymouth’s extensive HE provision and a full list of their university-level courses can be found here.