Awards and Achievements
This page details the awards and achievements of the Students' Union, as well as our Student-Led Clubs and Societies. If you are looking for information about the Above and Beyond Awards, please click here.
National Student Survey 2024
Students have rated Arts University Plymouth above the national benchmark in all seven categories of the National Student Survey (NSS) 2024.
This year, across the NSS 2024, Arts University Plymouth was the highest-scoring arts university in the UK in six of the seven NSS categories: ‘Teaching on my course’, ‘Learning opportunities’, ‘Assessment and feedback’, ‘Organisation and management’, ‘Learning resources’ and ‘Student voice’, when compared against the UK’s seven other well-respected arts universities (Arts University Bournemouth, Falmouth University, Leeds Arts University, Norwich University of the Arts, Ravensbourne University, University for the Creative Arts, and University of the Arts London). This is an even better result than last year, when Arts University Plymouth was the highest-scoring arts university in the UK in five of the seven NSS categories.
Arts University Plymouth has the highest-rated Students’ Union in the NSS 2024 of any specialist arts university in the UK and in Plymouth, based on the NSS question “How well does the students' union (association or guild) represent students' academic interests?”.
Overall, Arts University Plymouth was the top-ranking arts university in the UK for 20 of the 27 questions that students were asked in the NSS 2024, improved from last year when Arts University Plymouth was the top-ranking arts university in the UK for 17 of the 27 questions.
Second Place Students' Union (South West England)
At the 2024 WhatUni Student Choice Awards (WUSCA's), Arts University Plymouth Students' Union was voted the second best Students' Union in the South West of England.
National Student Survey 2023
Students have rated Arts University Plymouth above the national benchmark in all categories of the National Student Survey (NSS) 2023.
This year, across the NSS 2023, Arts University Plymouth was the highest scoring arts university in the UK in five of the seven NSS categories: “teaching on my course”, “learning opportunities”, “assessment and feedback”, “learning resources” and “student voice”, when compared against the UK’s seven other well-respected arts universities (Arts University Bournemouth, Falmouth University, Leeds Arts University, Norwich University of the Arts, Ravensbourne University, University for the Creative Arts, and University of the Arts London).
Think Student Awards 2021 - Winner of the "Best Campaign Supporting Student Wellbeing" Award.
Plymouth College of Art Students’ Union (PCA:SU) won Best Campaign Supporting Student Wellbeing at the 2021 Think Student Awards, beating leading international universities to be selected as the winner by the Student Pulse panel of 40,000 students.
The Think Student Awards are the only awards of their kind, judged by the students themselves and measuring real impact. Judges said: “The students loved how Plymouth College of Art went above and beyond to support their students during the pandemic, providing tangible help and access to essential items.”
Find out more about the awards and why PCA SU won here.
Pictured: Harriet Moore (left), Student Union President 2020-2022, and Paige Nolan (right), former Student Union Manager.
The National Societies & Volunteering Awards 2021 - Longlist for "The Collaboration Award"
The Photographic Society made it to the longlist of The Collaboration Award after being nominated by the Students’ Union for their Photography Symposium with local artist Robert Darch and local company The South West Collective. At the time, the society is led by second year BA (Hons) Photography students Harry McCallum, Mia Hollywood, Jaymee Lewis and Dan Dayment who didn’t let the pandemic get in the way of their activities, instead organising an amazing online event that was open to everyone and was the most successful society event of this academic year in terms of both number of attendees and positive feedback post.
