Plymouth Marjon University has announced plans to build an 'outpatient and wellbeing community hub' after being awarded millions of pounds of funding from the Office for Students (OfS).
The higher education institution was handed £5.8m from the independent regulator to develop the specialist facility on campus following a successful bidding process. The money from the OfS is part of £400m being awarding to UK institutions to fund scientific, technical, and practical subjects.
The university, which expects to launch the hub in 2025, said the facility would "help plug workforce shortages in the region". It will provide placement-based learning for students and will support the delivery of new technical and clinical programmes such as healthcare science, nursing, and allied health professions. The university said the hub would offer an "important healthcare provision" for Plymouth's community.
Professor Michelle Jones, deputy vice-chancellor for research and knowledge exchange at Marjon, said: “This funding will have a real regional impact. We have worked closely with health and care employers to develop new programmes that will plug gaps in workforce shortages.
“It will benefit residents in Devon and Cornwall who will benefit from high-quality integrated person-centred wellbeing services. Most importantly it will ensure our students and apprentices will benefit from sector-leading specialist skills labs to be ready to deliver outstanding patient-centred care as graduates.”
Plymouth Marjon said it would deliver a range of technology-enhanced student and apprentice programmes, with "flexible step-on and step-off" progression opportunities. The funding will be used over the next three years to develop technology, buildings, and programmes at the university, in preparation to launch its new hub in 2025.
The university already delivers a variety of health-based programmes including osteopathy, physiotherapy, and speech and language therapy. In 2023 and 2024, the university will unveil a series of new healthcare courses featuring a health and wellbeing practitioner degree; a nursing associate foundation degree; a clinical science degree apprenticeship; and a master’s in nursing.
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