The Arrival of the Masses – Don’t Panic!!

So this week is officially the University of Plymouth ‘arrivals week’ where all of the new students arrive with their parents and bags to embark on the exciting time that is higher education.
Yes certain roads will have been blocked. Yes there would have been many queues and yes, hundreds of new students will be moving into the local area – on top of the thousands of students that already live in and around Plymouth.
But it’s not all that bad. I promise.
I’m going to talk about statistics now, as exciting as they are, to try and paint a more realistic picture of the demographic of students we have here at Plymouth:
• Around 50% of undergraduates at Plymouth come from Devon and Cornwall originally
• Around 30% of these undergraduate students are 18-21 years old
• Around 42% are 25 years and older
• Around 30% are part time students
So the point from these statistics is that the hundreds of new students coming to Plymouth this year will not all be 24-hour alcohol drinking, loud, unclean monsters but that most are young people taking the next step in their careers, coming to a University of excellence to learn, work hard and enhance their lives.
Now I’m not being naïve about the problems that may arise with increased young people in the area, moving away from parental homes for the first time (in some instances!) but my plea to you all is to not stereotype all students and tarnish them with the not so realistic bad image that they don’t deserve. Let’s work together, cohesively as a community for all of its residents, and work to solve the issues but to also celebrate the successes that we all bring to Plymouth by living and working in the area.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to get in contact with me on president@upsu.com or in writing to UPSU, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA and I’ll back to you as soon as I can.