Plymouth Marjon University

Plymouth Marjon University’s history begins in February 1840, when the first students took their seats at St John’s College, Battersea, the first teacher training college in England. Its founders, James Kay-Shuttleworth and Derwent Coleridge, trained orphans from the local workhouse to become teachers, believing that education should be for everyone, not only for the elite. St Mark’s College, Chelsea, followed in 1841, and the two colleges amalgamated in 1923, becoming Marjon. Marjon moved to Plymouth in 1973, to a purpose-built campus on the northern edge of the city. It was affiliated to the University of Exeter in 1991, gained university college status in 2007, and received full university title in 2013 as Plymouth Marjon University, the trading name of the University of St Mark and St John. Today it has around 5,000 students, and is the biggest provider of in-service training for teachers in England. Marjon is known for its small, supportive community, its teaching in education, sport, health and wellbeing, and its strong links with schools, sports clubs and health employers in the South West. Its students are known by name, and its teaching is personal, practical and focused on careers.