University of Plymouth Academic Partnerships is a partnership between the University of Plymouth, local colleges, and universities to deliver a range of higher education courses in the UK, as well as the Channel Islands, and at international institutions.

The University of Plymouth Academic Partnerships began as a network of local colleges in 1989 with the Polytechnic South West. The polytechnic entered into partnership agreements with local FE colleges in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset to extend the provision of HE opportunities.

The initial intake was 450 students. By 1992, the polytechnic had become the University of Plymouth,^[1] and the network was devised as the University of Plymouth Colleges Network (UPC) in 2003.^[2]

In 2004, the UPC was launched as a faculty within the university with its own Dean,^[3][4] and by 2007, student numbers had reached 9,500 students.^[5]