In May 2025, members of the Royal Historical Society’s Council visited the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus, Penryn, as part of the Society’s annual programme of visits to departments across the UK.
Visits are a chance to meet not just with historians working across the university, and with university managers, but also with undergraduate and postgraduate students to learn more about their experience of study.
In this post we hear from Charlotte Arthurs, a final year History and Politics student on her three years as an undergraduate at the Cornwall Campus. Central to Charlotte’s experience has been the attention placed at Penryn on interdisciplinary teaching within a supportive and smaller-scale campus setting.
The Society’s next two visits are to the historians and history students at the universities of Aberdeen and Suffolk, with further visits planned later in 2025 and 2026.
Studying History and Politics at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall campus in Penryn is a beautiful, one-off experience. From our shared campus to the distinctive departmental structure, it is a campus unlike any other. As a student here I have had the opportunity to not only excel academically but to also grow as a person and take steps far beyond my comfort zone knowing I had an amazing support system behind me in the form of the university and their staff.
For a History and Politics student, Cornwall truly is the perfect place to study.
Our campus is in the heart of Penryn, just a short distance away from Falmouth and Truro. Our slice of Cornwall is rich with charm, culture and history embedded within mining traditions and its importance as a coastal hub with a bustling port.
For a History and Politics student, Cornwall truly is the perfect place to study. Within Falmouth much of this history is honoured through student-led activities such as lessons in the Cornish language and pasty making for example. In addition, true highlights of the area are our beaches and coastal paths that provide respite for busy students as well as being the home of our many water sports societies.
We share the Penryn campus with Falmouth University, an award-winning creative arts institution. Communal spaces are shared as well as first year accommodation on campus. The opportunity to live with such a wide variety of people in your first year is an incredible opportunity to meet individuals you otherwise may not have. In my case, I lived with a mix of Marine Science students from Exeter alongside Photography, Film and Animation students from Falmouth. With the Student’s Union also being shared the connections between the two universities and their students is a unique experience students come to cherish. Furthermore, the campus is full of nature and green spaces and has been awarded the coveted Green Flag Award for the last seven consecutive years. For students such as myself this results in an abundance of places to study while also providing spaces to relax and socialise within nature.
This close-knit community creates a welcoming and caring experience that in turn enables students to excel academically.
As a History and Politics student, I sit within the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Cornwall (HaSS, Cornwall). Being part of this interdisciplinary department is invaluable for a dual honours student such as myself. The disciplines of Archaeology, English Literature, History, Politics, Law and Environmental Humanities make up the department and lecturers all share a corridor within the Peter Lanyon building.
This collaboration is evident within the popular dual honours degrees as well as through the cutting-edge research produced by our academics. It is clear the degrees have been created with interdisciplinarity at their heart and there have been many occasions when lecturers from other disciplines within the department have guest lectured within my course. This provides students with a much wider view of their chosen subject, resulting in students holding a broad, open-minded approach.
The smaller nature of this campus is critical to its interdisciplinary achievements. With just over 2,500 Exeter students, Penryn is a smaller campus than most traditional university campuses. However, this is nothing but a positive. With smaller class sizes and much lower student to lecturer ratios, students receive personalised support while also gaining a prestigious Russell Group degree from one of the top universities in the country. The smaller campus also allows students to feel comfortable and supported despite the daunting nature of starting university and moving away from home.
Being within this tight community allowed me to easily get to know my lecturers and create lasting relationships that made asking for support simple and enabled me to feel engaged within my course. From module feedback to informal chats, our opinions as students are always taken on aboard and honoured wherever possible. This close-knit community creates a welcoming and caring experience that in turn enables students to excel academically.
It is clear the degrees have been created with interdisciplinarity at their heart … This provides students with a much wider view of their chosen subject, resulting in students holding a broad, open-minded approach.
As a final year student who has just finished her journey through university I can say with complete certainty that if given the opportunity to come to Penryn all over again I would do so in a heartbeat. The campus, the department, the university’s support and of course the people I have met have made for a truly irreplaceable experience. I could not recommend it enough for upcoming students looking for a welcoming and enlightening time at university.
About the Author
Charlotte Arthurs is a final year History and Politics student at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus in Penryn, graduating in July 2025.
Originally from South Devon, Charlotte has a place to begin her Secondary History PGCE in September at the University of Exeter’s School of Education, St Luke’s Campus.
All photographs: Charlotte Arthurs.
