A person working at a computer in an office.

Work and skills

We are a significant employer in Greater Manchester with job opportunities for people from our local communities.

We are a community of more than 12,000 employees, many of whom are local residents from across our city region. We have a huge variety of jobs ranging from support roles in administration, catering, security, technical and maintenance, to more academic and professional services positions.

The Works

We are leading a unique, award-winning employment initiative called The Works, which is actively transforming local people’s life chances.

The Works has centre based in the heart of our local community of Ardwick, supporting local people to find jobs, develop skills and access training courses and financial advice. We regularly advertise our job vacancies through The Works – in fact, some vacancies are only advertised here.

We also undertake leading research into work and employment, particularly around fairness at work issues such as workplace diversity, fair pay and discrimination.

Growing social enterprises

Developing our own social enterprises among staff and students is also part of a wider vision that values and encourages the transfer of knowledge and technology to further the social benefit of Greater Manchester.

Social enterprises are supported in the University through the Innovation Factory.

We’ve won national acclaim for the range of social enterprises we’ve supported from staff and students, many of which are making a difference in our communities in Greater Manchester.

We support social enterprise skills among students more broadly through our Manchester Enterprise Centre.

Social value

The University is committed to delivering social value through its procurement process.

We believe that we can secure wider social, economic, and environmental benefits by considering what we buy and who we buy from.

 

Case study: Manchester Engineering Campus Development

The Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD) project was one of the largest construction programmes in British higher education.

Through our unique commitment to social responsibility, we wanted to set a benchmark for how university construction programmes can benefit local communities.

Working with local residents, three targets for the build programme were agreed. The University and its partners have exceeded the targets set:

  • 110 jobs and apprentices for local unemployed people.

Achieved: 182 jobs/apprentices created, including 15 rehabilitated offenders.

  • Establish £30,000 of support for local community groups.

Achieved: 43 groups benefited from £60,000 of support, including a women’s refuge, a local LGBT centre, a food bank and an older people’s group.

Achieved: a full 45/45 achieved.

Using the sector-leading Social Value Portal tool, our construction partner Balfour Beatty calculated £19.7 million of social value for local communities, setting a record for all construction programmes to date in British higher education.

 

Case study: University Place catering

The space in University Place had been a traditional food court offering the usual fare such as burgers, burritos, fish and chips and Asian cuisine.

Still, the University wanted to offer something better. We wanted to provide a diverse offer to students and to take the opportunity to support the diverse communities of Manchester.

We invited local independent traders to use our space, creating a partnership that economically benefits the local food providers in Manchester and provides a dynamic food offer.