Goal 4: Policies, processes and practices

The following page outlines specific policies, processes and practices in support of Sustainable Development Goal 4 Quality Education.

Educational resources

We provide a wide range of free access to educational resources for those not studying at the university – e.g. computers, library, online courses, and access to lectures. We provide a range of face to face sessions and online materials in our education programmes for school students in key stage 2 to 5 at our John Rylands library. We have a variety of free, open to everyone, certificated Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to bring our teaching resources to a global audience, in which learners can receive a certificate of completion. 

Educational outreach activities

We undertake a range of educational outreach activities beyond campus – in local schools and in the community. This includes both ad hoc and programmed activities. We have partnered with IntoUniversity – which has centres based in the local community that provide English and Math educational workshops as well as other career outreach workshops that are often led by the university. Our partnership with The Brilliant Club involves our PhD students delivering educational outreach seminars in local, non-selective state schools – to try widen access to the university. 

Community educational events 

We host a range of lifelong learning events that are open to the general public. We have public lectures and community educational events delivered both ad hoc and on a programmed basis. We host performances in our Martin Harris Centre and regular family events at our Cultural Institutions – for example our weekly Art Babies class at our Whitworth Art Gallery. All can be found on the events website. We also have our annual Community Festival, which is community educational event, opening the University and its research to local communities. 

We host a wide range of events – both programmed and ad hoc – that are open to the general public relating to executive and vocational training courses. We have various Continuing professional development (CPD) courses available from our faculty of humanities, biology medicine and health, science and engineering, as well as online courses on management. Our University Language Centre offers individual language courses that cater to a range of levels from beginner to advanced, and are open to everyone – students of the University, members of staff and members of the public. 

Lifelong learning policy 

We have policies that ensure that access to lifelong learning is accessible to all, regardless of ethnicity, religion, disability, immigration status or gender. Our Access and Participation Plan lists the different student groups (race, gender, disability and other protected characteristics) specifically targeted for access to our initiatives through the student lifecycle, (p13 and p14). There are also targets for asylum seekers and those with experience of being looked after in care which go beyond the traditional focus on gender/race/disability, (p27).  

Our prestigious Race Equality Chartermark publicly commits us to race equality across all our activities with staff and students, including those relating to our outreach and admissions activities being accessible to those of all races. We hold 15 Athena Swan Charters for Gender Equality and embedded into each of these are the promotion of gender equality in access to outreach activities.