Whose Campus, Whose Security?

Led by academics at the University of Manchester, a new report, Whose Campus, Whose Security? draws upon a national survey and localised interviews in Greater Manchester to centre on the perspectives of students. In line with our commitment to Social Responsibility and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, the national research warns that harmful securitisation practices can undermine efforts to create a welcoming environment for all students. The report urges higher education institutions to do more to ensure an inclusive and welcoming environment for all students. The full report, the executive summary, and a graphic abstract can be accessed through the CoDE website, and pieces from the authors can be found in Times Higher Education, and WonkHE. 

University’s Bug Hotel

The University’s landscape and services team has recently installed a new Bug Hotel, nestled in the corner of our Williamson building. The Bug Hotel is made using recycled wood, as well as foliage and twigs that were found around the campus grounds. As the number of pollinators in the UK is in decline, this project aims to provide these important insects a home.  

NCCPE Platinum Watermark

Our University has been awarded a Platinum Watermark by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) which is the highest honour that can be granted to an institution. The award recognises our exceptional contribution to public engagement which includes the way we work to engage society with activities in research, teaching and culture. We received praise for our efforts in making campus more welcoming and accessible for community use, involving partners and communities in shaping the research and teaching at the University, and our significant commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. Find examples of our local, national and international public engagement work here. 

2030 Climate Action prize

We have won the ‘2030 Climate Action’ prize at the prestigious UK & Ireland Green Gown Awards in recognition of its “forward looking and innovative” work to decarbonise the University’s operations. The Green Gown Awards celebrate the innovative and transformative initiatives and projects in sustainability across the further and higher education sectors, and the University of Manchester claimed the top prize for work supporting its new Environmental Sustainability strategy. Further details of our award can be found here.  

Food waste recycling on campus

In an effort to make our University more sustainable, food waste caddies have been installed in all staff kitchens on the main campus. The goal is simple: to cut down on the greenhouse gases linked to food waste. Instead of going to landfill and generating more greenhouse gases, the food waste collected is taken to a specialised processing plant where it is used to generate electricity and produce a fertiliser which can be used in farming.

Reducing University air travel emissions

Our new travel policy, supports our ambition to be a leader in developing sustainable research and teaching practices. This is part of a wider project to reduce our total carbon footprint in line with our Environmental Sustainability Strategy. As part of this, there is guidance and funding in place to support staff with greener travel. In 2022/23 we nearly halved our air travel emissions, compared to pre-pandemic levels, as a result of the new policy.

Manchester Purple Wave

The Purple Wave is a UoM Sport initiative designed to bring our community together to celebrate physical activity and shared experiences. It’s all about participation, not elite performance – just having fun, making friends, and being active with like-minded people. As part of this, people can become a Purplewave fundraiser, raising money at events like the Great Manchester Run. Over the years, hundreds of wonderful fundraisers have raised tens of thousands of pounds to support good causes right here on campus. From rebuilding the Paterson Cancer Research building to providing disadvantaged students with scholarships – brilliant Purple Wave fundraisers have helped make some amazing things happen for our community.

The Whitworth Gallery of Sanctuary status

The University’s Whitworth gallery is the first gallery in the North-West of England to proudly join the hundreds of local councils, schools, universities, libraries, and cultural institutes who have Sanctuary status, pledging to create a culture of solidarity and inclusivity, and welcome people from a forced displacement background. The Sanctuary Awards recognise and celebrate the organisations who go above and beyond to welcome people seeking sanctuary.

Cycle September

Every September, our University takes part in a fun and friendly biking competition called Cycle September. The initiative encourages staff and students to ditch their cars and hop on their bicycles for their daily commute. In 2023, we placed 1^st in Greater Manchester and 3^rd overall in the UK, but there’s more to it than just the competition, choosing to cycle improves physical and mental wellbeing, reduces our carbon footprint and helps decrease traffic congestion around campus.

Sister, £1.7bn innovation district

Previously known as ID Manchester, Sister is a joint venture between The University of Manchester and Bruntwood SciTech. The project will see the transformation of the University’s former North campus into a 4 million sq ft globally competitive innovation district and will help elevate Manchester’s position as a national centre for science and technology.

It will deliver commercial, innovation, and retail space, over 1,500 new homes, nine acres of public realm, and create more than 10,000 new jobs, training, and apprenticeship opportunities for people across Greater Manchester.

Founders and Funders

Founders and Funders: Slavery and the building of a University is an exhibition at the University’s John Rylands Research Institute. It explores how profits from slave trading, ownership of enslaved people, and manufacturing with slave-grown cotton funded the cultural and educational development of Manchester. Core to the exhibition is research conducted by a diverse team of emerging scholars who undertook the Race, Migration & Humanitarianism: Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism in the Modern World module as part of their MA History. This is an important step on a journey we started with the initial research into our University’s links to slavery, in conjunction with seeking the views of staff, students and alumni.

Our Sustainable Future

Our environmental sustainability strategy, Our Sustainable Future, describes how we will reduce our carbon footprint, promote sustainability in our teaching and learning and research and innovation, and engage and support our community in the transition to a more sustainable society. Our strategy sets out the practical steps we are committing to, where it is already clear how best to protect and enhance our environment. We commit to transparency in reporting our progress towards our sustainability goals. We also outline our commitment to collaboration and deep enquiry where the solutions are less obvious, the challenges more complex or we need to be part of a broader shift to make the necessary changes possible.

Manchester Access Programme

Manchester Access Programme (MAP) is the University’s flagship post-16 widening participation programme for Y12 students from Greater Manchester.  Every year, hundreds of students across Greater Manchester are selected for the programme that helps them gain a place at The University of Manchester, or another research-intensive university, through our online and on-campus events, workshops, and an academic assignment.

Undergraduate courses and the SDGs

Our University is working towards kite-marking all undergraduate courses with the relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) they address. This will enable prospective students to immediately see which SDGs the course they are interested in links to and how that learning will make a difference in the world. Following the successful pilot project in our Faculty of Science and Engineering, work is now underway for all undergraduate courses to be kite marked within our Faculty of Humanities, followed by courses offered by our Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.

Greater Manchester Graduates

Each year, over 17,000 students graduate from The University of Manchester, many of whom are already making contributions to our city and beyond through healthcare, education and protecting the natural environment.  At each graduation ceremony, we celebrate our graduates and ask them ‘how do they hope to make a difference following their degree?’ Watch our Greater Manchester Graduates YouTube playlist.

Heart Heroes

Each academic year, the Heart Heroes project at the University of Manchester recruits and trains a team of student volunteers to deliver ‘Basic Life Support (BLS) skills’ training to groups of students, staff, and external community members. The student volunteers deliver multiple sessions covering heart attacks and CPR, using Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), assisting individuals who are choking, and placing someone in the recovery position. The sessions receive positive feedback, with participants often astounded that these volunteers, typically without a medical background, deliver such high-quality training.

Raheem Sterling scholarships

Our University, alongside King’s College London, are proud to partner with The Raheem Sterling Foundation to offer scholarships to support Black African and Caribbean heritage applicants from socio-economically under-represented backgrounds. The Raheem Sterling Foundation envisions a world where young people will always have the support they need in the pursuit of improving their opportunities, their future careers and their quality of life. The foundation aims to fund seven students on undergraduate degree programmes at The University of Manchester over the next three years. 

Fallowfield community project

Fallowfield community project is a long-term initiative to reduce the waste and fly-tipping issues and to improve recycling rates on the Fallowfield Brow. Students from our University volunteer alongside local residents, Manchester Student Homes, Manchester City Council and Biffa to remove litter from an alleyway, clear weeds and install new planters to make a positive impact on the local community and the environment.

The Staying Safe Programme

Our University is one of two pilot institutions for ‘The Staying Safe Programme’ (TSSP), a new drug education initiative designed to educate students about drug use and minimise associated harms. This program marks a shift from a zero-tolerance approach to student drug use, favouring harm reduction policies and procedures instead. The harm reduction approach acknowledges that young people may use controlled drugs and aims to help them reduce the associated risks. In contrast, the zero-tolerance approach can create stigma and hinder access to support. Our approach is grounded in harm reduction principles, ensuring that students who engage in drug use are informed about the risks, equipped to make informed choices, and confident in seeking support without facing penalties. The University’s adoption of harm reduction policies aligns with the recent call by Universities UK (UUK) for universities to implement such practices.

Stonewall ranking

Stonewall is Europe’s largest charity for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace (LGBTQ+) people and each year ranks organisations for their LGBTQ+ inclusion practices against other organisations. Up to 500 organisations take part in the annual Index, in which we have ranked in the top 100 for eight consecutive years. This year, our University scored 133 out of 197 in its Workplace Equality Index submission, ranked 7th overall, and also achieved a Gold award for meeting specific criteria around a number of identified measures for LGBT+ inclusion.

Creating prosperous communities

We’re unique among UK universities in having social responsibility as a core goal in our strategic plan, Our Future. Our vision for prosperous communities is to increase economic well being, develop new sectors, innovate, and improve productivity for all people and all areas of our city region. We’re using our knowledge and discovery to enhance innovation in key economic sectors of the national and regional economy through initiatives and also working in partnership and sharing our knowledge and expertise locally and nationally to advance prosperity by prioritising University engagement on national and regional economic policy developments.

Talking Science Competition

Each year, the University’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH) hosts the ‘Talking Science Competition’ where second year undergraduate students and above are invited to share their ideas on how science can create a healthier, fairer and greener world, creating a unique opportunity to talk about a subject that really matters to them.

Black History Month

Black History Month is used as a time to give appreciation and recognition of the positive contributions that Black people have made. It also provides an opportunity to celebrate accomplishments, share learning, and allows us time to reflect on the past, whilst being proud of our culture and identity. Each year, we host a variety of events for staff and students to mark Black History Month. For example, our University’s Creative Manchester presented a lecture with award-winning writer, historian and broadcaster, Professor David Olusoga OBE, exploring what it means to be black and British and the role of black history today.

Health Inequalities

Policy@Manchester is our University’s policy engagement institute that connects researchers with policymakers and influencers, nurtures long-term policy engagement relationships and seeks to enhance stakeholder understanding of pressing policy challenges. One of the institutes online collections, Health Inequalities draws on research from across the University, and offers evidence-led insight and policy recommendations on the causes, effects, and solutions to heath inequalities.

University Living Lab

Our University Living Lab applies the expertise of students to real-world sustainability challenges through developing student research projects with external organisations to help meet sustainability goals.  Through the University Living Lab, the University has saved CO2 through active travel, shaped municipal climate change policy, increased biodiversity and enabled ethical consumption whilst empowering and equipping the future workforce of a net zero world. In 2022, the Living Lab was nominated for The Earthshot Prize for practical action on climate change.