Social Justice Challenge

All second-year students can take part in our Social Justice Challenge, an online programme exploring key issues relating to migration, homelessness, education, mental health, energy and trade.

Study programmes

Students address inequalities in a wide range of course units.

These range from undergraduate Sociology students examining social inequalities in contemporary Britain right through to master’s programmes in International Development.

Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD)

Our recently constructed Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD) is creating an environment for the brightest engineers to innovate.

Manchester Innovation Labs

Our Manchester Innovation Labs provide a robust, effective means of co-developing research projects with companies to address a business need.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

We have been placed top in the UK for our knowledge transfer partnerships.

Through our structure and funding support, we place graduates to support businesses in addressing key innovation challenges.

Manchester Enterprise Challenge

Our students are able to undertake an Enterprise Challenge, which combines enterprise units with a community-based enterprise project with not-for-profit organisations.

Masood Entrepreneurship Centre

Our Masood Entrepreneurship Centre is a focal point for enterprise and entrepreneurship in our Alliance Manchester Business School, developing entrepreneurial skills in students, staff and graduates.

Study programmes

We deliver undergraduate programmes in Innovation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, master’s programmes in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship.

We also integrate industrial experience into a wide range of science, engineering, health and social science programmes.

Workplace Ethics Challenge

Our Workplace Ethics Challenge empowers third-year undergraduates with skills and experiences on fairness in work and helps them stand out in a competitive graduate job market.

Work experience bursaries

We recognise there are barriers for some of our students in accessing appropriate work experience.

We offer financial support for full-time undergraduates of all years to undertake career-enhancing work experience for those who otherwise couldn’t have afforded it.

Study programmes

Our students are learning about how to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all.

For example, our undergraduate Management degree has a specialisation in Sustainable and Ethical Business. Our master’s students in Development Economics and Policy learn about contemporary economic theories, applications and methods relevant to developing and transitional economies.

Manchester Energy and Environment Society

Our student-led Manchester Energy and Environment Society brings energy-related events to the University.

It also bridges the gap between students and academics working in renewable energy and the environment through networking and sharing knowledge on renewable and low carbon energy.

Venture Further

Our £75,000 annual Venture Further start-up competition is for all current students, researchers and recent graduates.

One of the competition’s categories is for business ideas aligned to SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy.

Study programmes

Our Contemporary Themes in Chemistry unit enables students to appreciate the role chemistry plays in tackling sustainability, energy and the environment.

Our Energy, Society and Space in Geography unit examines scientific and political issues associated with energy provision and demand.

Our master’s unit in Renewable Energy and Clean Technology equips students with a detailed understanding of solar, wind and marine energy generation technologies.

Female sanitation

We’ve worked with our Students’ Union and current Women’s Officer to initiate and fund a new scheme providing free period products for our students, helping to combat period poverty and ensure sanitation for all.

MOOCs

With half a billion people worldwide having poor water supplies and two billion with poor sanitation facilities, our two free MOOCs open up access for citizens and leaders around the world to explore what can be done to solve this complex global issue.

Study programmes

We deliver cutting-edge teaching on clean water and sanitation. For example, Civil Engineering students take a course unit on water engineering, which covers water and wastewater treatment and resource management.

Master’s students in Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Reconstruction are offered a unit on water movement that looks at solutions to groundwater contamination.

Women in STEM

We have a range of initiatives that empower women and girls to enter predominantly male fields such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Our academics have set up ScienceGrrl – a grassroots network to address the under-representation of women in science and engineering.

A Women in Environmental Science group has been established to create space for environmental discussion among women from diverse backgrounds.

We also host Girls Night Out – a twice-yearly event at our Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre to celebrate and encourage females to pursue careers in STEM.

Girl Guides Rwanda remote volunteering

We work in collaboration with Association des Guides du Rwanda (AGR) to provide volunteer opportunities for students to help girls and young women in Rwanda acquire skills for their development and become agents of positive change.

Students’ and women’s rights

Our students started a Misogyny Is Hate campaign, leading to the government directing police to record crimes motivated by a person’s sex or gender for the first time.

Our Students’ Union also runs Reclaim the Night, resulting in around 2,000 women marching in the streets each year to raise awareness of sexual harassment and gender-based violence.

Study programmes

Gender equality is embedded across our whole curriculum, and a wide range of our degrees offer course units on gender and sexuality.

For examples, Religion and Theology students assess the impact of changing gender roles on religious traditions, while our MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture brings together scholars from many different fields to explore feminist and queer theory, sexual identities and gender history.

Imagine Me Stories

Our Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health partners with Manchester Metropolitan University and Keele University on Imagine Me Stories.

This is a school library diversity initiative designed to tackle under-representation in UK school libraries by curating diverse resources and promoting better representation in literature for all students.

Great Science Share for Schools

Our Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub undertakes a range of public engagement campaigns.

These include the Great Science Share for Schools and the Greater Manchester Engineering Challenge, which enhances the University’s work in broadening the pipeline of young people with an interest in STEM subjects.

IntoUniversity Manchester North

We partner with the IntoUniversity Manchester North educational charity to support and engage some of the most disadvantaged young people in Manchester.

IntoUniversity helps young people to attain a university place or another chosen aspiration. 71% of its students progress to university, compared with 43% of students from similar backgrounds nationally.

Educating the region’s school children during lockdown to minimise disadvantage

During the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns of 2020, our partnership with the Tutor Trust charity provided online sessions to ensure disadvantaged students didn’t suffer the risk of falling behind in their education without regular teaching in the classroom.

Students from The University of Manchester make up more than half of those who work as Tutor Trust tutors in Manchester.