The University’s partnership with Mansoura University, Egypt, is pivotal in addressing the urgent global health workforce shortage. Established in 2006 as Egypt’s first international medical programme, it equips students with integrated training that prepares them to serve globally, prioritising patient-centred care and competency-based education. 

Greater Manchester universities, in collaboration with local industry partners, have launched an innovative initiative developed by the GM Civic University Board’s Green Skills Working Group. Students from the five Greater Manchester universities form cross-institutional, interdisciplinary teams to address key local sustainability challenges. These challenges, presented by industry partners, align with the priorities of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). 

Roots to Dental programme is a service-learning initiative, delivered in collaboration with the Working Well scheme, a family of services that support people experiencing or at risk of long-term unemployment in Greater Manchester. The programme offers Dentistry students important learning opportunities while also serving the Greater Manchester community.  

The University’s School of Social Sciences hosts a four-day Summer School on Women in Logic every year. The programme is aimed at 16- to 18-year-old women and girls from widening participation backgrounds, with the goal of addressing the underrepresentation of women in logic and philosophy, while also encouraging more widening participation students to pursue philosophy as a field of study. 

The Manchester 10/10 programme is a collaborative student-staff project designed to empower and build a sense of belonging for Black/Black-mixed undergraduate students through tailored events and opportunities. Designed in partnership with Black Heritage students, the events support students to build their peer, professional and academic networks and develop the confidence to engage with all that the Manchester student experience has to offer.  

The PGCE Secondary Green Conference initiative is an annual event for student teachers, where students from multiple secondary PGCE subjects convene to host a day during which they address climate justice issues. The aims of the day are to develop student teachers’ understanding and confidence in dealing with climate justice issues. 

The Venture Further Awards is an annual start-up competition for all students and recent graduates that offers a £100,000 prize fund. The competition introduces students to a world of support programmes, workshops, mentors and networks to grow their ideas. The entries need to be a viable and credible business proposal that has the potential to succeed. If the entry is successful, the student will be asked to pitch their business proposal to a panel of expert judges for a chance to win one of the cash prizes.

The University was awarded the prestigious title of University of the Year at the 2024 Educate North Awards. The recognition is a testament to two centuries of outstanding contributions in learning, innovation, and research, cementing our position as a global leader in higher education.

The Laura Nuttall scholarship award supports students from a less privileged background with a physical condition, long term illness or learning difference, with a scholarship of £3,000 per year for every year of their degree. 

University’s School of Social Sciences launched the scholarship in memory of Politics, Philosophy and Economics graduate Laura Nuttall, who passed away after a long battle against cancer. 

The University’s Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH) is a nationally recognised hub for teacher development. Through several innovative and research informed projects and programmes, SEERIH engages and develops teachers to ensure high-quality learning outcomes for young people across Greater Manchester and on a national scale. 

Find out about SEERIH’s projects and impact, here. 

The city of lifelong learning approach is a movement of people, services, and place, to connect, validate and nurture learning, to support the city economy and to promote high quality and inclusive learning, for all aspects of our life. 

Manchester has become a UNESCO City of Lifelong Learning, in recognition of outstanding efforts to make lifelong learning a reality for all, with the University of Manchester as a strategic partner. The University of Manchester is proud to be leading on digital skills as part of Manchester City Council’s lifelong learning approach. 

Further Education colleges are working in partnership with the Greater Manchester Civic University Board and the University of Manchester to mutually benefit and to connect the higher and further education sectors across the city region.  

We caught up with Richard Caulfield the lead for the Further Education partnership to find out why partnership working is important across the sector. 

The University has developed a series of open-access courses on public health and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a key part of the United Nations’ work to improve lives and protect the natural world. Public health is integral to these aspirations, in helping to improve people’s health while protecting the health of our planet and the natural world that we are all dependent on. This series of courses aims to give an introduction to the public health issues that are relevant to the SDGs, and the role of public health in taking action to achieve the goals.

Write on Point is a project which aims to widen participation to university by supporting students from under-represented backgrounds with their UCAS personal statements. It was developed by Tom Fryer, a PhD student from the University’s Institute of Education, after he noticed the wealth of research showing inequalities in access to support for getting into university. The project has supported over 1,400 students since it started in 2015, increasing university access and reducing the stress around the UCAS personal statement.

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.

In collaboration with the University of Salford and national education charity IntoUniversity, we have launched a new learning centre in Salford to provide long-term educational support to young people facing disadvantage and who are typically underrepresented in higher education.

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.

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.

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.

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.