The University’s Faculty of Humanities has partnered with The Access Project, an organisation that supports young people from under-resourced backgrounds to raise their aspirations, access top universities and achieve social mobility.

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. 

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 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 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. 

Co-founded by the University’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health PhD student Beth Barnes, the Alternative Football League (AF League) is the North West’s only fully inclusive football league for women, non-binary and transgender individuals. AF League have three leagues across Manchester and Liverpool with 30 teams and over 400 players. They aim to use football as a platform to improve the mental health of women and non-binary people throughout the UK with their very own mental health and inclusivity workshops.

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, 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. 

Our university has contributed to the Global University Social Responsibility Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), which allows users to learn about the general framework of university social responsibility as well as understand effective practices to design, plan, implement, and evaluate their own activities.

Each year, we host the Irene Manton Lecture in partnership with the Linnean Society of London which celebrates the significant contribution made by women to the Natural Sciences.

Each year our University organises the Student Volunteering Week which aims to encourage students to take part in various volunteering opportunities to help society and the environment. For example, in 2025, in partnership with Ardwick Climate Action, students took part in sprucing up areas around Kale Street and the Mancunian Way, improving the biodiversity of the area and making it cleaner and greener for the residents.

Each year we celebrate International Women’s Day with various events and activities for students and staff to partake in to increase awareness about discrimination, recognise women’s achievements and take action to drive gender equity.

Each year our Manchester China Institute teams up with the Manchester China Forum (MCF) and The University’s International Office to integrate new Chinese students into campus life, while simultaneously enriching the campus experience for local students. The Manchester-China Friendship Programme (MCFP) further seeks to develop mutual understanding and friendships between British and Chinese students which is particularly important at a time when anti-Asian prejudice, discrimination, and aggression has increased in the UK and around the world.

We partner with small local charities in Manchester right through to major government departments through our Q-Step programme.

This places students on internships in organisations that require data skills and analysis and we’ve collaborated on projects with the Office for National Statistics on global, national and regional datasets used to measure progress on SDGs.

Our Students’ Union set up Climate Justice Fortnight, an initiative exploring the different ways that climate injustice manifests itself, and how we can tackle it.

There are Teach-Ins throughout the fortnight where students and academic staff collaborate on delivering content on these issues in their current class times.

Students also organise activities and actions through societies such as the People and Planet Society or Extinction Rebellion Youth; get involved in sustainability leadership roles such as the Students’ Union’s Ethical and Environmental Officer; take on  environmental representation roles in halls of residence; and attend events and campaigns such as the youth strikes for climate action.