This project involves pharmacy undergraduates delivering assessed core curriculum public engagement workshops to high school pupils. Workshops covers a variety of public health topics relevant to 14–16 year-olds such as Antibiotic Resistance, Alcohol, Diabetes, Mental Health & Sexual Health Awareness.

Every year we host a Sustainability Careers Fair at the University, helping students explore career paths that align with environmental sustainability. Alongside our own Careers Service and Environmental Sustainability Team, we welcome a fantastic range of exhibitors to offer advice and guidance. For example, in 2025, we invited Cushman & Wakefield, Kenny Waste Management, Manchester City Council, Net Zero Group | B Corp Certified, Windō, and the Environment Agency. 

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. 

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). 

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 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 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our University College for interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL) offers units that aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to explore and address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the challenges that may occur from creating a sustainable world. The module also features contributions from policymakers, academics and the public, which gives students the unique opportunity to explore the UN’s SDGs in depth.

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.

We’re committed to empowering students with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to address all of the SDGs through partnerships with public, private and civil society organisations.

Our University Living Lab platform connects student projects with external organisations to address the SDGs.

Our Volunteer Hub acts to advance partnerships between hundreds of charities and our student volunteers.

And many academic programmes offer service-learning partnerships, where external organisations benefit from practical student interventions in areas such as dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, business and legal advice.

As part of our Justice Hub, The Manchester Innocence Project (MIP) is one of only 13 organisations outside of the US to join the Innocence Network.

Law students volunteering with MIP have the opportunity to take on live criminal appeals for those who maintain their innocence.