University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a place where research has international impact, where students experience outstanding teaching and learning, transforming into employable graduates, and where all activity is enriched by a commitment to social responsibility and the benefits we bring to society and the environment.

We were the first British university to set social responsibility as a core goal and in 2021 we were named the world’s number one university in the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings. Manchester topped the table of more than 1,100 universities from 94 countries on action taken towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Manchester was the first and most eminent of England’s civic universities. Our rich heritage of discovery, social change and pioneering spirit remains at the heart of all we do. Today, we’re part of the prestigious Russell Group of UK universities, with a global reputation for the highest level of research and teaching, as demonstrated by our position in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In 2021 we were placed 51st in the world and eighth in the UK.

Manchester has a rich history of ground-breaking research and 25 Nobel laureates have studied or worked with us. This includes current members of academic staff, Professors Sir Kostya Novoselov and Sir Andre Geim, who shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for the isolation of graphene’s properties.

Other pioneering discoveries include the work of Tom Kilburn, Freddie Williams and Alan Turing on the modern computer – the first stored program was run at Manchester – and the development of modern economics by trailblazers Sir John Richard Hicks and Sir William Arthur Lewis. The latter, on his appointment at Manchester, was Britain’s first Black professor. Manchester also led the way with the appointment of Baroness Jean McFarlane as the first Professor of Nursing in England. McFarlane, a pioneer within the field of healthcare, established the country’s first nursing degree.

Today, nearly half of our academic and research staff work on interdisciplinary research. Our five research beacons – advanced materials, cancer, energy, global inequalities and industrial biotechnology – are examples of how our cross-sector partnerships are helping to find unique solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Our place as one of the UK’s top research universities was confirmed in the results of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. 83% of our research activity was judged to be ‘world-leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*), and we were ranked fifth in terms of research power. This environment is ideal for PhD students. Those who choose to undertake their project at Manchester can collaborate with academics whose work is having global impact and access a dedicated enterprise centre and doctoral college committed to researcher development.

Through our Innovation Factory, we invest in the commercialisation of research via spin-out companies and partnerships with industry. These commercialisation activities have contributed almost £868 million to the UK economy since 2004 and we’re ranked 8th in the Reuters Top 100 Most Innovative Universities in Europe (2019). We have a host of innovation initiatives designed to engage students, staff and local communities with the potential of research at Manchester. These include the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre and ID Manchester, a new billion-pound innovation district being developed in the heart of Manchester and alongside the University.