Flexible learning
A new way to study
Full strategy
We’re creating a new kind of student experience – flexible, connected and personalised – blending digital innovation with in-person support and combining hands-on partner-enabled learning with our local and global connections.
We will create more opportunities for more people to study with us and drive social mobility in our region and worldwide.
“Starting university felt overwhelming – but Manchester helped me settle in quickly and feel like I belonged.”
We’ll embed partner-enabled learning into every student journey – credit-bearing projects with employers, public bodies and community groups to apply knowledge in practice.
This, coupled with the option to work remotely through Manchester Online, or on campus, more targeted financial support – including paid work opportunities and a curriculum that champions real-world thinking – will set us apart.
Our student experience will feature more flexible routes through education and new ways of learning.
Combine digital innovation with personal support from our academic and pastoral staff, so students only have to tell us when they need help once.
Co-design the learning experience with our students and strengthen student-led communities.
Tackle differential attainment through inclusive curriculum design and earlier support.
Invest in flexible spaces and 24/7 digital platforms.
Blend intelligent tools with in-person learning to suit different learning styles and make every classroom interaction more purposeful.
Offer more financial help and boost philanthropic support so students can focus on learning.
Students will work with employers, public bodies and community organisations in cross-disciplinary projects as part of their course.
Give students the chance to build skills and make a difference in our communities while tackling challenges that matter.
Scale up global collaboration labs – connecting students across disciplines, cultures and sectors.
Put our hybrid model into action – enabling half of our students to study online via Manchester Online or through workplace routes, balanced with our campus community and in-person experience.
Make equity a core priority – break down barriers to participation so more students can access our education, wherever they are.
Create new ways for people to learn with us or return later in life – from alumni, residents or global students – supported by our online digital campus and employer-responsive courses that strengthen skills for our region and beyond.
Bring together problem-based projects and partner-enabled learning, connecting students to our researchers, advanced facilities and expert technical teams.
Research platforms will inform our teaching – giving students the chance to contribute to real-world knowledge creation.
Re-think assessment to reflect what students can do, not just what they know.
Make employability a core outcome – building strong pathways to future careers thorough alumni mentoring as well as the UK’s widest range of paid roles.
Realising the ambitions of our strategy will define our next decade and beyond, but some of our ideas are already in motion. These initiatives are helping us to test, learn and refine how we deliver foundations and leaps.
Teaching beyond campus
Flexible, personal and connected
Bringing our civic mission to life
Becoming a great philanthropic university
We’ll be known for discovery and challenge-led research – tackling society’s hardest problems and delivering impact fast. Connecting people, ideas and infrastructure, we’ll turn knowledge into action across health, climate, culture, advanced materials and AI.
Read more
We'll become Europe’s most inclusive and impactful innovation ecosystem. At Manchester, innovation means more than technology: from student-led enterprises to civic collaborations, everyone will have the chance to contribute to progress that changes lives locally and globally.
Read more
We’ll be the partner of choice for those who share our commitment to excellence and turning knowledge into impact for the public good. Our collaborations will reflect who we are – open, values-led and focused on making a difference.
Read more
We’ll create inclusive, people-led digital environments. Through Manchester Online we’ll expand access locally and globally. Building digital skills for all, tackling digital poverty and using AI responsibly, we’ll use technology to empower rather than exclude.
Read more