UMIST had its origins in theManchester Mechanics' Institution, which was founded in 1824. The present University of Manchester considers this date, which is also the date of foundation of the ancestor of theRoyal School of Medicine and Surgery, one of the predecessor institutions of the Victoria University of Manchester, as its official foundation year. The founders of the Mechanics' Institution believed that all professions, to some extent, depended on science. As such, the institute taught working individuals branches of science relevant to their existing occupations, believing its practical application would encourage innovation and advancements within those fields.[12] The Victoria University of Manchester was founded in 1851, as Owens College. Academic research undertaken by the university was published via theManchester University Press from 1904.[13]
The Old Quadrangle at the University of Manchester's main campus onOxford Road
The University of Manchester traces its roots to the formation of theMechanics' Institution (the distant forerunner ofUMIST) in 1824, and its heritage is linked to Manchester's pride in being the world's first industrial city.[17] The English chemistJohn Dalton, together with Manchester businessmen and industrialists, established the Mechanics' Institution to ensure that workers could learn the basic principles of science.
John Owens, a textile merchant, left a bequest of £96,942 in 1846 (around £5.6 million in 2005 prices)[18] to found a college to educate men on non-sectarian lines. Histrustees establishedOwens College in 1851 in a house on the corner ofQuay Street and Byrom Street which had been the home of the philanthropistRichard Cobden, and subsequently housedManchester County Court. The locomotive designerCharles Beyer became a governor of the college and was the largest single donor to the college extension fund, which raised the money to move to a new site and construct the main building now known as the John Owens building. He also campaigned and helped fund the engineering chair, the first applied science department in the north of England. His bequest to the college was the equivalent of £10 million in 1876, at a time when it was in great financial difficulty. Beyer funded the total cost of construction of theBeyer Building to house the biology and geology departments. His will also funded Engineering chairs and theBeyer Professor of Applied mathematics.
The university has a rich German heritage. The Owens College Extension Movement formed its plans after a tour of mainly German universities and polytechnics.[19] A Manchester mill owner,Thomas Ashton, chairman of the extension movement, had studied atHeidelberg University. SirHenry Roscoe also studied at Heidelberg underRobert Bunsen and they collaborated for many years on research projects. Roscoe promoted the German style of research-led teaching that became the role model for the red-brick universities.[20] Charles Beyer studied at Dresden Academy Polytechnic. There were many Germans on the staff, includingCarl Schorlemmer, Britain's first chair in organic chemistry, andArthur Schuster, professor of physics.[21] There was even a German church nearby (part of the current campus).
By 1905, the two institutions were large and active forces. The Municipal College of Technology, forerunner of UMIST, was the Victoria University of Manchester's Faculty of Technology while continuing in parallel as a technical college offering advanced courses of study. Although UMIST achieved independent university status in 1955, the universities continued to work together.[23] However, in the late-20th century, formal connections between the university and UMIST diminished and in 1994 most of the remaining institutional ties were severed as new legislation allowed UMIST to become a separate university with powers to award its own degrees. A decade later the development was reversed.[6] The Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology agreed to merge into a single institution in March 2003.[24][25]
The founding president andvice-chancellor of the new university wasAlan Gilbert, former vice-chancellor of theUniversity of Melbourne, who retired at the end of the 2009–2010 academic year.[29] His successor was DameNancy Rothwell,[30] who had held a chair in physiology at the university since 1994. Rothwell served as Vice Chancellor from 2010 to 2024 before handing over toDuncan Ivison. TheNancy Rothwell Building was named in her honour. One of the university's aims stated in theManchester 2015 Agenda is to be one of the top 25 universities in the world, following on from Alan Gilbert's aim to "establish it by 2015 among the 25 strongest research universities in the world on commonly accepted criteria of research excellence and performance".[31] In 2011, four Nobel laureates were on its staff:Andre Geim,[32]Konstantin Novoselov,[33] SirJohn Sulston andJoseph E. Stiglitz.
TheEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) announced in February 2012 the formation of theNational Graphene Institute. The University of Manchester is the "single supplier invited to submit a proposal for funding the new £45m institute, £38m of which will be provided by the government" – (EPSRC &Technology Strategy Board).[34] In 2013, an additional £23 million of funding from European Regional Development Fund was awarded to the institute taking investment to £61 million.[35]
In August 2012, it was announced that the university's Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences had been chosen to be the "hub" location for a new BPInternational Centre for Advanced Materials, as part of a $100 million initiative to create industry-changing materials.[36][37] The centre will be aimed at advancing fundamental understanding and use of materials across a variety of oil and gas industrial applications and will be modelled on a hub and spoke structure,[needs update] with the hub located at Manchester, and the spokes based at theUniversity of Cambridge,Imperial College London, and theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.[38]
In 2020 the university saw aseries of student rent strikes and protests in opposition to the university's handling of theCOVID-19 pandemic, rent levels and living conditions in the university's halls of residence. The protests ended with a negotiated rent reduction.
In 2023,a second rent strike and student protest in opposition to the university's rent price and living conditions in the halls of residence started. The protests included occupations, marches and student's withholding their rent in University accommodation.[39][40][41] The university's response to the protests included using bailiffs to evict occupiers and taking disciplinary action against some occupiers.[42][43] Despite outcry from the students, which included a referendum where 97% of students voted for the university to reduce rent prices, the following year the university continued to increase rent prices for its students.[44] Some of the university-owned accommodation increased by up to 10% in rent price, compared to the previous year.[45]
A 2025 map of the university campus, with all buildings labelled
The university's main site contains most of its facilities and is often referred to as thecampus, however Manchester is not acampus university as the concept is commonly understood. It is centrally located in the city and its buildings are integrated into the fabric of Manchester, with non-university buildings and major roads between.
The campus comprises two parts:
North campus orSackville Street Campus, centred on Sackville Street in Manchester[46]
South campus orOxford Road Campus, centred onOxford Road[47]
Student accommodation is located on three residential campuses: the City campus, adjacent to the academic departments; theFallowfield campus approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the main site; and theVictoria Park campus between the City and Fallowfields campuses.[48]
As of 2025, most of the former North Campus has migrated to the Oxford Road Campus, with the Sackville Street site now home to the SISTER regeneration area (formerly ID Manchester). This is a joint venture between Bruntwood SciTech and the University of Manchester, set to become a £1.7 billion innovation district and new city centre neighbourhood.[49] The Manchester City Council Strategic Regeneration Framework for the site was approved in 2017, and updated in 2023.[50]
The buildings of the University of Manchester and the Manchester Museum in Oxford Road
The buildings around the Old Quadrangle date from the time of Owens College, and were designed in aGothic style byAlfred Waterhouse. The first to be built was the John Owens Building (1873), formerly the Main Building; the others were added over the next thirty years.[51] These include the Beyer Building (1887),[52] theManchester Museum (1887),[53] the Christie Library (1898)[54] andWhitworth Hall (1902),[55] which is used for the university's graduations.[56]
The University of Manchester estate includes over 30listed buildings.[57] Besides the buildings around the Old Quadrangle, other notable buildings on the Oxford Road Campus include theStephen Joseph Studio, a former German Protestant church, and the Samuel Alexander Building, agrade II listed building[58] erected in 1919 and home of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures.
Biological sciences have been taught at Manchester as far back as the foundation of Owens College in 1851. At UMIST, biological teaching and research began in 1959, with the creation of a biochemistry department.[66] The present school, though unitary for teaching, is divided into a number of sections for research purposes.
The medical college was established in 1874 and is one of the largest in the country,[67] with more than 400 medical students trained in each clinical year and more than 350 students in the pre-clinical/phase 1 years. The university is a founding partner of theManchester Academic Health Science Centre, established to focus high-end healthcare research in Greater Manchester.[68]
In 1883, a department of pharmacy was established at the university and, in 1904, Manchester became the first British university to offer an honours degree in the subject. The School of Pharmacy[69] benefits from links with Manchester Royal Infirmary and UHSM/ Wythenshawe and Salford Royal (formally known as Hope) hospitals providing its undergraduate students with hospital experience.[70]
The School of Psychological Sciences was one of the five schools which make up the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences. TheVictoria University of Manchester was the first university in Britain to appoint a full-time Professor of Psychology in 1919. In 2004, when the University of Manchester was formed, the school brought together the Human Communication and Deafness Group (HCD) in the Department of Psychology and the Division of Clinical Psychology. The school was divided into three divisions: Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Audiology & Deafness.T. H. Pear was Professor of Psychology from 1919 to 1951.[71]
The School of Arts, Languages and Cultures (SALC), incorporating Archaeology; Art History & Visual Studies; Classics and Ancient History; Drama; English and American Studies; History; Linguistics; Modern Languages; Museology; Music; Religions and Theology, and the University Language Centre.
The School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED), incorporating Geography, Development, Planning, Property, Environmental Management, the Manchester Institute of Education, and the Manchester School of Architecture, which is administered in conjunction withManchester Metropolitan University.
The School of Social Sciences (SoSS), incorporating Law, Criminology, Economics, Politics, Sociology, Philosophy, Social Anthropology, and Social Statistics.
Additionally, the faculty comprises a number of research institutes: the Centre for New Writing, the Institute for Social Change, the Brooks World Poverty Institute, Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, the Manchester Institute for Innovation Research, the Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures, the Centre for Chinese Studies, the Institute for Development Policy and Management, the Centre for Equity in Education and the Sustainable Consumption Institute.[citation needed]
A number of professional services, organised as "directorates", support the university. These include: Directorate of Compliance and Risk, Directorate of Estates and Facilities, Directorate of Finance, Directorate of Planning, Directorate of Human Resources, Directorate of IT Services, Directorate of Legal Affairs and Board Secretariat and Governance Office, Directorate of Research and Business Engagement, Directorate for the Student Experience, Division of Communications and Marketing, Division of Development and Alumni Relations, Office for Social Responsibility and the University Library. Additionally, professional services staff are found within the faculty structure, in such roles as technician and experimental officer.[citation needed]
Each directorate reports to the registrar, secretary and chief operating officer, who in turn reports to the president of the university. There is also a director of faculty operations in each faculty, overseeing support for these areas.[72]
In the financial year ending 31 July 2024, the University of Manchester had a total income of £1.365 billion (2022/23 – £1.346 billion) and total expenditure of £1.025 billion (2022/23 – £1.239 billion).[2] Key sources of income included £714.3 million from tuition fees and education contracts (2022/23 – £659.9 million), £151.0 million from funding body grants (2022/23 – £184.2 million), £287.9 million from research grants and contracts (2022/23 – £271.1 million), 31.2 million from investment income (2022/23 – 17.4 million) and £8.3 million from donations and endowments (2022/23 – £18.6 million).[2]
At year end, Manchester had endowments of £240.2 million (2023 – £221.6 million) and total net assets of £2.215 billion (2023 – £1.870 billion). It holds theseventh-largest endowment of any university in the UK.[2]
The University of Manchester is the3rd largest university in the UK (following The Open University and University College London).[5] The University of Manchester attracts international students from 160 countries around the world.[73]
The University of Manchester is a major centre for research and a member of theRussell Group of leading British research universities.[76] In the 2021Research Excellence Framework, the university was ranked fifth in the UK in terms of research power and eighth for grade point average quality of staff submitted among multi-faculty institutions (tenth when including specialist institutions).[77][78] In the 2014Research Excellence Framework, the university was ranked fifth in the UK in terms of research power and fifteenth for grade point average quality of staff submitted among multi-faculty institutions (seventeenth when including specialist institutions).[79][80] Manchester has the sixth largest research income of any English university (afterOxford,University College London (UCL), Cambridge, Imperial and King's College London),[81] and has been informally referred to as part of a "golden diamond" of research-intensive UK institutions (adding Manchester to the Oxford–Cambridge–London "Golden Triangle").[82] Manchester has a strong record in terms of securing funding from the three main UK research councils,EPSRC,Medical Research Council (MRC) andBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), being ranked fifth,[83] seventh[84] and first[85] respectively. In addition, the university is one of the richest in the UK in terms of income and interest from endowments: an estimate in 2008 placed it third, surpassed only by Oxford and Cambridge.[86]
The University of Manchester has attracted the most research income from UK industry of any institution in the country. The figures, from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), show that Manchester attracted £24,831,000 of research income in 2016–2017 from UK industry, commerce and public corporations.[87]
Historically, Manchester has been linked with high scientific achievement: the university and its constituent former institutions combined count 25 Nobel laureates among their past and current students and staff, the fourth largest number of any single university in the United Kingdom (after Oxford, Cambridge and UCL) and the ninth largest of any university in Europe. Furthermore, according to an academic poll two of the top ten discoveries by university academics and researchers were made at the university (namely the first working computer and the contraceptive pill).[88] The Langworthy Professorship, an endowed chair at the university's Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been historically given to a long line of academic luminaries, including Ernest Rutherford (1907–19), Lawrence Bragg (1919–37), Patrick Blackett (1937–53) and more recently Konstantin Novoselov, all of whom have won the Nobel Prize. In 2013,Andre Geim was given the Regius Professorship in Physics, the only one of its kind in the UK.[citation needed]
The university has established joint research funds with leading universities to support a range of research initiatives.[89] For instance, between 2021 and 2023, it partnered with theKTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, andTel Aviv University on research projects in medicine, biology, natural sciences, and engineering.[90][91]
TheJohn Rylands Library, founded in memory ofJohn Rylands by his wifeEnriqueta Augustina Rylands as an independent institution, is situated in aVictorian Gothic building onDeansgate, in thecity centre. It houses an important collection of historic books and other printed materials, manuscripts, including archives and papyri. The papyri are in ancient languages and include the oldest extantNew Testament document,Rylands Library Papyrus P52, commonly known as theSt John Fragment. In April 2007 the Deansgate site reopened to readers and the public after major improvements and renovations, including the construction of the pitched roof originally intended and a new wing.
The Manchester Museum holds nearly 4.25 million[93] items sourced from many parts of the world. The collections include butterflies and carvings from India, birds and bark-cloth from the Pacific, live frogs and ancient pottery from America, fossils and native art from Australia, mammals and ancient Egyptian craftsmanship from Africa, plants, coins and minerals from Europe, art from past civilisations of theMediterranean, and beetles, armour andarchery from Asia. In November 2004, the museum acquired a cast of a fossilisedTyrannosaurus rex called "Stan".
The museum's first collections were assembled in 1821 by the Manchester Society ofNatural History, and subsequently expanded by the addition of the collections of Manchester Geological Society. Due to the society's financial difficulties and on the advice of evolutionary biologistThomas Huxley,Owens College accepted responsibility for the collections in 1867. The college commissionedAlfred Waterhouse, architect of London'sNatural History Museum, to design a museum on a site in Oxford Road to house the collections for the benefit of students and the public. The Manchester Museum was opened to the public in 1888.[94]
The Whitworth Art Gallery houses collections of internationally known British watercolours, textiles and wallpapers, modern and historic prints, drawings, paintings and sculpture. Its collection contains 31,000 items. A programme of temporary exhibitions runs throughout the year and the Mezzanine Court displays sculpture.
The gallery was founded by Robert Darbishire with a donation from SirJoseph Whitworth in 1889, asThe Whitworth Institute and Park. In 1959, the gallery became part of theVictoria University of Manchester.[95] In October 1995, the Mezzanine Court in the centre of the building was opened. It was designed to display sculptures and won aRIBA regional award.[96]
The Sunday Times described Manchester in 2006 as having "a formidable reputation spanning most disciplines, but most notably in the life sciences, engineering, humanities, economics, sociology and the social sciences".[103] Manchester was also given an award for excellence and innovation in the arts by theTimes Higher Education Awards 2010.[104]
According toThe Graduate Market in 2024 published by High Fliers Research, Manchester was the second most targeted university by the top 100 graduate employers in the UK in 2023-24.[105]
Luke Georgiou, Manchester's deputy president and deputy vice-chancellor, said in 2022 that: "The ranking tables, despite their limitations, give a consistent picture of The University of Manchester’s excellence in national and global terms."[106]
Manchester received 92,500UCAS main scheme applications for undergraduate courses in 2024.[107] It had the 20th highest average entry qualification for undergraduates of any UK university in 2022, with new students averaging 166UCAS points, equivalent to 1/4 of a grade below A*A*A* inA-level grades.[109] The university gave offers of admission to 57.7% of its UK-domiciled undergraduate applicants in 2024.[108]
15.7% of Manchester's undergraduates wereprivately educated in 2019-20, the 23rd highest proportion amongst mainstream British universities.[113] In 2023-24, 18,660 of Manchester's 46,915 students (40%) were from outside the UK in 2023–24, with 9,090 (49% of international students, 19% of all students) coming from China.[114] It was identified byTimes Higher Education in 2023 as having the fifth highest proportion ofinternational students from China out of all mainstream universities in the UK.[115]
The University of Manchester Students' Union is the representative body of students at the university and the UK's largest students' union. It was formed out of the merger between UMIST Students' Association and University of Manchester Union when the parent organisations UMIST and the Victoria University of Manchester merged on 1 October 2004.
Unlike many other students' unions in the UK, it does not have a president, but is run by an eight-member executive team who share joint responsibility.
The athletic union was formed at Owens College in 1885 from four clubs: rugby, lacrosse, cricket and tennis. In 1901 the women's athletic union was founded. In 1981 the two unions were amalgamated. After the acquisition of the Firs estate inFallowfield a sports ground and pavilion were provided there. From 1940 the McDougall Centre in Burlington Street was also in use as a sports centre.Ron Hill,Rowena Sweatman,James Hickman,Cyril Holmes andHarry Whittle are former students who have achieved Olympic success.[117]
TheManchester Aquatics Centre, the swimming pool used for theManchester Commonwealth Games is on the campus and used for water sports. The main facilities used for sports are the Sugden Centre in Grosvenor Street, the Armitage Site near Owens Park and the Wythenshawe Sports Ground.[118]
The university has achieved success in theBUCS (British University & College Sports) competitions, with its men'swater polo first team winning the national championships (2009, 2010, 2011) under the tutelage of their coach Andy Howard.[119] It was positioned in eighth place in the overall BUCS rankings for 2009/10.[120]
The university competes annually in 28 different sports againstLeeds andLiverpool universities in theChristie Cup, which Manchester has won for seven consecutive years.[121] The Christie Cup is an inter-university competition between Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester in numerous sports since 1886. After theOxford and Cambridge rivalry, the Christie's Championships is the oldest Inter–University competition on the sporting calendar: the cup was a benefaction ofRichard Copley Christie.
Every year elite sportsmen and sportswomen are selected for membership of theXXI Club, a society formed in 1932 to promote sporting excellence at the university. Most members have gained aFull Maroon for representing the university and many have excelled at a British Universities or National level. No more than 21 active members are allowed, each elected for up to three years (after graduating they become passive members).
An example of the university clubs is the lacrosse club which was founded in the season 1883–84 and in the following years won theNorth of England Flags twice and maintained its position among the leading English clubs. In 1885 it was one of the four founding clubs of the athletic union. The merging of Owens College with the university in 1904 affected the club by restricting the pool of players available for selection. However, when the English Universities Lacrosse Championship was set up in 1925–26 with five university teams the Manchester team won in the first season and again in 1932–33 and continued to do so in the 1930s.[122]
In the eight years up to 2013, Manchester has won theBBC2 quiz programmeUniversity Challenge four times, drawing equal withMagdalen College, Oxford, for the highest number of series wins.[123] Since merging as the University of Manchester, the university has consistently reached the latter stages of the competition, progressing to at least the semi-finals in every appearance between 2005 and 2014.[124]
In2006, Manchester beatTrinity Hall, Cambridge, to record the university's first win in the competition. Thenext year, the university finished in second place after losing to theUniversity of Warwick in the final. In2009, the team battled hard in the final againstCorpus Christi College, Oxford. At the gong, the score was 275 to 190 in favour of Corpus Christi College after a winning performance fromGail Trimble. However, the title was eventually given to the University of Manchester after it was discovered that Corpus Christi team member Sam Kay had graduated eight months before the final was broadcast, so the team was disqualified.
Whitworth Park Halls of Residence is owned by the University of Manchester and houses 1,085 students,[125][126] located next toWhitworth Park. It is notable for its triangular shaped accommodation blocks. Their designer took inspiration from a hill created from excavated soil which had been left in 1962 from an archaeological dig led by John Gater. A consequence of the triangular design was a reduced cost for the construction company. A deal struck between the university and Manchester City Council meant the council would pay for the roofs of all student residential buildings in the area. They were built in the mid-1970s.
Dilworth House, one of the Whitworth Park halls of residence
The site of the halls was previously occupied by many small streets whose names have been preserved in the names of the halls. Grove House is an older building that has been used by the university for many different purposes over the last sixty years. Its first occupants in 1951 were the Appointments Board and theManchester University Press.[127] The shops in Thorncliffe Place were part of the same plan and include banks and a convenience store.Notable people associated with the halls includeFriedrich Engels, whose residence is commemorated by a blue plaque on Aberdeen House; the physicistBrian Cox; andIrene Khan, Secretary General ofAmnesty International.[128]
The former UMIST Campus has four halls of residence near to Sackville Street building (Weston, Lambert, Fairfield, and Wright Robinson). The Grosvenor Halls of Residence were demolished in 2015 to make way for a new engineering campus.[129] Chandos Hall, a former residence, has been closed and demolished.
Other residences include Vaughn House, once the home of the clergy serving the Church of the Holy Name, and George Kenyon Hall at University Place; Crawford House and Devonshire House adjacent to the Manchester Business School and Victoria Hall on Upper Brook Street.
Hulme Hall, the oldest hall of residence at the university
TheVictoria Park Campus has several halls of residence includingSt. Anselm Hall with Canterbury Court,Dalton-Ellis Hall,Hulme Hall (including Burkhardt House) and Opal Gardens Hall. Halls at Victoria Park are generally more traditional, and more likely to be catered.
Hulme Hall, which opened in 1887 in Plymouth Grove, is the oldest hall of residence at the university. It moved to its current site in Victoria Park in 1907.[130]
TheFallowfield Campus, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the Oxford Road Campus is the largest of the university's residential campuses, built largely in the 1960s as a 'Student Village'. TheOwens Park group of halls, formerly with a landmark tower, is at its centre, while Oak House is another hall of residence. Woolton Hall is next to Oak House. Allen Hall is a traditional hall nearAshburne Hall (Sheavyn House being annexed to Ashburne). Richmond Park is a recent addition to the campus, as well as Unsworth Park which opened in 2019.
^Includes those who indicate that they identify asAsian,Black,Mixed Heritage,Arab or any other ethnicity except White.
^Calculated from the Polar4 measure, using Quintile1, in England and Wales. Calculated from theScottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) measure, using SIMD20, in Scotland.
^"Colour palette".manchester.ac.uk. University of Manchester.Archived from the original on 10 August 2023. Retrieved1 January 2020.... purple should be used as a main colour ...
^"Knitted Scarf".uom-giftshop.co.uk. University of Manchester.Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved1 January 2020.
^Morris, Peter J.T.; Reed, Peter (2024). "Heidelberg in Cottonopolis: how Roscoe brought German ideas to Manchester". In Jones, Stuart (ed.).Manchester Minds: A University History of Ideas. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 43–59.
^Charlton, H B (1951).Portrait of a University. Manchester University Press.
^Charlton, H. B. (1951).Portrait of a university, 1851–1951. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. pp. x, 185.
^Wilson, D. (2008).Reconfiguring Biological Sciences in the Late Twentieth Century: a Study of the University of Manchester. Manchester University. pp. 7–16.
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