The university has resumed face-to-face teaching since the pandemic and promises a “full, on-campus university experience” for the 2022-23 academic year. At undergraduate level, MMU has brought in block teaching in two 11-week semesters, with an assessment week at the end. Two-thirds of all assessments will take place online, either as full exams or quizzes.

The university had a bumper set of results in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), when 30 per cent of its work was considered world-leading, the top category. MMU entered 740 academics — double the number involved in the previous national assessment in 2014 — and is now among the top three post-1992 universities in our research ranking, with strength in art and design, English and sport, and leisure and tourism. In our overall league table, MMU has jumped 11 places and into the top 60.

Impressive facilities have opened in 2021-22, including the £35 million School of Digital Arts (Soda), where the first 1,000 students are studying film, animation, UX design, photography, games design and artificial intelligence.

In the centre of the sports-loving city, the Manchester Metropolitan Institute of Sport opened in 2022 to provide a world-class institute championing everything that sport can do — from strengthening communities and building a healthier society to inspiring the next generation and pushing the limits of human performance. The institute houses the Department of Sport and Exercise alongside leading researchers in musculoskeletal science, sports business experts plus specialists from the Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care. 

The region’s first public poetry library is based at the university and is proving popular with more than 10,000 books and recordings to explore. It is based in the new arts and humanities building, alongside the Manchester Writing School, where Carol Ann Duffy, the former poet laureate, is creative director. 

The next development in prospect is a £45 million extension and refurbishment for the Faculty of Science and Engineering. MMU is also planning to pedestrianise more of the campus and provide more green spaces. The university topped the People and Planet Green League 2021 for all-round environmental sustainability. Teams of carbon literacy trainers help to keep students and staff on a sustainable path.

MMU was among the pioneers of degree apprenticeships, taking its first students in 2015, and remains a leader in the field. It was the top university for the fourth year in a row at the 2021 RateMyApprenticeship Awards, based entirely on student reviews. The university expects 2,400 trainees to start degree apprenticeships with about 500 employers in 2023, with programmes for laboratory scientists and digital design professionals starting in 2022-23.

Six degrees planned for 2023 include one in sport and youth leadership, and two in interpreting and translation (French and Spanish). Three new fashion degrees include one in fashion communications. Fashion is one of MMU’s best-known fields, with the multidisciplinary Manchester Fashion Institute providing undergraduate and postgraduate training in design, business, promotion, fashion buying and technology. Another star attraction is the Manchester School of Architecture, run in collaboration with the University of Manchester, which climbed to seventh place in the worldwide QS 2022 subject rankings.

Employability is a key focus for traditional degree courses too. Undergraduates are offered work placements of up to a year, with fees waived for up to 250 students with an annual family income of less than £25,000. Improved graduate prospects are in our top 100, based on the proportion in highly skilled work or postgraduate study 15 months after completing a degree.

MMU operates a variety of measures to broaden its intake, with about 40 per cent of undergraduates qualifying for support worth £750 a year. Extra help is available for those in financial hardship. The Talent Match service, run in partnership with the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, helps to pair skilled graduates with local employers’ needs.

Named our University of the Year for Student Retention 2021, MMU is in the top 60 universities for its relatively low dropout rate. Its “whole student life cycle” programme, the First Generation Scheme, works with year 12 pupils in local schools and colleges, and continues to offer support for those who take up a place at MMU, even after they graduate. 

All first-years are guaranteed a room if they register by the end of July. The university owns or endorses more than 5,000 residential places in Manchester and is planning to increase capacity.

The Sugden Sports Centre, across the road from the All Saints campus, was redeveloped in 2018, and Manchester Aquatics Centre, with three gyms and a 50m pool, is also on the doorstep. The city’s energy makes it a perennial student favourite.