This new vision and strategic plan for The University of Manchester will take us into our third century. It builds on a rich heritage of discovery, social change and pioneering spirit that is at the heart of our University and our city region.

The foundation of this vision and strategic plan remains our three core goals of research and discovery, teaching and learning, and social responsibility, which are encapsulated in our motto: knowledge, wisdom and humanity. It builds on our strengths while taking the University in new directions.

It points to a future where we will expand our world-leading research to address the most challenging global questions and exploit our capability for interdisciplinary research; transform the way our students learn to make them the most employable graduates and truly global citizens; and ensure that all our activities make a positive difference to society.

The strategic plan reinforces what already makes The University of Manchester distinctive: our excellence, openness and inclusivity, our longstanding commitment to social responsibility, our scale and breadth, our tradition of innovation, and our very close bonds with, and location at the heart of, Manchester.

We have built our vision and strategic plan on extensive consultation with colleagues, students, alumni, and regional and national stakeholders. This approach has ensured a shared creation of ideas and allowed us to test the resilience of the priorities that we have identified. It has also enabled us to explore and refine how to deliver them.

This is a vision and strategic plan of substance, supported by detailed delivery plans. Our success will be evidenced through independent measures of our core activities.

Universities such as ours are ideally positioned to help address many of the world’s major challenges, finding new means to deliver environmental sustainability, close the gap of societal inequalities, improve health, inform and empower citizens, and create the leaders of the future.

While the plan is broad in its scope, with stretching ambitions in many places, it contains clear priorities set within each theme and measurable outcomes. We will, of course, be agile and adaptable to external change, but we will hold onto the ambitions set out here to ensure that we are well placed for the future.

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Edward Astle, Chair of the Board of Governors