Between October and December, we are running a series of Viewpoint blogs written by our University Executive to give their personal perspectives on our new strategy to 2035, play back what we heard, explain the choices we are making, and set out how we will test,...

This piece explains how our 2035 strategy brings the idea of learning without limits to life—exploring how we’ll make learning more flexible, personalised and digitally enabled for students, while ensuring our colleagues feel supported, trusted and energised.

In the first piece, Professor Duncan Ivison, President & Vice-Chancellor, introduces our North Star and the foundations that make it real and enable our leaps.

During Phase 1 of our Manchester 2025 strategy, over 5,500 colleagues, students, alumni, and community members took part – with more than 1,500 bookings across 22 workshops and 2,869 online contributions. From big ideas on AI, sustainability, and innovation to reflections on culture, wellbeing, and equality, your input is helping us define what matters most as we look ahead.

Few colleagues would claim that we’ve all been on the same journey together over the last few years, so the goal of becoming one university is self-evidently an important and justifiable one. However, it does beg the question: why are we not already one university?

How can we fund our University of the future? Help us explore what changes we need to make to achieve our dreams in 2035 and beyond.   

How will we keep at the forefront of social responsibility and take it to the next level in the next 10 years? Now is our opportunity to write the next chapter of our work in service to society.