{"id":4008,"date":"2025-01-31T12:45:24","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T12:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2024\/09\/11\/manchester-2035-phase-1-complete\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T19:53:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T19:53:22","slug":"manchester-2035-phase-1-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2025\/01\/31\/manchester-2035-phase-1-complete\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester 2035: Phase 1 complete \u2013 what comes next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n

Thank you to everyone who contributed to Phase 1 of our Manchester 2035 strategy. Your insights, ideas, and questions have been <\/span>key<\/span> in shaping the future of our <\/span>University<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From <\/span>big ideas<\/span> on AI, sustainability, and innovation to reflections on culture, wellbeing, and equality, your input <\/span>is <\/span>help<\/span>ing<\/span> us define what matters most as we look ahead.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Watch Professor Duncan Ivison’s message on the end of Phase 1 and what’s next for Manchester 2035<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What we heard<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span>One key takeaway from Phase 1 is that our collective vision for the future needs to be built on strong foundations:<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Excellent teaching and world-class research<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Streamlined processes that \u201cjust work\u201d<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span>An outstanding experience for both students and staff<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span>A university <\/span><span>that is both deeply rooted in Manchester and globally significant<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span>A deep commitment to social responsibility and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>Your feedback will guide Phase 2, where we\u2019ll be testing ourselves to identify and develop bold cross-cutting proposals that will help Manchester stand out over the next decade.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b><span>Feedback inventory<\/span><\/b><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>We are committed to ensuring that everyone has access to the valuable contributions made throughout Phase 1. You can now review the <\/span><span>inventory of feedback submitted<\/span><span>, including staff and student workshop discussions and online contributions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/documents.manchester.ac.uk\/display.aspx?DocID=75258\">Website responses<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/documents.manchester.ac.uk\/display.aspx?DocID=75259\">Feedback from all staff in-person workshops<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/documents.manchester.ac.uk\/display.aspx?DocID=75260\">Feedback from all staff online workshops<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/documents.manchester.ac.uk\/display.aspx?DocID=75261\">Feedback received in the student workshops<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><b><span>Your questions answered\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>Many of you have asked what happens now, how proposals are being developed, and how you can stay involved. Here\u2019s where we are:<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>We are still in an open and iterative process. No finalised proposals exist yet.\u00a0 Starting now, our University Executive, leadership teams, and the Students\u2019 Union Executive are forming sprint groups to shape the most impactful ideas based on what we\u2019ve heard and the kind of university we need to be by 2035 to truly stand out. We\u2019ll then test those with the university community.\u00a0<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Your questions will be answered. We know many of you submitted thoughtful and important questions at town halls and meetings that we weren\u2019t able to answer on the day. In February, we\u2019ll release a special podcast episode with Professor Duncan Ivison, where he\u2019ll respond to key themes and concerns raised in Phase 1.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b><span>What Phase 2 will look like<\/span><\/b><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>We will move from broad discussions to testing and prioritising specific proposals. Starting in April, we\u2019ll:<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Host new in-person forums and invite further online feedback<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Engage with the whole University community to refine ideas<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b><span>How we\u2019ve involved our students\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>Our Students\u2019 Union Executive has played a key role in shaping this process.<a href=\"https:\/\/studentnews.manchester.ac.uk\/2025\/01\/31\/how-students-are-shaping-the-manchester-2035-strategy\/\"> In this blog post<\/a>, they share their reflections on how students have influenced Manchester 2035 so far\u2014and what this means for the future.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b><span>Staying engaged<\/span><\/b><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>Look out for updates, forums, and opportunities to get involved in Phase 2 starting in April.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We welcome your feedback at any stage of this process. If you have further questions, ideas, or comments, please get in touch at manchester2035@manchester.ac.uk.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><span>Learn more<\/span><\/b><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchester.ac.uk\/about\/manchester-2035\/\"><span>Visit the Manchester 2035 webpage<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/EkQ0wuMztMY\"><span>Watch a recording of the recent townhall: Manchester 2035: Are we on the right track?<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n<h1>Related<\/h1>\n<div class=\"relpost-thumb-wrapper\"><div class=\"relpost-thumb-container\"><h3>Related posts:<\/h3><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><div class=\"relpost-block-container relpost-block-column-layout\" style=\"--relposth-columns: 3;--relposth-columns_t: 2; --relposth-columns_m: 2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2024\/10\/10\/manchester-2035-reimagining-student-experiences\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><div class=\"relpost-block-single-image rpt-lazyload\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\" data-bg=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/138\/2021\/12\/April-M-Allan-P-150x150.jpg\" style=\"background: transparent no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px; aspect-ratio: 1\/1;\"><\/div><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Allan Pacey and April McMahon: Manchester 2035 - Reimagining our student experiences<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2024\/11\/07\/funding-world-class-university\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><div class=\"relpost-block-single-image rpt-lazyload\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\" data-bg=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/138\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-150x150.png\" style=\"background: transparent no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px; aspect-ratio: 1\/1;\"><\/div><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Carol Prokopyszyn and Martin Schr\u00f6der - Manchester 2035: Funding a world-class university\u202f<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2025\/10\/29\/jennhallam-ashleyblom\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><div class=\"relpost-block-single-image rpt-lazyload\" aria-label=\"Jenn Hallam and Ashley Blom\" role=\"img\" data-bg=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/138\/2025\/10\/Viewpoint-graphics-1-150x150.jpg\" style=\"background: transparent no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px; aspect-ratio: 1\/1;\"><\/div><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Jenn Hallam and Ashley Blom: Making the Leap: Flexible, Personalised and Digitally Enabled Learning<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":4060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]<\/p><p>When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p><p>Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p><p>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchester.ac.uk\/discover\/governance\/corporate-documents\/\">Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk\/news\/display\/?id=23119\">summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p><p>However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p><p>Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p><p>Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term. <br \/>Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p><p>Our strategic change programme (including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk\/modernising-it\/\">IT Modernisation<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk\/sep\/\">Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rlp.manchester.ac.uk\/\">Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p><p>Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p><p>When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p><p>To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p><p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]<\/p><h1>Related<\/h1><p>[related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p><p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-2035"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4008"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4061,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4008\/revisions\/4061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}