This year, we celebrated 200 years of learning, research, and global impact. Here’s a quick recap of everything that made 2024 unforgettable.
Bicentenary celebrations
Campus and beyond: From Oxford Road to Shanghai, we kicked off with a purple light show, poetry, and performances. We launched self-guided campus tours and built the Bicentenary Way on Brunswick Park to remember our incredible people.
Summer festival: Our Universally Manchester festival in June welcomed staff, students, friends and neighbours onto campus for four days of unforgettable celebrations and the first viewing of our beautifully regenerated Old Quad.
Giving back: We launched the innovative podcast and lecture series Talk200, as well as completed 1,824 Acts of Kindness, planted 200 trees for 200 years and completed our biggest-ever Purple Wave run!
A year of leadership changes
👋 We said goodbye to Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, our first female President and Vice-Chancellor, after 14 years. The MECD is now named the Nancy Rothwell Building in her honor, where her official portrait was unveiled.
🆕 Welcoming Professor Duncan Ivison as our new President and Vice-Chancellor, who’s already kicked off the Manchester 2035 strategy.
Achievements to be proud of
🏅 We have been recognised as one of the top universities in Europe for the second year in a row, achieving seventh place in the latest QS World University Rankings,
💚 Ranked #1 in Europe and #2 globally for contributions to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and the University was named as the UK’s most sustainable University.
🧠 Celebrated 14 researchers as some of the world’s most influential academics and hosted the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit.
Supporting students and communities
🫶 Launched scholarships for care leavers and in memory of alumna Laura Nuttall.
🔬 Received major donations, including £1.5m for health inequality research and $1.3m for cancer research.
🏢 We unveiled Manchester’s new £1.7bn innovation district’s first building, Sister and launched Unit M, to catalyse innovation in Manchester. We also celebrated first 20 years of our Nobel Prizewinning wonder material, graphene.