Launching our strategy to 2035 – From Manchester for the world

16 Oct 2025

A message from Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for everything you did to help build our strategy to 2035, From Manchester for the world. It is our strategy – built from the ideas and challenges you shared in townhalls, workshops and the Ideas Lab. It sets our course to be a great civic university for the 21st century – creating knowledge for the public good, locally and globally, so we can do more of what matters for our students, our staff, our city and our partners around the world.

The point of our strategy is not to predict the future, but to position ourselves to succeed under any scenario. We will focus on where we can make the biggest difference, connect our strengths across teaching, research, innovation and partnerships, and work more deeply with our city, so ideas developed here deliver impact here and across the world.

This is a framework for the future, not a fixed route – and we’ll have to adapt and learn as we go. But we now have a clear direction of travel. Our strategy will give us the means to prioritise our work and help us tell our story with confidence and clarity.

Between now and the winter break, I’d like to invite you to explore the strategy, discuss it with your colleagues and think about what you might feel empowered to do differently, now we’ve set this course.

Over the next weeks, we will share a series of viewpoint blogs that dive deeper into each of our leaps and ask you a series of questions – your answers will help us to think about how we deliver our ambitions together. We’ll also be inviting you to the launch of our first ever fundraising and volunteering campaign this November – a chance to find out more about how the campaign will help us support the next generation of students, researchers, and innovators.

We are already working on how best to implement our strategy, and we’ll share a delivery handbook with you later this year. This sets out the ‘how’ of working together to reach our ambition. Most importantly, we will phase initiatives carefully and make sure they are informed by those who know the opportunities and challenges best.  Work on a number of initiatives will kick off in early 2026.

Watch this short video that gives an overview of our strategy

If you’d like to explore the strategy in more detail, you can:

Explore the strategy webpage
Rewatch my launch address
There is also still time to book onto tomorrow’s townhall – Friday 17 October, 10 – 11 am, in person or online to ask your questions.

Since taking up my post last August, I have been amazed to see what this community can do when we work together and with purpose. Thank you for helping shape From Manchester for the world – I’m looking forward to what comes next.

Best,