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School of Environment, Education and Development

Architecture

The architecture department at The University of Manchester partners in the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA), an innovative collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University, currently placed fifth in the world in the QS 2024 Architecture rankings.

Manchester School of Architecture unites two schools with more than 100 years’ experience, over 100 experts in their architectural fields and more than 1000 students from over 80 countries producing creative, challenging and academically rigorous work and research in the heart of Manchester.

One of the largest architecture schools in the UK, MSA offers undergraduate courses, taught master's courses and postgraduate research programmes. MSA students enjoy the benefits of belonging fully to both institutions and are taught by a team comprised of staff from the University of Manchester and MMU. We are particularly proud of our commitment to research-led teaching across the School.

MSA is highly regarded by the architectural profession and MSA graduates are sought after.

The architecture department at The University of Manchester is intrinsically inter-disciplinary and conceives architecture very broadly, encompassing, for example, areas in which SEED also has strong interests, such as cities, planning and development, social and environmental sustainability and justice, global urbanism, design and society, architecture and anthropology, political ecology, and socio-technical innovation.

Architecture also has research and teaching links to other Schools such as art history and archaeology within the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, popular culture within Social Sciences and with the Faculty of Art and Design at the neighbouring Manchester Metropolitan University (through the joint MSA).

The opportunities for collaborative architectural research in the University are unparalleled and research bids in a variety of disciplines are strengthened by the involvement of strong architectural researchers.

Key Information

  • Ranked fifth in the world for Architecture (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025)
  • Courses are accredited by institutions such as the Architects Registration Board (ARB), Royal Institute for British Architects (RIBA) and The Landscape Institute.
  • In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) Architecture ranked 5th in their Unit of Assessment.