About us

The University of Manchester is Britain's largest university, with a proud history of achievement and an ambitious agenda for the future. Pioneering research of international standing within world-class facilities, we:

• Employ over 11,000 staff
• Offer over 400 degree courses
• Comprise of four faculties and 22 academic schools
• Support hundreds of specialist research groups
• Received more undergraduate applications in 2010 than any other British university
• Are the second most popular university for undergraduate applications

A rich heritage

Manchester has a long tradition of innovation and excellence in higher education. The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) traces its roots to 1824 with the formation of the Manchester Mechanics' Institute, whilst The Victoria University of Manchester was founded as Owens College and granted a Royal Charter in 1880 to become England's first civic university. By 1905 the two institutions were a beacon for development, staying true to the vision of their pioneering industrialist founders by continuing to work together until they merged in 2004.

By bringing together two of Britain's most distinguished universities, The University of Manchester was created - in turn, forging a powerful new force in higher education. Today, we're more successful than ever, with the last Research Assessment Exercise confirming our status as one of the country's major research universities.

To find out more about our growth, vision and future plans, visit the sections below:

• Why us?
• Our growth
• Our vision
• News and events

Great minds

We attract world-renowned academics, boast more Nobel Prize winners on our current staff than any other UK university and lay claim to notable alumni including:

• Antony Burgess, novelist
• John Dalton, founder of modern atomic theory
• George E. Davis, founder of the Chemical Engineering discipline
• Tom Kilburn and Frederic Calland Williams, both developers of the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM) or ‘Baby', the world's first stored-programme computer
• Norman Foster, one of the most prolific architects of his generation
• Sir Terry Leahy, former Chief Executive of Tesco
• Bernard Lovell, pioneer of radio astronomy
• Alan Turing, one of the founders of computer science and artificial intelligence
• Arthur Whitten-Brown, pioneer of flight
• Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the most significant philosophers of the 20th century

We've also counted 25 Nobel Prize winners among our staff and students:

Nobel Prize winners

Chemistry

• Melvin Calvin
• Linus Carl Pauling
• Ernest Rutherford
• Arthur Harden
• John Charles Polanyi
• Michael Smith
• George de Hevesy
• Robert Robinson
• Alexander Todd
• Walter Norman Howarth

Economic sciences

• John Richard Hicks
• Arthur Lewis
• Joseph E Stiglitz

Physics

• PMS Blackett
• John Cockcroft
• Konstantin Novoselov
• Niels Bohr
• Andre Geim
• JJ Thomson
• William Lawrence Bragg
• Nevill Francis Mott
• CTR Wilson
• James Chadwick

Physiology or Medicine

• Archibald V Hill
• John Sulston