Civic University Agreement

Universities are critical to the economic, social, cultural and environmental wellbeing of their cities and regions.

We recognise the growing importance of this civic role as the UK, and more specifically Greater Manchester, tackles the recovery from a global pandemic. 

As part of our commitment to civic engagement we played a key role in the Civic University Commission’s Truly Civic report and are a founding member of the Civic University Network that brings together universities, the Universities Partnerships Programme (UPP) Foundation, the Department of Education, Carnegie UK and Arts Council England.  

Our Civic University Agreement

In collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University, Royal Northern College of Music, University of Bolton and University of Salford, we've developed a joint Civic University Agreement (PDF, 832KB) with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and its ten local authorities to drive social and economic change in the city region.

Drawing on what people in Greater Manchester told us they valued about their universities – training professionals, creating jobs, practical research, opening up access to higher education and attracting talent – we’ve committed to collective action on six priority areas.

The six priority areas are:

• education and skills;
• reducing inequalities;
• jobs and growth;
• the digital economy;
• net zero;
• the creative and cultural economy.

Engaging our community

We found around three in four residents believe we make our region a better place to live and are proud of the role we play in the city and region.

• Download our polling data (PDF, 588KB) for more information and results on our research.
• Download our summary tables (PDF, 450KB) for our headline findings from our research.