Manchester students and our local community

The University of Manchester is committed to helping our students make a positive contribution to the areas where they live through our Students as Good Neighbours approach. The approach has two ambitions.

Firstly, we want to encourage students to be active citizens through volunteering. Over 4,000 of our students are registered on our Volunteer Hub, which we run in collaboration with the University of Manchester Students’ Union. Most student volunteering takes place in local communities and includes projects with schools in Rusholme, work with older people in Withington and a range of collaborative environmental projects with residents in Fallowfield.

Secondly, we help students understand that they are living in mixed residential areas where most of their neighbours are not students. We invest in educating students about their civic responsibilities, particularly in relation to noise nuisance and environmental issues such as the importance of recycling.

As well as sending messages to students throughout the year, we run targeted events and campaigns, including the Halls 2 Home programme, which supports students, pre, during and post their transition from halls of residence to their own home in the community. Halls 2 Home is delivered by Manchester Student Homes, which is which is part of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.

The University of Manchester works closely with a wide range of partners to support students living in local communities and to strengthen community cohesion.

We are members of the Student Strategy Partnership, which has representatives from Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester City Council,  Greater Manchester Police and, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue.

The Student Strategy Partnership oversees the strategic direction of a number of key thematic policy areas including student housing, safety, noise, anti-social behaviour and environmental issues.

The University of Manchester recognises that the majority of our students make a significant and positive contribution to the local communities where they live. All our students have a responsibility to ensure that their behaviour does not have an adverse impact on their neighbours, including long-term residents and other students.

We work closely with other members of the Student Strategy Partnership to address the anti-social behaviour of a minority of students.

The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University fund a dedicated Off-Campus Student Affairs Officer (based in Manchester Student Homes to help support community cohesion and who is in regular contact with local residents (including students) and residents’ groups.

The two universities also fund night time patrols in specific neighbourhoods, delivered by Manchester City Council’s accredited security provider, MITIE. The role of the patrols is to professionally witness noise and anti-social behaviour which can be used as evidence by relevant officers in the City Council and in the universities. Incidents of off-campus misconduct are investigated in accordance with the University’s Regulation regarding the Conduct and Discipline of Students – Regulation XVII (Word document, 56KB).

In order to ensure that agreed multi-agency processes are complied with, the Universities may request information held by Manchester City Council and/or Greater Manchester Police. This will be information that supports the internal discipline procedures and will predominantly be where there have been complaints of noise nuisance and/or antisocial behaviour.

This Regulation covers misconduct which damages the University’s relationship or reputation with its local communities, as evidenced by substantiated complaints from residents, residents’ groups, local authority representatives or the police; penalties imposed under this regulation can lead to students being suspended or expelled from the University.