Your Impact ONLINE

Your donations are giving students from disadvantaged backgrounds access to a world-class education at Manchester.

Raj Aslam, a recipient of a donor-funded Undergraduate Access Scholarship, is in his final year studying Dentistry at Manchester. He has high hopes for his career thanks to the confidence he has gained from the support of donors like you.

“My scholarship has allowed me to develop into a more confident individual. I’m striving for goals I wouldn’t have been able to achieve in the past due to obstacles caused by my background.

Following my degree, I’m looking forward to pursuing different aspects of dentistry and I would also like to gain experience in general family care dentistry in my training year.

Unfortunately, our face-to-face teaching has been brought to a halt due to coronavirus. However, the university has adapted really well and implemented an online teaching platform so that we can continue with our studies.

Thank you so much for your continued generosity. Your support has a massive impact on the lives of people like me, and you help us to worry less about finances and focus more on investing time in our studies.

You encourage us to strive to be the best we can be and aim for goals which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.”

With your help, we’re looking forward to welcoming a new group of Undergraduate Access Scholars to Manchester in September. And thanks to you, even more students like Raj will have the chance to overcome any barriers that stand in their way.

Children who grew up in the care system are eight times less likely to continue to university than their peers. But, with your help, Ezra Rose is about to complete her Foundation Year in Physics at The University of Manchester.

Your generosity is giving care leavers like Ezra the support they need to study at Manchester.

“One of my proudest achievements was making it to university. The odds were never quite in my favour.

When I read the emails notifying me about the scholarships, I felt a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders. When anxiety strikes, money worries are usually one of my main triggers. However, this support means that I can spend less time focusing on the uncertainty of rent, and more time learning about the subject I love.

Gaps in my knowledge formed when I spent a long time outside of education. But the Foundation Studies program enables me to bridge those gaps and I've received nothing but support from the Foundation Studies Office.

I was able to have a long chat with a Support Officer, allowing me to vent my concerns. My traumatic experience in foster care has left me with emotional scars – some which I am still trying to understand myself. But the support networks I’m surrounded by make me feel safe on this journey.

Looking forward to the year ahead, I am excited to delve into hobbies outside of my academic interest. The lack of freedom and lack of access to the internet in my teenage years meant that I was unable to fully explore my other interests outside academia. When I was growing up, I never had the chance to listen to music. Manchester’s musical scene is so vast and fascinating, and I cannot wait to dive in and learn more. I’ve even bought a guitar!

Without the scholarship I would have never been able to afford an instrument. I’m so excited to learn and I’ve been playing every day since I got it. The support of donors allows me to invest in my own self-discovery. Perhaps I could even pay for music lessons or join a society in my spare time.

I’m very grateful that there are people who want to help vulnerable people like me, and students in general. It’s great that the money is going to where it matters; it’s being used for the benefit of other people.

Donating and helping to fund a scholarship is an excellent way to invest in somebody; it's just so helpful and reassuring to have that financial security. To the donors who are supporting me, I cannot express how grateful I am for your help. Thank you so much!”

To ensure more students like Ezra can fulfil their potential, regardless of their background, please consider making a gift today.

Manchester researchers are leading the fight against coronavirus, and your donations are helping them do that.

As soon as news of the pandemic hit, we repurposed researchers and labs across campus to tackle the virus head-on. Right now, more than 150 researchers are working towards treating and eradicating the virus.

Manchester researchers have already made incredible progress. Our research teams have identified a promising drug that could prevent some of the most serious symptoms of coronavirus. And they’ve developed a vaccine candidate that has the potential to stop the spread of the virus.

Now, your gifts are helping our world-class scientists take these research findings through to clinical trial – as well as exploring new avenues to slow the spread of COVID-19, minimise lives lost and protect the world’s most vulnerable from its devastating impact.

“COVID-19 presents a global health challenge on an unprecedented scale. The only way we will find solutions at speed is through collaboration – between researchers, healthcare systems, funding bodies and philanthropists. I am proud that this is already the Manchester way, and never has there been a time when our collective efforts could have a greater impact on humanity.”

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell

President and Vice-Chancellor

Click here to find out the latest news stories about how Manchester is contributing to the fight against coronavirus.

You’re enabling talented students from the developing world to gain a Manchester education through our Equity & Merit Scholarships programme. Thanks to you, they’ll be able to use the skills they gain in Manchester to make a difference in their home countries.

Victor Kyobe, an Equity & Merit Scholar from Uganda, hopes that his master’s in Engineering Project Management will equip him to oversee important elements of his country’s development.

“You can only imagine the sheer joy I felt when I found out that I had been awarded an Equity & Merit Scholarship.

Back in Uganda, I worked for a company tasked with increasing affordable housing in Uganda and reducing the housing deficit. The Ugandan government is undergoing a multi-billion dollar public infrastructure development programme which is at risk from poor planning and management.

I knew that I needed to advance my knowledge and skills in this area in order to help.

There has been tremendous student support throughout the course so far. Even during this challenging time of having to adjust to online studying, the University has not missed a beat. The lecturers are always willing to go the extra mile to help me cope with the course load.

Upon completing my master’s, I look forward to actively participating in strengthening institutional frameworks as well as managing and implementing public investment projects so that Ugandans can benefit from the planned government infrastructure investment.

Thank you so much for making this journey possible, and for continuing to support me even in these unprecedented times.”

To help build brighter futures for talented students like Victor, please consider making a donation today.

Hundreds of donors like you have given generously to crowdfunding campaigns over the last year to support some incredible ideas. Ideas that have been developed by students and staff at the University to make a positive impact on our society.

You’re helping survivors of sexual violence

By supporting the Sexual Violence Priority Setting Partnership (SVPSP), you’re helping to improve the lives of the many people affected by sexual violence.

Thanks to you, researchers involved in the SVPSP have been able to put survivors at the heart of future sexual violence research – identifying the research priorities that they, as experts by experience, consider most urgent.

“We want to put survivors in the driving seat so they can steer future research on their health and ensure that health services are more accessible and appropriate to their needs”, said Dr Filippo Varese, Clinical Lecturer in Psychology

You helped renovate the Muslim prayer hall on campus

Your support of the Islamic Society (iSoc), one of the biggest student societies on campus, and University Muslim Chaplain Mohammed Ullah, helped to renovate McDougall’s Prayer Hall.

McDougall’s is the hub of the Muslim community at Manchester and it’s an important space for worship on campus. However, over the last 15 years, it had become gradually more run down.

Taking matters into their own hands, iSoc decided that it was time to improve the space. With your help, they’ve been able to completely refurbish it – creating, once again, a place of welcome.

“This project was close to our hearts”, said Zaini Hamid, president of iSoc. “For Muslims, the mosque is a central pillar of our community and so, for us as university students, McDougall's Prayer Hall serves this purpose. To everyone who donated, you’ve impacted a lot of people, not just students. We were so overwhelmed by the support.”

You put Manchester on the international map of collegiate a cappella

With your help, Alvarium, the competition group of The University of Manchester’s A Cappella Society, made it to the quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) this year.

Alvarium are passionate about a cappella and were proud to have the opportunity to represent the University at this prestigious competition. But there are many costs involved in competing and they simply did not have the resources to send all 16 members to the two-day event. Without your support, they would not have been able to take part.

Speaking about their experience, Alvarium said “It’s a dream come true. Thank you to everyone who donated. Even one donation makes a massive difference in what we can do, so it is really important to us.”

Read more about the projects our students and staff are crowdfunding for here: www.manchester.ac.uk/crowdfunding.