Greater Manchester Higher is a collaborative network.
The partnership is a part of the National Collaborative Outreach Programme, which will deliver a nationally coordinated approach to working with schools, universities and colleges to help people access higher education.
We aim to improve the provision of information, advice and guidance about progression routes to higher education (HE), alongside offering a menu of activities to raise the aspirations of young people in Greater Manchester.
My parents moved to London from Sri Lanka in the 1970s to further their own education and my first HE experience was at the University of London’s nursery as a baby! As the eldest of three, I was expected to go to university to set a good example to my younger siblings.
My A-levels didn’t go exactly to plan, but I was lucky and found a place at Sheffield Hallam…
From a young age, my Mum and Dad always told me that I would go to the local university, even though none of us really knew what that meant or had ever visited it as I was the first in my family to go, and that I would be an accountant as I was good at Maths.
Fast forward to now and I have a degree in English Literature from…
After getting my A-Levels at my local FE college I went to the University of Liverpool to study Sociology and Criminology (mainly because I was interested in those subjects, but also because I liked the feel of the place when I went to their open day).
My degree helped me to get a graduate role straight after Uni with a company who run Tuition centres for kids, which was great…
I left school at age 16 with a clutch of strong GCSE grades and determined to cut it in the world of journalism. I didn’t progress past the local newspaper. It took me until the age of 23 to wake-up and realise that university was the answer. Manchester Met University gave me a chance – despite the fact that I had no A Levels to my name.
University opened my…
My parents moved to the UK from Jamaica in the 1960s as part of the Windrush Generation, where my father continued his career as a minister. Although my father never formally attended a higher education establishment, he taught in a number of teaching positions within the church.
Like many of my peers, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school, so I stayed on at…
I was the first one in my family to go to uni, (it’s a shame my graduation photo is so bad and still hangs in my parents’ front room!) My mum was keen for me to apply, and sometimes, Mums know best.
Whilst I was in sixth form, I wasn’t sure whether university would be for me, I found the idea quite daunting – not knowing anyone, being somewhere new,…
We take the safeguarding of the youg people we work with very seriously, please find our safeguarding statement here.
Download PDFAll of our events are free for schools and colleges to participate in, however we have a cancellation policy in the event of less than 14 days notice being given.
Download PDFManchester Metropolitan University are the lead institution for the network.
Greater Manchester Higher is governed by a steering group who oversee the strategic and financial aspects of the project. This group meets three times a year and each institution has a representative on the steering group.
Download PDFThe overall aim of the NCOP programme is to work towards the government’s goal of doubling participation in HE amongst disadvantaged groups by 2020. The programme is collaborative, impartial and targeted.
Our targeting is based upon learner postcodes. The government has identified electoral wards where HE participation is lower than expected based on KS4 attainment and this is their definition of disadvantaged groups .
Our work must focus on providing intensive activities with Y9-13 learners from these wards, therefore 2/3rds of learners on any intervention must be from the target wards (with the exception of activity delivered to a whole year group or activity for targeted learners). Our Postcode tool will help you determine which of your pupils are from our target wards.
