
Who we are
Greater Manchester Higher is a collaborative network.
The partnership is a part of the Uni Connect programme, which delivers a nationally coordinated approach to working with schools, universities, and colleges to help people access higher education.
Our Year in Brief provides an overview of the activities delivered and the key achievements and successes during 2020/21.
Our vision
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.
Our team
Central Team

Sophie Heaton
Operations Manager (Activities & Projects)

Ian McGarry
Operations Manager

Mark Burke
Monitoring and Evaluation Manager

Jess Edington
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

Emma Lo
Projects Co-ordinator

Kitty D'Lazarus
Administrator
Hub Managers
Safeguarding
We take the safeguarding of the young people we work with very seriously, please find our safeguarding statement here.
Download Safeguarding PDFCancellation Policy
All 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 Cancellation Policy PDFGovernance
Manchester 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 Governance PDFTargeting, Monitoring & Evaluation
The overall aim of the Uni Connect programme is to support the government’s social mobility goals by rapidly increasing the number of young people from underrepresented group who go into higher education. The programme is collaborative, impartial and targeted.
Our targeting is predominantly based upon learner postcodes. The government has identified 45 electoral wards within the Greater Manchester area where Higher Education participation is lower than expected based on KS4 attainment and this is where we apply the government definition for underrepresented groups.
Please see our Pre 16 targeting and Post 16 targeting sections below for more info.
You can watch our quick ‘step by step’ guide on how to use the Pre-16 target postcode tool:
Pre-16 targeting
For any school-organised activity (subject-specific, hub-funded, projects) 66% of learners need to be from a target postcode.
For the remaining 33%, learners from the following groups should be targeted:
- Looked after children/care leaver
- Disability (including long term health condition and additional needs)
- Young Carers
- Free School Meals
- First-generation HE
- Asylum seeker/refugee status
- Military family/service children
For activities where individual learners sign- up, those who meet postcode criteria will be prioritised, followed by those who meet additional WP criteria.
For 1-2-1s we expect 100% of the learners to be from either a target postcode due to the intensity of the intervention.
Our postcode tools will help you determine which of your pupils are from our target wards.
Post-16 targeting
For any school/college-organised activity (subject-specific, hub-funded, projects) 50% of learners need to be from either a target postcode or POLAR 4 Q1 or Q2 postcode.
For the remaining 50%, learners from the following groups should be targeted:
- Looked after children/care leaver
- Disability (including long term health condition and additional needs)
- Young Carers
- Estranged Students
- First-generation HE
- Asylum seeker/refugee status
- Military family/service children
For activities where individual learners sign- up, those who meet postcode criteria will be prioritised, followed by those who meet additional WP criteria.
For 1-2-1s we expect 100% of the learners to be from either a target postcode or a POLAR 4 Q1 or Q2 postcode due to the intensity of the intervention.
Our postcode tools will help you determine which of your pupils are from our target wards.