WATCH: Our Foundation Day celebrations today
11 Oct 2017
Visit the live link to watch our graduate, Afghan refugee Gulwali Passarlay give his inspiring Foundation Lecture – From a War Zone to the Lecture Theatre
The University of Manchester in its current form was created in 2004 by the amalgamation of the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). We mark this occasion each year with our Foundation Day celebrations.
This includes our prestigious Foundation Lecture - this year, given by Gulwali Passerlay, who at the age of 12 took the perilous journey from Afghanistan to Britain seeking asylum.
You can hear his heartbreaking but ultimately inspiring story by visiting our live link to the celebrations from 4.30pm:
Following the Foundation Lecture, Honorary Degrees will be conferred upon Mr Nazir Afzal, Professor Dame Janet Finch, Dr Eli Harari and Professor Cornelia Parker.
The event will conclude at 6pm.
The celebration has the theme of Social Responsibility this year and here you can watch an animation demonstrating our commitment to widening participation: