Manchester Metropolitan University is one of the most extensive higher education centres in Europe with 38,000 students and more than 1,000 undergraduate, postgraduate and professional courses. The University educates and trains large numbers of legal and business professionals, scientists, engineers, teachers, health workers and creative professionals. Manchester Metropolitan achieved the silver award in the Teaching Excellence Framework, has 85% of research impact rated world-leading and internationally excellent as judged in the REF, is the UK’s greenest university as ranked by the People and Planet sustainability league tables and is one of the country’s top 20 best employers for LGBT staff, as featured in the Stonewall Top 100 Employers ranking. The University is in the top 200 global universities under 50 years old as ranked by the Times Higher Education and has more than 290,000 alumni living across the world, with a further 10,000 new graduates joining the community each year. Notable alumni include fashion designer Sarah Burton, actor Julie Walters, designer Thomas Heatherwick and marketing expert Jonathan Mildenhall.