Our Story
The GMIoT is the Greater Manchester hub in England’s national Institutes of Technology programme: a partnership between the University of Salford and five further education colleges, built to close a very specific gap in technical education. Four Key Employers, the BBC, Siemens, Laing O’Rourke and GCHQ, are strategic partners working alongside our colleges and university.
Why the GMIoT Exists
Across Greater Manchester, employers in engineering, computing, healthcare and construction have consistently reported the same problem: too few people qualified at the level between a college or sixth form leaver and a university graduate. Higher Technical Qualifications at Level 4 and 5 sit exactly there, equivalent to the first and second year of a degree, but built around the skills employers say they actually need.
The GMIoT was established as part of the national Institutes of Technology programme to make that route visible and credible. What makes Institutes of Technology unique is that each one is a collaboration between further education, higher education and employers. The GMIoT provides a technical education pathway that fills the missing middle described by government, enables those in work to upskill or reskill to match new technologies, and offers a flexible, cost-effective, career-focused way to gain a higher-level technical qualification, so that the people of Greater Manchester can benefit directly from the city's economic prosperity. Rather than one college trying to cover every subject, the GMIoT works as a partnership: each education partner brings its own strengths, employers help shape what is taught, and learners get a qualification recognised across the region's biggest employers.
How We're Built
The GMIoT is delivered jointly by the University of Salford and five colleges across Greater Manchester: Wigan & Leigh College, Bury College, Tameside College, Trafford & Stockport College Group, and Ada, the National College for Digital Skills. Together, this partnership delivers Level 4 and 5 Higher Technical Qualifications in Engineering, Computing, Construction, Creative Media and Health, with courses designed alongside local employers.
The GMIoT is one of seventeen Institutes of Technology open across England, each serving as the technical education hub for its own region.
Our Story So Far
A National Programme Begins
England's Institutes of Technology programme launches to close the gap between school and degree-level technical education, giving employers a route to the higher-level skills they say they can't find.
Greater Manchester's Hub Is Formed
The University of Salford and five further education colleges join together as the GMIoT, each bringing its own campuses, specialisms and local employer relationships to one shared partnership.
Courses Go Live
Level 4 and 5 Higher Technical Qualifications launch in Engineering, Computing, Construction, Creative Media and Health, designed alongside employers in those sectors.
A Growing Network Today
The GMIoT is one of seventeen Institutes of Technology across England, with enrolments onto its Higher Technical Qualifications growing every year.