Man Utd to use Old Trafford as UA92 campus

Manchester United is to open Old Trafford up as a student campus next month.

The club has agreed to become an 'educational hub' for degree students and those pursuing other qualifications with UA92, the university launched by United's 'Class of 92' which is based close to the stadium and also uses Old Trafford cricket ground as a campus.

The agreement is significant as it comes at a time when United is keen to push its presence within the community as they continue to work on plans for a new stadium close to the site of Old Trafford.

While it is understood there has been no significant progress on the stadium plans, United's chief operating officer Collette Roche has told BBC Sport a 'lot of work' is taking place behind the scenes.

Roche, who is leading United's work around the planned stadium and is also a key figure in the wider Old Trafford regeneration project, feels the link with UA92 is important in showing how keen the club is to make a positive impact for local residents.

"A lot of our fans come to the stadium just to watch a match, but our community lives around us," she told BBC Sport. "One of our big ambitions for the stadium is to create a better place for people to live, work, play and to enjoy watching our matches. Engaging them and taking them on a journey is absolutely critical.

"But for a long time now we've wanted to invest in local children, particularly those that are in underprivileged areas, because we do think we should give back.

"These are our fans and they could be our future workforce so when we're building hopefully a huge 100,000-seater stadium, we're going to need people to run it, to build it and work in it.

"The partnership with UA92 is a great way for us to build and develop our own workforce right on our doorstep who have already got an affinity and involvement in what is I think, a great football club."