UA92, which was set up by Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt, has secured a £2m boost to support the development of a digital learning academy.
University Academy 92, which is backed by Lancaster University, has received the funding from the Office for Students, the independent regulator for higher education in England.
The funding has been awarded to support the development of a digital learning academy at the UA92 campus in Old Trafford, and is scheduled to open in September.
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The new academy will increase UA92’s student capacity for digital students almost tenfold – from 65 to 634.
The department will include two specialist studios, a robotics laboratory, mobile learning studios and an immersive video environment.
Fully accredited computer science degrees, degree apprenticeships and professional body certified short courses will include Dev Ops, Cloud, Linux, data science, cyber security, AR, VR and AI.
Sara Prowse, who joined UA92 as CEO in May 2021, said "This is a fantastic start to the year, and the funding will accelerate the development of our state of the art, world class digital learning academy by three years.
"Our bid for these funds was built in response to demand and in collaboration with key strategic regional and international partners.
"Together we have identified key digital skills gaps and as a result we are co-creating courses with business and world leading vendors, so we can deliver a career-ready digital workforce of graduates and digitally upskill employees across the region."
The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, added: "In Greater Manchester we have strong ambitions to be recognised as a world leading digital city-region.
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"This exciting announcement from UA92 is important in enabling us to achieve this ambition.
"The new UA92 Digital Academy, which is set to be a talent centre of excellence, is an incredible opportunity for our city-region, helping to future-proof our digital talent pipeline and address the existing digital skills shortages ensuring the Greater Manchester digital sector continues to grow and flourish."
Cllr Andrew Western, Trafford Council leader and GMCA lead for digital, work and skills, said: "Trafford Council has been a huge supporter of UA92 from its very early days and I am delighted that it has secured this funding.
"A facility like this will make a huge difference towards improving the digital skills we have in Trafford and Greater Manchester. It will support digital learning, enterprise and leadership at UA92 and produce a much-needed pipeline of talent.
"We see UA92 as an important part of our regeneration plans for the local area and are totally aligned with their vision to make higher education accessible to all."