Manchester Students' Group have created a streaming platform for students

Manchester Students Group have created a fantastic streaming platform in collaboration with Twitch to provide support and entertainment for students. It will provide classes, podcasts and live DJ sets that students can access for free from their bedrooms while in isolation. On November 5th, Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown, therefore, the launch of this platform could not be more essential! The stream will run Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 7pm until late. The platform is set to launch this Saturday November 14th!

This platform will keep students connected, stimulated and entertained.

We were lucky enough to catch up with one of the creators of the student streaming platform, Farris Ramzy..

1. What inspired you to start the Manchester Streaming Platform?

The inspiration behind the channel is simple, Manchester students need an outlet at the moment. It’s been a month of tension in the city, and students are isolated in subpar student accommodation, away from their families. I know many resent the fact they feel they have been mis-sold the ‘university experience’ this year. This has been further exacerbated by the fact that students have seen the tremendous universities have taken to shift learning online, but not much in the way of facilitating life outside lectures. The best part of the university experience is a sense of purpose, contributing and interacting with your community, and, most importantly, meeting and communicating with new people. We just aren’t experiencing this at the moment.

As well as this, mental health is a growing worry amongst the student demographic at the moment. The nights are long, cold and boring, and workload is increasing. We wanted to build something everyone could be a part of, either as a creator or a viewer. We can’t solve any of the deep rooted issues this year has brought. But we’ve seen that now, more than ever, online communities are the closest we get to sharing experiences these days, and anything that combats isolation and simulates the uni experience is, in our eyes, worth pursuing. For that reason, MSG is hosting a platform on Twitch. We hope by showcasing the creativity and skill of the people, this will not only boost recognition of creators that deserve it, but also give us something to tune into together. And fight the boredom/loneliness!!

2. Have the Universities offered their support and/or are getting involved?

As of now the university are not involved. We will be reaching out to them again as we think it compliments the university experience students pay for. They can organise the learning, we want to organise the fun!

3. How often will you stream? Are there set times that these streams will occur?

The stream will run Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 7pm until late.

The stream is separated into four sections:

MIND MATTERS, which will focus on physical and mental health

GAMER GANG, which will focus on entertainment (gaming, cooking, makeup, mukbang etc)

TWITCH TALKS, which will include drunk podcasts, tutorials and interviews with prominent members of the community

FALLOWFIELDS FINEST, which include DJ sets from the best local upcoming talent around uni

4. There is a well-being section to the live streaming platform which is great! Who will be running all these classes?

We have a section called ‘mind matters’, which will include streams that work to better mental and physical health, whether that be through personal training sessions, body workouts, yoga, zumba, meditation or mindfulness! Classes will be run by different students each time, but we might have some popular regulars….

5. When will it be set to launch? How can people support it?

We’re set to launch this Saturday, 7pm, and it’s completely free to watch. The best way to support is to follow the channel, tune in when it’s live and join in on the chat! You also have the option to donate to the stream, and 100% of your donation will go to whoever is on screen at the time. You can also subscribe to the channel – this will help us continue running and improving it.