'Where I grew up coming out of prison was more celebrated than graduating university'

'If you can't see it, you can't be it,' goes the saying.

It's an adage that rings particularly true to Karim West. Growing up in Moss Side as the son of Carribean immigrants, he says that while he looked up to footballers such as Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, he had no role models in other, more achievable, professions.

"I never saw anyone that looked like me being a doctor or a teacher," the 31-year-old says. "I always made a joke that the only person I saw in a professional form was Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

But that's a mindset he's now trying to change. Karim is the community engagement manager for UA92, the university co-founded by the fabled Class of 92 - Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

The sports science graduate's job is to go into some of Greater Manchester's poorest areas and encourage the teenagers living there that they have as much of a right to go to university as their peers from the region's more affluent suburbs.

"I go out to all areas in Manchester - Moss Side, Hulme, Rusholme, Blackley, Salford, Wythenshawe, Trafford and beyond," said Karim, who was born in New York and lived in Montserrat, Puerto Rico and Canada before moving to Manchester aged four. "We work with community groups, youth groups, local football teams, even barbershops.

"One of the big things is that if you’re from a certain area, similar to me when I was younger, you might never leave your estate. I'd only ever been to the Trafford Centre twice with my family.

"It's still the same with this generation. Some kids have never even been to the city centre. How do you expect them to go to university when they're not leaving their own areas?

"We always find it difficult at the beginning to