There's more to the story behind the University of Manchester arms than is revealed in the newsletter. The university is the product of amalgamations, and its arms incorporate elements from those of the earlier institutions.
Victoria University of Manchester — Founded in 1851 as Owens College. Arms and crest were granted in 1871 :
Argent, a serpent nowed Vert; on a chief nebuly Azure a sun issuant Or.Became the Manchester Campus of the Victoria University in 1880 (other campuses were in Liverpool and York).
Victoria University's arms :
Globe and bees = Manchester (the crest of the city arms); fleece = York; liver bird = Liverpool; rose = Lancashire and Yorkshire.
In 1904, the Manchester campus became the Victoria University of Manchester [VUM], which used the Owens College arms.
University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology — Founded in 1824 as the Manchester Mechanics Institute. Several changes of name, became 'Manchester Institute of Science & Technology' [MIST] in 1955, and 'University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology' [UMIST] in 1966.
Arms and crest were granted in 1956. I've not been able to find details or a pic. However, it later used this device, which might have been derived from its arms :
University of Manchester — UMIST and VUM amalgamated in 2004 to form the University of Manchester [UM].
Arms and crest were granted to UM in 2010. Clearly the shield is based on the old Owens College/VUM shield, with the serpent replaced by the bees. In 2013, the Queen approved the substitution of the crest with the crest from the 1956 grant to the MIST. So what the pic in the newsletter shows, then, is the 2010 UM shield with the 1956 VUM crest (or a slightly differenced version of it) :
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As an aside : while researching this, I found that the university has a small collection of medieval armorials and other heraldic artwork, which has been digitised and can be enjoyed at :
http://enriqueta.man.ac.uk/luna/servlet ... q=subject="Heraldry"