Police have received 30 reports of rape from students aged 18 to 24 between August and October  compared to 15 in the same period in 2013.
Posters with the strapline "drinking is not a crime, rape is" have been put up in bars and clubs used by students.
Det Insp Damian Simpson said "alcohol-fuelled" nights were the target because the reports often involved drink.
He said officers had "dealt with many an incident whereby two young people have met on an alcohol-fuelled night out, one thing has led to another and the next morning we're arresting somebody for rape".
"It doesn't matter whether there has been flirting, kissing or you've exchanged numbers - if somebody is too drunk to consent then the best thing for all involved is to assume it has not been given."
The joint campaign by Greater Manchester Police and students' unions and is being backed on social media using the hashtag #noconsentnosex.
Jess Lishak, women's officer at the University of Manchester Students' Union, said she was "really pleased to create this campaign [which is] aimed at perpetrators rather than victims".
"I think it marks a really important change in the narratives around rape in our community."
Fiza Ikram, the president of the University of Salford Students' Union said the posters "encourage students to be respectful to one another, keep one another safe and think before they act".
A police spokesman added the force was working "very closely" with St Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Survivors Manchester and Rape Crisis to "continually improve the support services offered to victims of this crime".
A doubling in student rape reports in Greater Manchester has prompted a "no consent, no sex" campaign.