Birmingham City University is one of the largest UK universities with around 25,000 students from 80 different countries. The University is a professional university which provides vocational programmes taught using applied teaching methods.
The University welcomes international students who wish to enhance their career prospects and provide a full range of support and guidance services to enable students to optimise their potential.
The University's international appeal has been acknowledged and won the 2011 prestigious Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award. Our national and international popularity has grown significantly in recent years.
From 2008 to 2010, we had the highest rise in UCAS applications of any university in the UK's Midlands region. The University is situated in the City of Birmingham, which is the UK's second largest city; a more affordable city than London yet located only 1 hour and 40 minutes from the capital.
We are proud of our strong links and close collaboration with the region, which dates back to 1843. The University invests more than 270 million pound into the regional economy and supports thousands of jobs in the city and surrounding area. Our six academic faculties offer over 350 courses, from foundation level, through undergraduate degree programmes, to taught Master's courses and research doctorates.
Location & Facilities
Birmingham City University comprises campuses located throughout the city. Here is a sample of our leading faculties :
City North
This is a big, bustling campus, three miles north of the city centre. It's simple to get to - there's on-site parking, and you're minutes from a train station and major bus routes. It's where many of our courses are based, including those taught by Birmingham City Business School and the Faculty of Education, Law and Social Sciences, as well as English and some Media courses.
Facilities
Teaching students get the feel of a real school in our replica classrooms, complete with school gym and changing rooms. During mooting competitions, Law students hone their advocacy skills in one of our mock courtrooms in front of a judge, usually a qualified solicitor or barrister.
It's also where you'll find lots of facilities - you can study at the vast Kenrick Library, pick up careers advice from our Student Services team, work out at the new 8.5 million pound Doug Ellis Sports Centre, head to the Students' Union or just grab a bite to eat from one of our cafes.
Latest Developments
The campus has benefited from a 2.5 million pound investment in a range of projects to improve its social amenities and social learning spaces. The most significant is the creation of the new Kenrick cafe, fully integrated within the Library and the 24-hour Open Access IT Suite.
Together with the refurbishment of the Baker and Edge cafe, City North now has a superb and varied food and refreshment offering in excellent surroundings.
The Students' Union has also remodelled its Bar 42 at a cost of 250,000 pound, while a major investment in the Business School provided a new reception in Galton Building and the upgrade of teaching and social spaces on the upper floors. To complete the picture, the Faculty of Education, Law and Social Sciences received a revamp of the entrances and corridors to the Dawson and Attwood buildings with new lighting, flooring and redecoration.
Gosta Green
Gosta Green, just five minutes' walk from the city centre, is home to three of our Birmingham Institute of Art and Design's five schools :
- Birmingham School of Architecture
- School of Fashion, Textiles and Three-Dimensional Design
- School of Visual Communication
- Facilities
Gosta Green has extensive studio and workshop provision, reflecting the broad range of study opportunities on offer. Fashion offers fully professional facilities for garment design and construction while the textiles area has a mixture of digital and traditional facilities including embroidery, print, weave and knit workshops.
All workshops are supported by our team of skilled technicians. Fashion workshops and textiles areas are equipped for both traditional techniques and state-of-the-art computerised looms and printers. Students benefit from excellent design studio and workshop facilities to prepare them for practice at the highest level. Students have access to Vicon 3D, an external tracking motion capture facility, and Gypsy, an exo-skeleton-based motion capture system, extend the possibilities for production of 3D animation and films. There's also a comprehensive range of tools and machinery in the wood and metal workshops.
City Centre Campus at Millennium Point
Our City Centre Campus is based at Millennium Point, a landmark building just to the east of the city centre that is home to courses from our Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the Environment (TEE) as well as Birmingham School of Acting. And there are more exciting developments in the pipeline - construction is currently under way on a new home for Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) next door.
Facilities
State-of-the-art resources at TEE include a gallery, sound and television studio, noise and vibration cells, video production laboratory, a robotic laboratory, a huge isolation booth with sonic sound quality big enough to record drum kits, fantastic recording facilities, and a blue screen studio for chromakey work for film and music.
You'll also find our 4 million pound purpose-built acting school, complete with 11 studios, including a large performance studio which has set a new benchmark for drama training facilities in the UK, and its own blackbox theatre.
Each studio contains specialist acoustic panelling, sprung floors, a heating system that radiates heat equally around the studio and an air replacement system that maintains a constant room temperature.
We also have a fully operational lighting rig and quadraphonic sound system.
Latest Developments
In April 2011, we were granted planning permission for an extension to our City Centre Campus in the Eastside area of Birmingham, next door to the existing facilities at Millennium Point, which will provide a state-of-the-art home for Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD), currently based at Gosta Green, from September 2013.
The project - part of the Big City Plan for the wider regeneration of Birmingham - is also part of the University's overall 180 million pound investment in new facilities to help create the skilled graduates of the future.
The University has teamed up with Birmingham-based Associated Architects and city construction firm Willmott Dixon for the 18,310 sq metre building, which will house cutting-edge media facilities including television and photographic studios.
Associated Architects three original partners were architecture tutors at Birmingham City University before forming their own company more than 40 years ago, and a number of our students have since gone on to work for the firm.
This centre of excellence will boast the largest television facility between London and Salford, and perfectly positions the University and Birmingham as major contributors to the creative industries.
These resources will be integrated with those already at Millennium Point for students on media courses offered by TEE. The development will also provide the opportunity to converge some of the student support facilities within Millennium Point, creating a greater campus 'feel'.
Around 2 million pound is being spent remodelling Millennium Point to support the opening of Phase 1 of the City Centre Campus in September 2013. Willmott Dixon Construction is carrying out internal modifications across levels 1 to 4 in TEE to create a number of new areas including:
- a social learning zone
- an extension to the library area
- a new office for the Students' Union on level 3
- a new office for Student Services on level 3
- a wider corridor on levels 2 and 3 ready for the construction of the bridge link connecting Phase 1 to Millennium Point.
School of Art
Our Bournville campus, located in the idyllic setting of the Bournville Village Trust conservation area, has a 100-year pedigree as a centre of learning, and a recent 6 million pound refurbishment scheme has enabled the installation of a vast range of high quality facilities.
Facilities
The School of Art, Bournville boasts:
- Audio visual equipment
- Extensive computer suite
- Workshops for wood, metal, clay, plaster and ceramics with glass
- Studios and workshops for printed and woven textiles and fashion
- Art and design studios
- IPS Bournville gallery
- Specialist print workshops
- Well-stocked library and exhibition space
- Cafe
Floating mezzanine levels, glass lifts and cutting-edge specialist workspaces sit comfortably beside the original stained glass windows and mosaic floors of this glorious purpose-built art school. We're right in the city centre, perfectly placed next to the city museum and art gallery.
Facilities
You'll find light and airy studios, gallery and installation spaces, a fine art library and workshops for wood, metal, plaster, fibreglass, ceramics, digital media, print and photography.
Industry-standard resources and equipment include soldering hearths, polishing machines, other bench-mounted powered equipment, lathes and milling machines.
The building has won numerous awards for the restoration of its spectacular architecture.
The School of Art, Margaret Street boasts:
- Specialist fine art library
- Bookable installation and viewing spaces
- Gallery
- Digital suite
- Workshops - for wood, metal, plaster, fibreglass, ceramics, digital media, print and photography
- Faculty archives
- Cafe
School of Jewellery
The largest jewellery school in Europe stands right at the heart of Birmingham famous Jewellery Quarter, where much of the jewellery made in Britain today is manufactured.
Our multi-award-winning building houses a wonderful complex of traditional style workshops, teaching and exhibition accommodation. This extraordinary listed Venetian Gothic building is a fitting home for a stunning modern art school.
The School is in a truly inspiring setting in which to learn your craft. Stroll through the light-filled, airy atrium of this fabulous modern building with floor-to-ceiling windows and you will see our students honing their skills with the very latest equipment.
Facilities
The School of Jewellery boasts :
- Specialist library - Jewellery, Horology and Silversmithing
- Industry-standard resources and equipment, including soldering hearths, bench-mounted powered equipment, lathes and milling machines
- Studio workshops, including laser welders and dedicated CAD/CAM facility
- Gemmology laboratory
- Rooms dedicated to casting and electro-plating
- Computer Suite
- Exhibition hall and atrium area
- Bookable exhibition space