About Us
With around 25,000 students, Birmingham City University is one of the major universities in the UK. Situated in Birmingham, the UK’s second city and informal capital of the West Midlands, we have a long history of close interaction with this vibrant region. As a university we have a distinctive focus on education and research for professional and creative practice and on collaboration with business, industry and the public services. We are one of the three long-standing universities in the city of Birmingham, alongside the University of Birmingham and Aston University.
Strong traditions
Our contribution to the education of the citizens of Birmingham and beyond stretches back through a succession of predecessor institutions for over 160 years. We achieved university status in 1992 as the University of Central England, changing our name to Birmingham City University in 2007, reflecting our commitment to, and pride in, our home city. We are extremely proud of our achievements to date and excited about the possibilities for the future and the contribution we can make to our students, the economy and society.
Professional university
We are a professional institution in many senses of the word. A significant proportion of our undergraduate courses enjoy professional accreditation, including Accountancy, Acting, Architecture, Education, Engineering, Law, Marketing, Nursing, Radiography and Social Work. Our postgraduate provision provides a wide range of opportunities for management and professional development for early and mid-career professionals. Many of our staff boast professional qualifications and bring professionally relevant experience to bear on their teaching practice. We aspire to provide an educational experience of the highest quality, putting our students at the centre of everything we do. We have a strong commitment to flexible and practice-based learning, and place great importance on our ability to develop professionally qualified graduates with skills relevant to contemporary workplaces. Also, we seek to professionalise all our activities through a fundamental core commitment to quality.
Contribution to research and employer engagement
Alongside our commitment to educating our students for creative and professional careers, we have a strongly developing research base with a number of Centres of Research Excellence which received formal recognition in the national Research Assessment Exercise 2008. These centres are involved in world-leading research, innovation and enterprise projects covering the arts, engineering, education, business, humanities and social sciences and sciences. We also aspire to be an exemplar for engagement with employers in all sectors through our programmes of applied research, innovation, knowledge transfer and workforce development. We work with organisations as diverse as the BBC, CISCO, Microsoft, Advantage West Midlands, Arts Council England, Jaguar Land Rover, Jewsons, the Law Society and the NHS.