Birmingham is a city built on stories. It has a packed festival calendar, one of the country's biggest poetry scenes, and Shakespeare's hometown a short train ride away. Here's our seven reasons why Birmingham is a brilliant place to study English, and why BCU puts you right in the middle of it.
1. You'll study in the heart of the city
Our English courses are taught in the Parkside Building on our City Centre Campus, home to many of our creative subjects and specialist media and journalism facilities. We've invested over £500m in our campus and facilities. When your uni day is over, you're minutes from the bars, venues, galleries and bookshops that make Birmingham's arts scene what it is.
2. You'll work with other creatives
English at BCU sits in the School of Arts, alongside writers, artists, designers, illustrators and filmmakers. You'll get the chance to team up with them on projects and bring your writing to life in exhibitions, performances and productions. Film and Screenwriting students, for example, work with Filmmaking students to turn scripts into finished productions in our industry-standard studios.
3. Our partners open doors to your future career
We work with Birmingham Literature Festival, Writing West Midlands, Cheltenham Festivals, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Company. That gives you access to cultural events, exclusive internships, and creative opportunities you won't find in a lecture theatre.
4. Opportunities to take part in exciting trips
Students have previously visited Strawberry Hill House, the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and Stratford-upon-Avon, where they’ve been given the chance to handle and research a range of archive material related to Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Students have even had the opportunity to help put on an exhibition at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, with support from Dr. Islam Issa.
5. Develop your skills through a work placement
We are committed to developing strong links with employers in Birmingham and the West Midlands. If you take part in a work placement module, you’ll develop skills and abilities in a sector specific context, while ensuring that your academic aims and objectives are met as part of your wider learning journey. Our students have been involved with everything from creating articles for festival and travel guides to working with local schools. Studying in Birmingham is a gateway to hundreds of graduate employers too. Find out more on our placements page.
6. Birmingham’s immersive festivals
The city has a great reputation for its rich art and culture, including opportunities to promote new talent, and learn and be inspired from other creatives and lovers of literature and storytelling. Check out these annual festivals that are held here in Brum:
Birmingham’s Literature Festival - this four-day festival offers poetry, politics, performance, short stories, and education from talent curated through experts within this field. This is a great chance to experience innovative performances in the heart of Birmingham.
Verve Poetry and Spoken Word Festival - taking place across four days in February at Birmingham Hippodrome, various award-winning poets offer bold and contemporary performances in music, spoken word, and even an open mic. This is an event open to all levels of poetry lovers and is also a great chance to learn and meet other literature fans.
Shout Festival - a festival celebrating queer arts and culture as a project of Birmingham’s LGBTQ+ community takes place every November over the span of ten days, helping to start new conversations. They put on all kinds of activities across multiple arts venues in Birmingham including art installations, live music and dance performances, poetry readings and writing workshops.
English and Creative Writing Courses
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