University of Birmingham

Considering I’m officially a student here, it was my first visit to the campus! I was really impressed with the surroundings of some architecturally fabulous buildings. There’s plenty of places to study or hang out and one to of coffee shops with rest areas. I’ll definitely be going more often!

DO NOT DO THE LLM IN LAW HERE, they put the modules up from 4 to 6 modules icnreased the word count from 4000 to 6000 and still kept the duration of the course the same, you are basically having to work ahrder for the same degree do not waste your money go elsewhere.

I’m not really the sort to join the cheerleading squad, career around town in a University hoodie or shed a tear whenever someone recalls the University campus, but…
The University of Birmingham is a place I will recall with fondness: the University thing in general was an experience that I only learned to appreciate in my third year. Having studied English Literature, it was only at this point that a student is capable of wielding skills that allows one to go into real depth in terms of independent study as opposed to being prescribed nothing more than the canon.
For a humanities student, the library is your best friend — it is MASSIVE. There are also enough cafes and shops to keep you alive on campus indefinitely. The Starbucks in the Muirhead Tower is also a nice touch if you’re feeling in the mood for the sweet taste of corporate coffee.
Tutors were often even more useful as the ample and expensive facilities: Many were leaders in their respective field but were also approachable and good teachers. You’d be surprised how many lecturers are incredibly intelligent but simply not good teachers, so that was nice.
The University of Birmingham is well respected and the campus is pleasant and a far cry from the urban sprawl of Selly Oak that surrounds its leafy centre. All tastes and pursuits are more than catered for, and there are even ducks that roam around campus. That’s right — DUCKS!

Having just completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham, I cannot speak highly enough for it, both in terms of its quality as an institution, and for its instrumental role in expanding my horizons and introducing me to a city that I love exploring. Obviously, I can only speak from my own experience (I’ve taken a degree on American and Canadian Studies), but I have found the teaching quality to be excellent, with approachable tutors available throughout my degree who are willing to listen to any problem I have had, and I have found the learning process, above all other stages of my education, highly enjoyable. The campus is exceptional, featuring an imposing clock tower (which formed the basis on some of the major settings in Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings), and many of my friends from other universities have commented on how impressive the general feel of the University is.

Best university to study at hands down. Its on a nice campus but is also spread out so you get the best of both worlds. Is close to city centre so you can get anywhere you want easily on the cross city line and from new street. Theres lots of green space and little shops for food and drink. relaxing place to enjoy summer days between lectures. The guild is good fun too. Sports facillities are very high quality and are mintained very well.

Overall: A decent university
I started at Birmingham as a graduate student, first starting a Ph.D., which I later abandoned, then an M.Phil. in Physics & Astronomy.
The University of Birmingham is in the top 100 world-​wide universities! It is a red-​brick university and has good public transport connections, with a train station directly on the main campus. I can’t say much about student life on campus as I used to commute backwards and forwards to Derby every day.
Everything inside the Chemistry and Physics & Astronomy buildings looked old. The old wooden benches, the old chemical stains in the labs… just old. But the research facilities within the Chemistry department were good. Also, the teaching seemed to be good (as I sat in on a few undergraduate classes).

The University of Birmingham is a fantastic play in which to study — and has great social and cultural offerings too. It has a history behind it too, so combines old and new facilities. It was founded in 1825, and currently has over 18,000 undergraduate and 11,000 postgraduate students. There are two campuses: the Main Campus and Selly Oak campus.
The departments cover a wide range of subjects that are arranged into 8 areas. They are Arts, Languages, Literature and History; Business; Education; Engineering (comprising Departments of Mechanical, Chemical, Civil, Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Metallurgy & Materials); Law; Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences; Science; and Social Sciences, Government and Politics.
Birmingham city centre has clubs, pubs and restaurants to suit all tastes, so it is an ideal place to study.

I attended the University of Birmingham for three years and I miss it so much!
There is absolutely everything that a student could desire on this campus. The highlight of the whole University is the location in the fantastic Edgbaston. The trees and greenery always reminded me of the american college films, with people playing frisbee non stop all the time!
The red brick buildings are outstanding, as well as the newer buildings that are not as fantastic to look at but dont take away from the awesomeness of the university as a whole.
I lived in halls on the Vale for two years in Elgar Court and had the pleasure of being able to wander around the Vale every day, which is a must for anyone who is at all sociable! The Vale is unbelievably gorgeous, with a large pond with swans and ducks, and many places to sit and relax on your way to or from campus.
There are new buildings in the halls of residence that look superb, as well as Elgar Court, Shackleton (which is catered), Chamberlain and Maple Bank. I would highly recommend Elgar Court (of course I’m biased!) because the flats are huge, a fantastic communal kitchen, every room is en suite, and the views are spectacular.
I studied in the arts building which is right next to the comprehensive library (i recommend going on the library tours before you go on your own as even on my last at University I got lost!).
I cannot praise the University highly enough, there are so many extra curricular activities to do that every student will leave with fond memories.

Beautiful campus but it is very easy to get lost! It takes a lot of time getting from one building to the next. The lecture halls them self are very spacious. There are a number of libraries on the campus, I have been to the medical library, whilst it does feel a little claustrophobic due to the row upon row of tightly packed books, it is spread across 3 floors and there is practically any book you could possibly want related to medicine/​biology. You don’t have to be attending Birmingham university to use the libraries, you can get access via your own institution using a SCONUL access card.

Well, I’m bound to give my Alma mater a five star rating, as I had such a great time here (so much so, I ended up doing two degrees).
But, on a more serious note, it is one of the UK’s leading academic institutions — one of the original ‘red brick’ Universities, it has been ranked 5^th overall for research excellence in the UK. It has around 18,000 undergraduate and 11,000 postgraduate students, and one of the UK’s most impressive University campuses, being one of the earliest to adopt this model of urban design.
Its history can be traced back to 1825 with the founding of Birmingham Medical College, and the establishment of the Mason Science College in the City Centre 1875. But it was not until 1900 that, with the driving force of Joseph Chamberlain, the University was awarded its charter — arguably the first of the so-​called ‘red brick’ Universities to be formally recognised as such.
For the new University, a new site was chosen in the suburb of Selly Oak, three miles south of the city centre, to build a campus on the American model, of buildings built in a parkland environment. The original buildings at its heart really are made of blood-​red brick: they include the main Aston Webb building, with its impressive main hall and domed entrance hall in the neo-​Byzantine style.
But its most distinctive and well-​known feature is the 100m (330ft) tall clock tower, modelled on that of the town hall in Siena, and named ‘Joe’ in honour of Joseph Chamberlain. (Useless facts: Joe is the tallest free-​standing clock tower in the world. The University’s own website calls the tower ‘Old Joe’ but I never heard anyone use this in over 7 years)
Subsequent expansion — especially in the 1960s — has brought a greater diversity of architectural styles, notably the brutalist Muirhead tower, completed in 1969. There are impressive sports facilities, and the University is regularly in the top five at Inter-​varsity sporting events.
The campus itself is in two main halves, with the main halls of residence and student village on the Vale site a mile to the north. Land has been donated over the years by a number of local worthies, including Lord Calthorpe and the Cadbury family. In 1999, the various colleges of the Selly Oak campus (two miles further south) were integrated into the University, including the Westhill College of Education which was formally merged with it in 2001.
The University has a long list of achievements to its name: it was the first to accept students on an equal basis from all religious backgrounds; its school of Commerce in 1902 was the UK’s first (it is now the Business School); in 1937, vitamin C was synthesised by Professor Norman Haworth, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry (one of several Nobel Prize laureates); and in 1940 the first microwave device was built here, heralding both the development of radar and microwave ovens! Sir Edward Elgar was professor of music in the early 1900s, and the University boasts a long list of impressive alumni. And so on
Practicalities
Access to the University is easy, thanks to it having its own station on the Cross-​city railway line, between the main campus and the medical school at the Queen Elizabeth hospital. There are frequent buses on the A38 Bristol Road just to the south of the campus, and extensive car parking, although this has been restricted in recent years.
The University’s motto is ‘Per adua ad alta’ — ‘Through hard work, great things are achieved’ (literally, ‘through work to the heights’).