Birmingham set itself the target of becoming the “Oxbridge of the Midlands”, which may have been ambitious, but its position in The Times ranking is a fair starting point.

A consultants’ report in 2004 found the university had a boring image, but that is being addressed.

The university has recruited Professor David Eastwood, chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, to maximise its undoubted potential.

Students come to Birmingham from more than 150 countries, but the university enjoys particularly high prestige in its own region.

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Reputation

Since 2008 it has been made up of five colleges. Entry standards are high, averaging the equivalent of more than ABB at A level. With nearly eight applicants for each place, they are likely to remain so, but aspiring students still flock to the largest open days in Britain each June. There is also an additional open day for upper sixth-formers in September. Applications were up by slightly more than the national average at the start of 2009, at more than 8 per cent.

The university’s enduring reputation is based on its research, with 16 per cent of the work submitted for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise regarded as ‘world-leading’. Music, physics, computer science, mechanical engineering, European studies and law did particularly well.

Many of the teaching scores were impressive, too, with mathematics, biological sciences, physiotherapy, sociology, and electrical and electronic engineering all recording maximum points. Birmingham also did well in the 2008 National Student Survey, finishing ahead of most of the big city universities. Law, physics, economics and maths produced the best results.

In recent years, Birmingham has added an £11.8-million student facilities building at the Medical School, a new £16.4-million home for Sport and Exercise Sciences and a £10-million learning centre, and spent £47.5 million on refurbishing student accommodation as part of an investment programme in staff, buildings and equipment that is costing a total of £225 million. Engineering was reorganised, following a year-long review, to promote an interdisciplinary approach, responding to employers’ wish for more flexibility. Students can enter either a BA or BSc degree programme, combining technology with subjects ranging from Latin or modern Greek to the management of floods and other natural disasters.

Campus

The 230-acre campus in leafy Edgbaston is dominated by a 300-foot clocktower, which is one of the city’s best-known landmarks, and boasts its own station. Dentistry is located in the city, while part of the School of Education is in Selly Oak, a mile from the Edgbaston campus. Drama is also located there, along with the BBC Drama Village, which is part of a strategic alliance between the university and the corporation.

Most of the halls and university flats are conveniently located in an attractive parkland setting near the main campus. There are around 5,000 university-owned beds, following a ten-year programme of expansion, and private sector accommodation is also plentiful.

The campus is less than three miles from the centre of Birmingham, but the area has plenty of shops, pubs and restaurants of its own. With its own nightclub among the facilities on campus, some students do not even stray that far, but the city is acquiring a growing reputation among the young, which is helping to make the university even more popular. Some 40 per cent of Birmingham graduates choose to make the city their home.

Facilities and sport

Student facilities are on a par with the best in the country, with many restaurants and bars, a live music venue, an art gallery, a medical practice on campus, and an outdoor pursuits centre on Coniston Water, in the Lake District. Birmingham has always been concerned with the body as well as the mind; compulsory exercise was only abandoned in 1968. The Active Lifestyles Programme, the voluntary modern-day equivalent, attracts 4,000 students to 150 different courses. Tutors with national qualifications run classes from beginner to advanced level. In addition, Birmingham has ranked in the top three in British Universities competitions for the past 15 years.

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