Birmingham City University Reviews

Underrated Uni, Good clean and modern campus, graduate+ there to help always

Graduated Interior Arch & Design. We are provided with plenty of free software (I do not count 2017 as it was the first year the course was running). The course has so much to it that I stopped having a daily life. My daily life was Interior Architecture and design. Always felt like I am not doing enough and had so many breakdowns due to that. But some of us have it easy way (especially if you got related background) and some of us have it the hard way. It is a very broad course and I think it is delivered very well. Now I am more creative than I ever was. I would say that COVID made the studies much harder, but if you are going to stude IAD, you won't miss out on a lot. The course is more practise than anything. I would say - the thing I lacked the most was the extra time which I could spend in workshops or societies. I believe it is not shocking that I could not make the time, afterall I was foreign student who doesn't get any finance and works for food and accomodation..

One of the best in Birmingham, great support from faculty, student support is amazing and academically a great place to study and learn. Close to the city centre and new street station is all in walking distance

BCU I feel is a fantastic University. After open day it was 100% my first choice! It is spacious has a large restaurant, coffee spaces and even a Starbucks! It has a huge library and study area if you want to work alone or with friends. The staff are fantastic and they are there to help you throughout your journey at university.

Good and educational- nice place to study

The uni is good, clean, well managed and a nice environment

Ruined mainly by covid. Instead of being on a 1-week timetable, we are given a 2-week timetable even though this should not be the case as all monitors within the uni, especially in the computing department have webcams meaning all lectures should be at the same time weekly as those with a low tuition loan and no help form families cannot get the work needed to pay rent and food.

They are just there, and don't care much about their international students. Getting an extension is a war. I would have avoided them if I knew what I know now.

love this uni could not fault them at all. would recommend

This year is weird, i dont know how i would have managed

The wifi in on campus is poor, the canteens are terribly expensive for the quality of food and the campus is generally crowded.

I had an amazing time at BCU. The support was fantastic - I needed additional support due to health conditions and this was no problem at all. My personal tutor was great, and (almost) all of my tutors were knowledgeable (many have got very impressive credentials!) and approachable, with my final year being particularly engaging. All in all I'll definitely miss BCU!

I don't know why this University is so underrated. In my opinion, one of the best Universities in UK. You will get all campus facilities, very friendly and helpful teachers, amazing student union as well as career services.

Great resources on offer and a lot of extra support

Honestly couldn’t be happier with my choice. Amazing building and resources and my course was everything i hoped for. Just don’t make the mistake of living at The Heights (the student roost) it really ruined my first year

Good facilities for Media students (expensive equipment hire for free, filming/radio studios etc) but I think you have to be good at what you choose to study even before you start uni, since you don't really learn much. Maybe it was my mistake to take a broad course without picking the speciality right away but I was hoping to get as much as possible and learn about more various media sectors by going to different modules: TV, journalism, magazine production/graphic design, events etc). Well that did not work out since after graduation I couldn't get any job within the media sector and I realised that I wasn't even feeling confident with my knowledge or experience enough. I didn't even feel the student life vibes there (maybe because I was 2-3 years older than most of the course mates) and other 'kids' seemed arrogant. Also, NOT a good choice for European students since the uni had mainly 'locals'. All my friends I had were going to UCB, where vibes were different for foreigners.

It’s a great uni with great staff and great amenities.

Great university, lovely staff and lovely students. The library has good facilities and lots of space to work.

I am a first year student at Bcu and have enjoyed my time there , the campus is lovely and feels super homely .

A good university with good facilities.

No student support, they just care about the money... and everything is a big mess, nobody knows anything, they don't know, who and how to apply, if you any problem, you don't get any help, and you can be sure, someone will mess up your life there

nice location in the city centre

Uni sent us gloves and masks to help us to prevent COVID-19. So sweet.

I attended the School of Art at Margaret St Campus. The Masters program is a disgrace. If you have a problem no one will help and the teaching is very poor and they have no awareness of mental health issues or just don’t care. Now I have lots of debit and didn’t learn much at all. It is a very toxic environment.

I have had a really positive experience at Birmingham City University studying Education Studies.

Unreal university, great facilities, great societies can’t complain.

The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is fantastic. Facilities and support from staff are excellent and ( I dare say) world-class. Shame it is tarnished with the same brush as BCU. Dealing with BCU is an absolute pain from getting passed from department to department looking to solve an issue it took an entire semester to sort out.

Difficult to summarise the experiences at City South, like numerous other students I also believe Birmingham City University do not care about their students. It is a in a constant battle with students rather than supporting and helping and listening to them, they can tell you what they can't do for this which is one of their strengths. Student Union is non existing, learning support is difficult, I wish I had chosen a different university to study the whole experience has not been worth the money. Beware of the false promises!!

Knowledgeable research staff and lecturers with good facilities.

The university is great but the wifi fluctuates, sometimes it can be great to connect on to but the other half of the time it is awful to connect and actually get to use it.

Teaching staff great the rest of the university is shambolic and don’t deserve the business they get. Continuous errors and lies by other departments - be prepared to be past from Pilar to Post and life being made a living hell! When things don’t go right they are beyond a joke! Nearly 6 months on and basic issues not resolved.

Students at societies are not welcoming

Brilliant university. Great installations, wonderful staff. Wifi is a bit inconsistent at times.

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Does the student union even exist, if it does it sure isn’t making itself known. There has been no attempt to let students know of what clubs or societies are around or how to sign up for them. These societies do not host events either.

Lots of help if it’s needed and lots of things always going on around campus.

The university is well placed and has lots of areas for study and relaxing, there are a large number of societies and an overall good vibe across the entire campus, the staff are also very supportive and help you to get the most out of your experience at BCU

I like the university and the city

Quick wifi, lots of facilities on campus

your actually milking it i don't care

Good goog good good good good good good good

Good overall experience of being here.

Worst uni. Going through the fee status questionnaire is time consuming and the documenty they are asking for is so stupid. We need to proof if they are ur parents or not.

I love my university however the canteen could use some improvements.

great great great great grea tgreat great great great great greatgreat great great great great great

People are nice but the university itself is disappointing. The shop in the campus charged students ridiculous prices. Providing no materials to support students in their projects. Tutors act like we have no life, replying to students with vile email threatening to withdraw them from university no matter how hard the students ‘ personal lives are, to protect their own reputation. When asking for help, tutors are unsupportive. Being charged for using university ‘s facilities, paying £9250 a year purely to get a degree with no further support. Will never recommend to anyone

Worst uni I have seen in my life they don’t care about students , rude teaching , money minded university , nearly 1 % qualified facility all others are just trash 0/10 for this university getting a degree is wasting time, money and energy.

Nice friendly uni and in the middle of the city

Currently studying Radiography at Birmingham City and I have mixed feelings about it all. The university is modern and there are plenty of teaching spaces, however I sometimes struggle to find social spaces to sit and talk with others. I expected there to be between 40-60 people on my course judging by what other universities said but somehow there are almost 120 students. Because of this the timetable department constantly has the group starting early and finishing very late with large time gaps in between to be able to put us in a lecture theatre. One of my modules isn't very interesting and seems like a waste of time, I sometimes feel like it would be better to use that time to increase the number of hours on the physics and anatomy modules. At City South Campus, there's no student union presence since all of the clubs and societies are over at City Centre, so it is easy to feel a bit cut off from everyone else.

Student union pub was great, the facilities were amazing.

The SU doesn't do too much, the accommodation team seem to be trying to get as much money out of students living in their halls as possible, especially with the blatant lies about what the accommodation includes.

It has been awful, anyone who says this uni is good is only in their first year. THIS UNIVERSITY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT IT'S STUDENTS!!!! If you can get that through your heads then you won't be disappointed (maybe) if you go here. Everything that this uni does is to further it's own name, often at the expense of providing a good student experience. This is often demonstrated by their lack of response following a student complaint/feedback. It has a 10% drop-out rate across ALL it's courses! I don't know how they can say that they have 82% student satisfaction (I can only imagine it's because they do not include negative comments in their scores). The only good thing about my whole experience is that my course has been funded by the NHS which means I leave without any student dept. Even then I don't think it has been value for money... If I could give this univeristy an overall score of no stars, then I would.

Good experience, excellent staff in the sports department. Provided all the support needed and the course content was clearly outlined and followed prior to the course commencing.

Very poor. At City South you are cut off from the social aspect of the uni - everything is at City Centre Campus. There is next to no Student Union presence here at the south campus. This university doesn't care about the students, it only cares about making themselves look good in the league tables. This means that you better forget about complaining since your complaints will never be addressed.

Very poor. Currently doing Speech and Language Therapy at City South Campus. The staff don't know what they are doing. There is no consistency in the marking from one lecturer to another, and the results are never moderated. They aren't positive markers and seem to believe that you have infinite time and word limits to write assignments. The course is badly structured. You'll often hear them go on about a 'spiraling curriculum' in which you build on previous knowledge. Sounds good right?! Only in theory though - in reality, it means that you learn everything in the first year and when the time comes for you to put it all together for the final year placement, you've forgotten most of it. The course focuses a lot on the paediatric aspect of speech therapy which isn't helpful since we are also assessed on the adult side of speech therapy. At City South you are cut off from the social aspect of the uni - everything is at City Centre Campus. There is next to no Student Union presence here.

very poor.. A lot of racism in the university

Generally good so far. Course is interesting but lecturers are very hit and miss; some are great and some are poor. The uni itself has great facilities. The nightlife is also great as it’s in the centre of Birmingham. My accommodation isn’t great tho

Generally good so far. Course is interesting but lecturers are very hit and miss; some are great and some are poor. The uni itself has great facilities. The nightlife is also great as it’s in the centre of Birmingham. My accommodation isn’t great tho

Generally good so far. Course is interesting but lecturers are very hit and miss; some are great and some are poor. The uni itself has great facilities. The nightlife is also great as it’s in the centre of Birmingham. My accommodation isn’t great tho

Brilliant environment for studies and best knowledge providers. cheers.!!

I am currently studying Fine art at Margaret Street and moved from a different institute into the second year, I am overjoyed with how welcoming everyone has been, the staff and the students also. The student union doesn't really exist, but there are so many clubs to join. This doesn't really matter though, AS THE CITY IS WHERE TO BE ON A NIGHT OUT....THATS WHAT ITS THERE FOR. Curzon and Parkside are fantastic too, with amazing facilities. There are many career talks and presentations that you can go to, BUT just remember, especially all those writing negative reviews about BCU, WHAT YOU PUT INTO UNI, IS WHAT YOULL GET OUT OF IT!!!!!

Facilities were loud, impossible to work in sometimes so had to use other universities as a place to study. Hires and loans is a train wreck.

As abysmal as my time was here, the nightlife did have its ups so there was at least something there to take my mind off of all the trouble.

Overall I regret choosing this university. Since the campuses now share a common space (they are moving everything to Millennium Point area) there's no additional parking, no additional transport, and the canteens are busier (and more expensive) than ever before. Course content: generally poor value. Tutors do their best in the convoluted and restrictive framework to which they work in. Courses are shortened/deadlines extended/assessment criteria changed/etc at the drop of a hat. Lecturers are either (a) so sedentary they're complacent and just do the bare minimum, (b) blag their way through the lecture they were given just this morning to deliver, or (c) recognise the failings of everyone else so work twice as hard as a result, in the quest to give the students some actual value. Student engagement has plummeted since 2014, which is when I started. Staff turnover is quite high (see above!) so consistency is absent. Complaints about couse content get ignored.

Don't let the fancy new buildings fool you. If you have any mental issues or are an international student, AVOID AT ALL COST! Also, the lecturers are unprofessional and really have no idea what they were talking about.

Spent £63 million on a brand new campus which is excellent but they have neglected students needs in the meantime in terms of teaching due to the change over and teachers having to learn new things. Could have made a bigger library as there is never any room unless you get there at 8am for a seat and sit there all day.

Limited to no support for students with SpLD/dyspraxia.

wouldnt move me to another course because i had done certain modules that relate to the course i wanted to be transferred to. Very unfair uni terms and conditions regarding transfers for courses.

I attended the conservatoire which when through a lot of changes whilst I was there. What didn't change was the lack of facilities, based on the plans for the new building the same over crowding issues will exist. There simply aren't enough practice rooms. The teaching is mostly good. Feedback for performances can be somewhat subjective. There are too many orchestral projects to distract from personal practice and improvement.

Very good would encourage people

excellent facilities, always something on, student union is a bit small

The building is beautiful and easy yo find your way around, SU closes too early though, the library is very good too

City centre campus is lovely ! Constant joy studying here

The facilities have really improved over the last few years and our brand new city centre campus is incredible.

You can find a perfect opportunities here, to study, to party. Facilities are great, especially if its related with creative studies.

Very good university with excellent facilities however could do with a wider range of societies.

I love it here! Felt so welcome from Day 1, so much support provided and facilities are amazing!

We have a brand new campus and it is beautiful. Our SU is a pub built into the uni and is often a meeting place for societies

Overall decent uni, just not a great campus

not a lot of social activities at south campus but lots of help by student union to get you to the places you need to go for clubs and societies

The city centre campus is very modern and nice to study in, with all the facilities you could need. There are lots of different societies, something for everyone.

Erasmus student who is impressed with the warm welcome from the SU and staff, with a fabulous sociable vibe going on.

Great university, I've had so much support and been given so many opportunities.

It's amazing students and teachers

There's brilliant things to do when you go to Birmingham city university!

BCU is an amazing University, the staff and courses are great. Facilities and buildings are modern and in a buzzing city location.

BCU is great! Such a lovely campus in the city centre and such welcoming staff and students :)

Great university. The people as well as the staff are kind hearted and always approach you with a smile.

Great experience. Met a lot of really engaged students. Facilities are really nice as BCU prides themselves on giving the best and practical experience for its graduates.

Quite a friendly environment and easy to find classes. Beautiful spacious campus. Great facilities and an active students union.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience at BCU as a first year and look forward to the following years to come.

good university but there are restrictions with learning facilities due to limited resources. Im not aware of any ongoing societies or clubs so it limits social interactions between people from different courses.

It's a great university within a great city

City south campus boasts excessive facilities based on education and course related. However in terms of non academic resources including students union the university lacks

It's great and the links and opportunities get involved in industry links related to any course are outstanding if your looking for good job prospects BCU is the one.

Bad university. Dont care about the student at all. Only cares about the money your paying them.

Not much to do in students union but shop is very cheap.

Health department is incredible. Soo many resources. So helpful. And city centre campus is amazing.

Personally I am not supprised that this uni has dropped so much on the league tables. I would not recommend Birmingham City university for anyone wanting to do the Economics and Finance degree. The reason being the level and quantity of teaching is very lacking. During my second year of uni teaching hours were only 8 hours per week where as other uni's which offer very similar courses such as Coventry uni's 'financial economics' degree had double the teaching hours if not more. During the entire year we felt like BCU were trying to get away with the bare minimum of teaching hours and what was actually taught. Personally I don't believe it should even be called a BA, more a foundation degre due to the lack of mathematical modules or even Econmetrics, a very important component of Economics, that's right a finance degree with little maths, something that would quite badly affect post graduate prospects, I would personally recommend doing this course elsewhere

Poor tutoring from lazy or stubborn individuals. Not near enough computers available to use at the university. Car park is not big enough and the price went from £1 per day to £2, costing students even more money that they can't afford.

Good future ahead for bcu, more focus on engineering though!

New campus seems promising and great students :)

Prepared me well for the real world lots of career help and support.

They are there when you need help and advice

Really fantastic 1st year as a student nurse

Shambles. Joke modules which were easier than gcse. Yet when you tell lectures that they don't like it and somehow your grades drop and when you ask why they can't provide any feedback! Corrupt bastards. Email proof I have as well.

So far, after a year, I have enjoyed my time at BCU. There is a lot to get involved in and I plan on trying more things in second year.

Great help and support throughout the course!

Great balance of academic studies and fun. Love it.

Great design of new campus in september and a lot of good societies to join. In regards to career prospects, excellent guidance is provided.

It is a very good university you get the help that you need & meet alot of new friendly people

From start to finish excellent! Staff, resources etc. everything is on point!

The university is good but they will only care about you if you suck up to them. The lessons are interactive but outside of the lessons it's hard to get involved unless you are one of their super stars.

BCU provides a lot of experiences for all students. The nightlife is amazing as there is somewhere for everyone, depending on varying music tastes. The uni is full of friendly, enthusiastic lectures and staff who do their best to get the best out of their students!

Birmingham City University is good if you live on campus. However if not it is hard take advantage of the facilities.

only heard from SU during election periods, not many computers in millennium point

Student union is pathetic it is never open and drink prices are no better than the weatherspoons or pub across the road.

millennium point university is a brilliant modern uni and my course fashion business and promotion is a brilliant course lots of opportunities. But it would be a lot better if it was a campus university and the student union actually had nights out which people wants to go to.

a good university, however no help given to those with dyslexia. Library should be open 24/7 instead