Based in the heart of the UK's biggest regional city, University College Birmingham is highly respected by employers and industry for providing career-focused education and training. UCB specializes in vocational courses in both the Higher Education and Further Education sectors with a growing portfolio of Apprenticeships.
Most of our undergraduate degrees are accredited by the University of Birmingham, one of the world's top-ranked academic institutions. Our reputation for excellence means the University is a popular choice for international students, who join us from more than 60 countries. We are committed to providing the best facilities for all our students and are investing £100 million in a comprehensive package of improvements that will secure our reputation for excellence.
University College Birmingham is a specialist further and higher education institution, offering vocational programs in specialist fields at a wide range of levels, from apprenticeships to postgraduate degrees.
Our mission is to promote and provide the opportunity for participation in the learning process by those with the ambition and commitment to succeed and maintain a learning community that meets our students' diverse needs, the economy, and society at large. The Enterprise Hive is here to nurture and support our students who wish to set up their own business and promote the entrepreneurial spirit throughout the University, encouraging independence and innovation.
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) employ more than half the UK workforce, and some £16 billion is generated annually by cities with the best growth prospects for SMEs. Birmingham has been recognized as one of the top six locations for new business start-ups, and UCB is at the forefront of promoting sustainable growth in the UK's biggest city outside London.
Through the work of Enterprise Hive, the University is committed to supporting students who wish to set up their businesses. An entrepreneurial spirit is promoted throughout the institution, encouraging independent thought, collaborative practice, and innovation. Students benefit from various workshops delivered by experienced professionals and tailored mentoring, networking opportunities, and one-to-one support from the team in the Business School.
With more than 7,500 students enrolled in hugely diverse courses, the modern-day University College Birmingham is unrecognizable from the small Victorian classes to which its origins can be traced. Today, hospitality managers, aviation executives, dazzling hairdressers and makeup artists, educators, chefs, bakers, tourism industry experts, and creative entrepreneurs learn life skills at a university hailed for its vocational training and academic achievements, and cultural diversity.
The institution has earmarked more than £90 million on the now completed Phase 1 development, known as McIntyre House, and the neighboring Phase 2 building in the Jewellery Quarter. The ambitious projects represent a bold statement of intent beyond the dreams of Birmingham's early educational pioneers. There is, however, a common theme. Then, as now, cookery was of the moment and students and employers in the 21st century owe a debt of gratitude to municipal reformers such as Joseph Chamberlain. He backed the cookery cause at UCB's forebear, Birmingham Municipal Technical School, in the 19th century.
A report in the Birmingham Daily Post of November 7, 1874, recalls a meeting of the Birmingham School Board, presided over by the then chairman, one J Chamberlain. The Board was told that the Education and School Management Committee had considered the "advisability of introducing instruction in practical cookery and household work as part of the ordinary school course." The committee suggested "experimental buildings" should be built at two schools to replicate the "ordinary size and ordinary character found in the cottages of working people." There should be "no special appliances for cooking," and the girls would be taught to cook with "ordinary utensils, at the ordinary fires, the ordinary food of the class to which they belonged." It was a visionary, albeit no-frills, educational development.
The fledgling culinary arts were sparking broader interest. By the 1880s, the Midland School of Cookery occupied a "large apartment" with a larder, scullery, and a gas stove at the Midland Institute in Birmingham. Up to 100 women and professional cooks attended lessons in "high-class" cookery five mornings a week. By 1891, cookery classes were delivered at the Birmingham and Midland School of Cookery at 117 Colmore Row, focusing on "high-class cookery, cottage cookery, and vegetarian cookery." Archives suggest domestic cookery classes were taught throughout the First World War at the Municipal Technical School, which became the Central Technical College in 1927.
As the institution added new courses and changed its focus, there were numerous further name changes, including, in the 1950s, the College of Food and Technology, featuring a department of bakery and domestic science. A year later, it was renamed again and became the Birmingham College of Food and Domestic Arts. The College, which had operated from nine city and suburban schools, came under one roof in 1968 when the Duke of Edinburgh opened a new £1.5 million building on Summer Row. The building was designed to house up to 1,000 students and included a hostel for 57 female students boarding on a dinner, bed, and breakfast basis. By now, there were five significant departments – hotel and catering bakery, domestic arts residential child care, and nursery nursing. Regulations stipulated that "stiletto heels must NOT be worn in any part of the College." Radios, record players, and tape recorders were also banned.
In the late 1980s, the institution's name was changed to the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies to represent the course provision better. A watershed moment arrived on April 1, 1993, when the College left local authority control and joined the newly formed further education sector under Principal Eddie McIntyre. Dr. McIntyre and his senior management team took full advantage of the new independence to increase recruitment, develop the curriculum, and invest in the facilities and College estate.
Significant developments included constructing the £25 million new halls of residence The Maltings, built at the former Davenports Brewery site in Bath Row. The complex provided more than 800 study bedrooms and was completed in three phases: 1996, 1998, and 2003. In Newhall Street, Richmond House was acquired as part of the institution's expansion and opened as a dedicated center for further education in 2001.
In 2002, the institution transferred to the higher education sector, providing outstanding higher and further education courses with a strong vocational focus. University College Birmingham was officially born in November 2007 when the Privy Council granted taught degree awarding powers. Full university status followed in December 2012 as part of diversifying the university sector and improving student choice.
With many of its degrees accredited by the University of Birmingham, UCB has undergone a remarkable transformation and values its culturally diverse, outward-facing global perspective. It is a truly international university that delivers specialist courses to 900 overseas students from 65 countries, such as China, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. UCB has amassed an impressive array of accolades and awards over the years.
The lion's share of recruitment is now in higher education, comprising 70% of UCB's intake than 30% on further education courses. Students can study everything from certificates and diplomas to degrees and postgraduate qualifications. However, the institution's defining ethos has remained a constant – to give students, regardless of their background, the opportunity to succeed and to offer, in the motto of the University's coat of arms, "service before self."
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