The University of Birmingham is an English university in the city of Birmingham.
Founded in 1900 as a successor to Mason Science College, and with origins
dating back to the 1825 Birmingham Medical School,[3] it was the first of the co-called Red Brick universities to receive its Royal
Charter.[4]
The university is a member of the Russell Group of research universities and a founder
member of Universitas 21. It currently has over 18,000 undergraduate and over 11,000 postgraduate
students.[2]
Campuses
Main and Selly Oak campuses
The university's main campus, in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, is arranged around the
100-metre-high (328 feet) Chamberlain clock tower (nicknamed
"Old Joe") commemorating Joseph Chamberlain, the university's first Chancellor. The Great Hall of the university is in the domed Aston
Webb Building, which is named after one of its architects (the other was Ingress
Bell).
The university's Selly Oak campus is a short distance to the south of the main campus. It
was the home of a federation of nine higher education colleges, mainly focused on theology and education, which were integrated
into the university for teaching purposes in 1999. Among these was Westhill College (later the University of Birmingham,
Westhill) which merged with the university's School of Education in 2001. The UK daytime
television show Doctors is filmed on this campus. The university
also has buildings at several other sites in the city.
"Old Joe", the University Clock Tower.
The university's main campus occupies a site some 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Birmingham city centre. The original 25 acre site was given to the university in 1900 by Lord Calthorpe. The
original buildings on the Edgbaston site were built at the turn of the 20th century. The original semi-circle of red-brick domed
buildings form Chancellor's Court, at the centre of which stands the clock tower and which sit on a 30 ft (9.1 m) drop so the
original architects placed their buildings on two tiers with a 16 ft (4.9 m) drop between them. The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, affectionately known as "Old Joe", is
dedicated to the university's first chancellor Joseph Chamberlain. The design of the
clock tower draws its inspiration from the that of the Torre del Mangia, the medieval
clock tower forming part of the Town Hall in Siena,
Italy and is made from Accrington Red Brick. When it was built it was described as "the
intellectual beacon of the Midlands" by the Birmingham Post. The clock tower was Birmingham's tallest building at 100
metres from the date of its construction in 1908 until 1969 and is still the third highest in the city. It is one of the top 50
tallest buildings (and the tallest clock tower) in the UK.[5]
The clocktower has four clock faces are each 17 ft 3 in (5.25 m) in diameter. The minute hands are 13 ft 6 in (4.1 m) long. At
its widest part, the hour hand is 2 ft (61 cm) across. The hands are made out of sheet copper and the frame is made of one solid
casting, weighing half a ton (450 kg). The pendulum is 15 ft (4.6 m) long. The largest of the four hour bells weighs 13,619 lbs
(6,177 kg).[6] The whole weight of the clock and bells
exceeds 20 tons (18,150 kg). There is a long held superstition that if an undergraduate walks under the tower while it is
chiming, they will fail their degree.
The grand buildings were an outcome of the £50,000 given by steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to establish a "first class modern scientific college"[7] on the model of Cornell University in
the United States.[8] The University of Sydney in Australia was also modelled on Cornell. Funding was also provided by Sir Charles Holcroft.[9]
Architecture
Another redbrick building
The campus has a wide diversity in architectural types and architects. "What makes Birmingham so exceptional among the Red
Brick universities is the deployment of so many other major Modernist practices: only Oxford and Cambridge boast greater
selections".[10] The Guild of Students original section
facing King Edward School was designed by Birmingham inter-war architect Holland Hobbiss who also designed the King Edward school
opposite. It was described as "Redbrick Tudorish" by Nikolaus Pevsner.[11]
The statue on horseback fronting the entrance to the university and Barber
Institute of Fine Arts is a 1722 statue of George I rescued from Dublin in 1937. This was saved by Bodkin, a director of
the National Gallery of Ireland and first director of the Barber Institute. The statue was commissioned by the Dublin Corporation from the Flemish sculptor John van
Nost.[12]
Final negotiations for part of what is now the Vale were only completed in March 1947. By then, properties which would have
their names used for halls of residences such as Wyddrington and Maple Bank were under discussion and more land was obtained from
the Calthorpe estate in 1948 and 1949 providing the setting for the Vale.[13] Construction on the Vale started in 1962 with the creation of a three acre artificial lake and the
building of Ridge, High, Wyddrington and Lake Halls. The first, Ridge Hall, opened for 139 women in January 1964, with its
counterpart High Hall (now Chamberlain Hall) admitting its first male residents the following October.[14]
The university underwent a major expansion in the 1960s due to the production of a masterplan by Casson, Conder and Partners.
The first of the major building to be constructed to a design by the firm was the Refectory and Staff House which was built in
1961 and 1962. The two buildings are connected by a bridge. The next major buildings to be constructed were the Wyddrington and
Lake Halls and the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science, all completed in 1965. The Wyddrington and Lake Halls, on Edgbaston
Park Road, were designed by H. T. Cadbury-Brown and contain three floors of student dwellings
above a single floor of communal facilities.
Ceiling of Aston Webb building
The Faculty of Commerce and Social Science was designed by Howell, Killick, Partridge and Amis
and is a long, curving two storey block linked to a five storey whorl. The two storey block
follows the curve of the road and has load bearing brick cross walls. It is faced in specially-made concrete blocks. The spiral
is faced with faceted pre-cast concrete cladding panels.[15] It was statutorily listed in 1993.[16]
Chamberlain, Powell and Bon were commissioned to design the Physical Education Centre which
was built in 1966. The main characteristic of the building is the roof of the changing rooms and small gymnasium which has
hyperbolic paraboloid roof light shells and is completely paved in quarry tiles. The roof of the sports hall consists of eight
conoidal 2½-inch think sprayed concrete shells springing from 80 foot long pre-stressed valley beams. On the south elevation, the
roof is supported on raking pre-cast columns and reversed shells form a cantilevered canopy.
Also completed in 1966 was the Mining and Minerals Engineering and Physical Metallurgy Departments, which was designed by
Philip Dowson of Arup Associates. This complex consisted of
four similar three-storey blocks linked at the corners. The frame is of pre-cast reinforced concrete with columns in groups of
four and the whole is planned as a tartan grid, allowing services to be carried vertically and horizontally so that at no point
in a room are services more than ten feet away. The building received the 1966 RIBA Architecture Award for the West Midlands. [15] It was statutorily listed in
1993.[16] Taking the full five years from 1962 to
1967, Birmingham erected twelve buildings which each cost in excess of a quarter of a million pounds.[17]
A year later, in 1967, Lucas House, a new hall of residence designed by The John Madin Design
Group, was completed, providing 150 study bedrooms. It was constructed in the garden of a large house. The Medical School
was extended in 1967 to a design by Leonard J. Multon and Partners. The two storey building was
part of a complex which covers the southside of Metchley Fort, a Roman fort. In 1968, the
Institute for Education in the Department for Education was opened. This was another Casson, Conder and Partners-designed
building. The complex consisted of a group of buildings centred around an eight storey block, containing study offices,
laboratories and teaching rooms. The building has a reinforced concrete frame which is exposed internally and the external walls
are of silver-grey rustic bricks. The roofs of the lecture halls, penthouse and Child Study wing are covered in copper.[15]
The university's Learning Centre and Faraday sculpture
Arup Associates returned in the 1960s to design the Arts and Commerce Building, better known as Muirhead Tower. This was
completed in 1969.[15] The 16 storey tower is
currently undergoing a £42.3 million refurbishment, designed by Associated
Architects. It is estimated to be completed by August 2008.[18] The name, Muirhead Tower, came from that of the first philosophy professor of the
University.[19] Upon completion, it will become the
Schools of Social Sciences and Humanities as well as containing office space for Information Services. The podium will be
remodelled around the existing Allardyce Nicol studio theatre providing additional rehearsal
spaces and changing and technical facilities.[20]
Located within the Edgbaston site of the university is the Winterbourne Botanic
Garden, a 24,000 square metre (258,000 square foot) Edwardian Arts and crafts style garden. There has been much recent development on the western part of the campus.
There are new academic buildings, including a learning resource centre and a pedestrian mall leads to the centre of the campus.
The massive statue in the foreground was a gift to the University by its sculptor Sir Edward Paolozzi - the sculpture is named
'Faraday'.
The University of Birmingham operates the Lapworth Museum of Geology in
the Aston Webb Building in Edgbaston. It is named after Charles Lapworth, a geologist who worked at Mason Science College.
The considerable extent of the estate meant that by the end of the 1990s it was valued at £536 million.[21]
History
Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College
The earliest beginnings of the university can be traced back to the Birmingham Medical School which began life through the work of William Sands Cox in his aim of a medical school along strictly Christian lines, unlike the London
medical schools. The medical school was founded in 1828 but Cox began teaching in December 1825. Queen Victoria granted her
patronage to the Clinical Hospital in Birmingham and allowed it to be styled “The Queen’s Hospital”. It was the first provincial
teaching hospital in England. In 1843 the medical college became known as Queen’s College. [22]
On February 23, 1875, Sir Josiah Mason, the Birmingham industrialist and philanthropist, who made his fortune in
making key rings, pens, pen nibs and electroplating, founded Mason Science
College. It was this institution that would eventually form the nucleus of the University of Birmingham.
In 1882, the Departments of Chemistry, Botany and
Physiology were transferred to Mason Science College, soon followed by the Departments of
Physics and Comparative Anatomy. The transfer of
the Medical School to Mason Science College gave considerable impetus to the growing importance of that college and in 1896 a move to incorporate it as a university college
was made. As the result of the Mason University College Act 1897 it became incorporated as Mason University College on
January 1, 1898, with the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain MP becoming the President of its Court of Governors.
Royal Charter
View of "Old Joe" from the library entrance.
It was largely due to Chamberlain's tireless enthusiasm that the university was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria on
March 24 1900. The Calthorpe family offered twenty-five acres (10 hectares) of land on the Bournbrook side of their estate in July. The Court of Governors received the Birmingham University Act 1900,
which put the Royal Charter into effect, on May 31.
Birmingham was therefore arguably the first so-called red brick university,
although several other universities claim this title, including the University of
Manchester, since Manchester Victoria made significant
developments towards the formation of a civic university proper in 1851, despite not gaining official status until 1903.
The transfer of Mason University College to the new University of Birmingham, with Chamberlain as its first Chancellor and Sir Oliver Lodge as the first
Principal, was complete. All that remained of Josiah Mason's legacy was his
Mermaid in the sinister chief of the university shield and of his college, the double-headed lion in the dexter. [23] It became the first civic and campus university in England. The University Charter of 1900 also included provision for a Faculty of Commerce,
as was appropriate for a university itself founded by industrialists and based in a city with enormous business wealth.
Consequently, the faculty, the first of its kind in Britain, was founded by Sir William
Ashley in 1901, who from 1902 until 1923 served as first Professor of Commerce and Dean of the Faculty. From 1905 to 1908,
Edward Elgar held the position of Professor of Music at the university.
Expansion
In 1939, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, designed by
Robert Atkinson, was opened. In 1956, the first MSc programme in Geotechnical Engineering commenced under the title of "Foundation Engineering", and has been
run annually at the University of Birmingham since. It was the first geotechnical post-graduate school in England. In 1957, Sir
Hugh Casson and Neville Conder were asked by the university
to prepare a masterplan on the site of the original 1900 buildings which were incomplete. The university drafted in other
architects to amend the masterplan produced by the group. During the 1960s, the university constructed numerous large buildings,
expanding the campus.[15] In 1963, the
University of Birmingham helped in the establishment of the faculty of medicine at the University of Rhodesia, now the
University of Zimbabwe (UZ). UZ is now independent; however, student exchange
programs persist. In 1973, University (Birmingham) railway
station, on the Cross-City Line, was opened to serve the university.
The university is the only university in Britain with its own railway station.
Birmingham also supported the creation of Keele (formerly University College of
North Staffordshire) and Warwick Universities under the Vice-Chancellorship of Sir
Robert Aitken who acted as 'Godfather to the University of Warwick'.[24] The initial plan was for a university college in Coventry
attached to Birmingham but Aitken advised an independent initiative to the University Grants Committee.[25]
Achievements
The university has been involved in many important inventions and developments in science. The cavity magnetron was developed at the university by John
Randall and Harry Boot. This was vital to the Allied victory in World War II. In 1940, the Frisch-Peierls memorandum, a
document which demonstrated that the atomic bomb was more than simply theoretically
possible, was written. The university also hosted early work on Gaseous diffusion in
the Chemistry department when it was located in the Hills building. Many windows in the Aston Webb building overlooking the
former fume cupboards were opaque from being attacked by hydrofluoric acid well into
recent years.
Organisation
Academic departments
Being a large university Birmingham has departments covering a wide range of subjects, which are arranged into eight subject
areas, which 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.
On August 1, 2008, the university will be restructured and will be composed of five 'colleges':
- Dentistry, Health Sciences and Medicine
- Life and Environmental Sciences (Biosciences, Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Psychology, Sport and Exercise
Sciences)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences (Physical Sciences includes Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and
Astronomy)
- Arts and Law (Historical Studies, Humanities, Law)
- Social Sciences (Business, Education, Public Policy, Social Sciences)
The university is home to a number of well-known research centres and schools, including the Birmingham Business School, the oldest business school in England, the University of Birmingham Medical School, which produces more medical doctors
than any other university in Britain, the Institute of Local Government Studies, the
Centre of West African Studies, the European Research Institute and the Shakespeare
Institute. Between 1964 and 2002, the University of Birmingham
was also home to the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies,
a leading research centre whose members' work came to be known as the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies. Despite being
established by prolific and world renowned theorists, such as Richard Hoggart and
Stuart Hall, the department was controversially closed down.
Libraries and collections
The University of Birmingham main library.
The University Information Services operates 10 libraries across the Edgbaston campus, Selly Oak campus, Birmingham City
Centre and Stratford-upon-Avon. The University of Birmingham also contains a number of collections of rare books and manuscripts.
The library has a large number of pre-1850 books dating from 1471 with approximately 3 million manuscripts.[26] The library also contains the Chamberlain collection of papers from
Neville Chamberlain, Joseph Chamberlain
and Austen Chamberlain, the Avon Papers belonging to Antony Eden with material on the Suez Crisis, the Cadbury Papers
relating to the Cadbury firm from 1900 to 1960, the Mingana Collection of Middle
Eastern Manuscripts, the Noel Coward Collection, the records of the English YMCA and the
records of the Church Missionary Society.
NHS hospitals
The University of Birmingham's medical school is one of the largest in Europe with well over 450 medical students being
trained in each of the clinical years and over 1,000 teaching, research, technical and administrative staff. The school has
centres of excellence in cancer, immunology, cardiovascular disease, neuroscience and endocrinology and renowned nationally and
internationally for its research and developments in these fields.[27] The medical school has close links with the NHS
and works closely with 15 teaching hospitals and 50 primary care training practices in the West Midlands.
The University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust is the main teaching hospital in the West Midlands. It is very
successful and has been given three stars for the past four consecutive years.[28] The trust also hosts the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, based at Selly Oak Hospital, which provides medical support to military personnel such as military
returned from fighting in the Iraq War.[29]
Off-campus establishments
A number of the university's centres, schools and institutes are located away from its two campuses in Edgbaston and Selly
Oak:
Chancellors
Birmingham has had six Chancellors since gaining its royal charter in 1900.
The current Pro-Chancellor is Jim Glover and the Vice-Chancellor and Principal is Professor
Michael Sterling. Joseph Chamberlain was the first commoner in 240 years to hold the
post of Chancellor of a British university, and the first such chancellor ever not to have been a member of the Established Church.
Reputation
The University ranked 26th out of 113 higher education institutions in The Times
2008 Good University Guide[31], and came 18th in
The Guardian's 2008 rankings[32]. It is ranked fifth nationally for Research Excellence[citation needed].
Birmingham is rated equal 90th best university in the world in the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (IHE-SJTU) Academic Ranking of World Universities 2006.[33] In October 2006, the University was also ranked equal 90th best in the world by
The Times Higher Education Supplement.
| Year |
The Times ranking |
The Guardian ranking |
IHE-SJTU world ranking |
THES world ranking |
| 2008 |
26 / 113 |
18 / 123 |
|
|
| 2007 |
33 / 109 |
16 / 122 |
|
|
| 2006 |
33 / 109 |
16 / 122 |
90 |
90 |
| 2005 |
23 / 119 |
29 / 122 |
98 |
|
| 2004 |
23 / 119 |
22 / 109 |
93 |
126 |
Due to Birmingham's role as a centre of light engineering, the university traditionally had a special focus on science,
engineering and commerce, as well as coal mining. It now teaches a full range of academic
subjects and has five-star rating for teaching and research in several departments; additionally, it is widely regarded as making
a prominent contribution to cancer studies.
The university is particularly known for its research, with two thirds of its departments ranked nationally or internationally
outstanding in the last Research Assessment Exercise in 2001.[34] Languages, mathematics, biological
sciences, physiotherapy, sociology and electrical and electronic engineering all recorded maximum points.[34] The Department of Political Science
and International Studies (POLSIS) is ranked 4th in the UK and 22nd in the world in the Hix rankings of political science
departments.[35]
Student life
Guild of Students
-
The University of Birmingham Guild of Students was a founding member of the National Union of Students. The building in which the Union is housed
was designed by the architect Holland W. Hobbiss.
The Guild of Students has a radio station called BurnFM.com which, as of 2007, broadcasts
via the Internet during term time in addition to twice yearly broadcasts on FM
using Restricted Service Licences. It is also home to a television station,
GTV (Guild Television), and a weekly newspaper called Redbrick. It also
publishes a new literary magazine called Birmingham University Literary Magazine.
The Guild runs support facilities for its members, including an Advice and Representation Centre (ARC) and a Mentors project
for the welfare of students in halls. The Guild has also recently pioneered a Community Warden scheme, encompassing twelve
student Wardens who together patrol the streets of Selly Oak to improve such issues as housing, landlord and rubbish problems, as
well as community cohesion.[36]
Housing
The university generally provides housing for all first year students. 90% of university-provided housing is inhabited by
first year students.[37] Students then generally go
on to cohabit in rented houses in the Selly Oak and Edgbaston area, or closer to the city centre.
There are three catered halls of residence; Chamberlain and Mason Hall (undergoing refurbishment) and Manor House. The other
thirteen student housing blocks are self-catering.[38] First year students are spread about amongst three 'villages'.
Vale Village
The Vale Village, overlooking Shackleton Hall
The Vale Village, includes the Shackleton, Maple Bank, Tennis Court, Elgar Court, Aitken and Chelwood residences. A sixth hall
of residence, Mason Hall, is due to re-open in October 2008. Approximately 1,900 students live in the village.[39]
Shackleton Hall underwent a major refurbishment and was re-opened in 2004. There are 72 flats housing a total of 350 students.
The majority of the units consist of six to eight bedrooms, together with a small number of one, two or three bedroom
studio/apartments.[40] Maple Bank was refurbished and
opened in summer 2005. It consists of 87 five bedroom flats, housing 435 undergraduates.[41] It is represented by the Maple Bank Residents Association.[37] The Elgar Court residence consists of 40 six bedroom
flats, housing a total of 236 students.[42] It is the
newest residence to be built, opening in September 2003.[38] Tennis Court is a popular residence as it is close to the campus. It consists of 138 three, four
and five bedroom flats and houses 697 students.[43] The
Aitken wing is a small complex consisting of 24 six and eight bedroom flats. It houses 147 students.[44] Chelwood is situated at the top of the Vale village overlooking the lake, and
comprises 50 en-suite bedrooms.[45]
Pritchatts Park Village
The Pritchatts Park Village houses over 1,600 students in eight halls. The Beeches is small with 48 flats housing 240
undergraduate students on the outskirts of the village.[46] Hunter Court, also located on the outskirts of the village, consists of 64 flats with five and some
seven study bedrooms and houses 332 undergraduate students.[47] Queen's Hospital Close, located on the outskirts of the village near Broad Street, consists of 52 units of mainly six study bedrooms and some eight and ten bedroom
flats. It houses 330 students.[48] The Spinney is a small
complex of six houses and twelve smaller flats, housing 104 students in total.[49] Ashcroft consists of four purpose built blocks of flats and houses 198 students.[50] The four storey Pritchatts House consists of 24 duplex units
and houses 159 students.[51] Oakley Court consists of 21
individual purpose-built flats, ranging in size from five to thirteen bedrooms. Also included are 36 duplex units. A total of 213
students are housed in Oakley Court, made up of postgraduates and undergraduates.[52] Pritchatts Road is a group of four private houses that were converted into student residences.
There is a maximum of 16 bedrooms per house.[53]
Selly Oak Village
Selly Oak Village consists of two residences; Jarratt Hall and Douper Hall. The village has 637 bed spaces for
students.[54] Douper Hall consists of 28 flats
accommodating from two to six persons for 117 undergraduate and postgraduate students.[55] Jarratt Hall is a large complex designed around a central courtyard and three
landscaped areas. It houses a mixture of 620 undergraduate and postgraduate students.[56]
University Sport Birmingham
Sports track in October 2006
Synthetic pitches covered in snow during January 2004
The university has many successful sports teams and has been consistently ranked in the top three of the British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) league table.[57] The university's reputation for sport is a
long-standing one, and indeed until 1968 there was compulsory exercise for students.[34]
The recently re-branded University Sport Birmingham (USB) offers a wide range of competitive and participation sports, which
is utilised by the student and local population of Birmingham. Alongside fitness classes such as yoga and aerobics, USB offers
over 40 different sport teams, including rowing, football, rugby, field
hockey, American football, ice hockey
(Birmingham Eagles), triathlon and many more. The wide selection has ensured the university
has remained one of the country's most active and colourful campuses with over 2000 students participating in sport.
Appearances in popular culture
The university campus has been used as a filming location for a number of film and television productions, particularly those
of the BBC which has a presence at the university's Selly Oak
campus, the BBC Drama Village. Scenes from the John
Cleese film Clockwise were filmed at the campus' east entrance, while
several episodes of the BBC detective series Dalziel and
Pascoe,[58] daytime soap Doctors[59] and
CBBC series Brum have been filmed in and around
campus. Interior and exterior scenes for a BBC adaptation of Birmingham alumnus David
Lodge's novel Nice Work and BBC comedy drama A Very Peculiar Practice were also shot in and around the University campus and halls of
residence with a number of students appearing as extras.[60] A trailer for the BBC's Red Nose Day 2007, featuring
Lou and Andy from Little Britain, was filmed
near the School of Biosciences.[61]
David Lodge's novel Changing Places tells
the story of exchange of professors between the universities of Rummidge and Plotinus, thinly
disguised fictional versions of Birmingham and UC Berkeley, which was
founded on both campuses having a replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Branding
The University's crest from the 1980s until 2005
In 2005 the University began rebranding itself as a less conservative institution, changing the logo from the simplified
shield introduced in the 1980s to a more detailed design based on the shield as it appears on the University's original Royal
Charter. Variations on this coat of arms also feature in much of the original architecture on campus, including the ceiling of
the Great Hall.
As it stands, the university now has two logos to represent a dual image. After a £320,000 research project into the image of
the university, it was decided that the university was viewed as an older institution by companies and potential investors and as
such an updated image was required to redefine the university as being modern and up-to-date. The marketing brand makes use of
the letters U and B to bracket key words and achievements associated with the University. A new "word marque", using the
Baskerville font in honour of the Birmingham printer John
Baskerville, is used as the primary logo when trying to attract both prospective investors and students. It also features
on all university vehicles. The coat of arms, revised to more closely resemble that on the original university charter, appears
on degree certificates and academic documents. The seating in the Great Hall has also been replaced with chairs embroidered with
the new shield. The introduction of new signage throughout the campus (featuring the revised shield rather than the "U and B"
logo) was completed at the end of 2006. The rebranding was not well received by many students and members of staff at the
university, there having been little or no consultation prior to its introduction.[62] There were also concerns that the money could better have been used improving teaching
facilities.
Notable alumni
-
Birmingham's alumni include the politicians Neville Chamberlain, Baroness Amos and Chen Liangyu, General Sir
Mike Jackson, formerly the most senior officer in the British Army, TV personality Chris Tarrant, actors Tamsin Greig, Norman Painting, Victoria Wood and Jane Wymark, the actor and musician
Tim Curry, musician Simon Le Bon, sailor
Lisa Clayton, athlete Allison Curbishley,
zoologist Desmond Morris, theologian Robert
Beckford, Chief Medical officer for England Sir Liam Donaldson, UN weapons
inspector David Kelly, and co-founder Williams Formula One
team Patrick Head.
Several Nobel Prize Laureates are
Birmingham alumni, including Francis Aston, Maurice Wilkins, Sir John Vane and Sir Paul Nurse.
Notes
- ^ Financial Statements 2005-2006. University of Birmingham. Retrieved on
2007-04-25.
- ^ a b c d Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile
2005/06. Higher Education Statistics Agency online
statistics. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
- ^ University of Birmingham: The Medical School
- ^ University of Birmingham, The Guardian, 1 May 2007, accessed 19 May
2007
- ^ SkyscraperNews: UK List
- ^ Great Bells of the British Isles, Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, accessed 28 May 2007
- ^ Edmund Burke (1900). The
Annual Register. Rivingtons, 27.
- ^ The Carnegie
Committee, Cornell Alumni News, II(10), 29 November 1899, p. 6
- ^ Ray Smallman, A
hundred years of distinction, BUMS centenary lecture, p. 5
- ^ Foster, 2005, p.242-3.
- ^ Braithwaite, 1987, p.20.
- ^ Ives, 2000, p.230; Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors
1660-1851 (1968 revised edition), p.281 identifies it as a 1717 work for Essex Bridge,
Dublin.
- ^ Ives, 2000, p.304
- ^ Ives, 2000, p.338
- ^ a b c d e
- ^ a b
- ^ Ives, 2000, p.336
- ^ Estates Office: Muirhead Tower
- ^ Muirhead Tower of the University of Birmingham
- ^ Associated Architects: Muirhead Tower
- ^ Ives, E. (2000). The First Civic University: Birmingham, 1880–1980 – An
Introductory History. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press
- ^ University of Birmingham: The Medical School
- ^ Ives, E. (2000). The First Civic University: Birmingham, 1880–1980 – An
Introductory History. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press
- ^ Ives, 2000, p.342.
- ^ Ives, 2000, p.343.
- ^ University of Birmingham: Special Collections
- ^ The Medical School: Welcome
- ^ University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust profile
- ^ The Royal Centre for Defence Medicine
- ^ The
University of Birmingham Foundation, accessed 28 May 2007
- ^ http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/gug/gooduniversityguide.php
- ^ http://browse.guardian.co.uk/education?SearchBySubject=&FirstRow=10&SortOrderDirection=&SortOrderColumn=GuardianTeachingScore&Subject=University+ranking&Institution=
- ^ Top 500 World Universities (1-100)
- ^ a b c
Profile: University of Birmingham, The Times, 15 August 2007, accessed 27 August
2007
- ^ Simon Hix, A global ranking of political science departments, Political Studies Review 2(3),
pp. 293-313
- ^ BUGS: Community
Wardens
- ^ a b Johnny Rich (2005). The Push
Guide to Which University 2006. Nelson Thornes. ISBN 0748794891.
- ^ a b University of Birmingham: Guide to accommodation
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Vale Village
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Shackleton
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Maple Bank
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Elgar Court
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Tennis Court
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Aitken
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Chelwood
- ^ Student
Accommodation: The Beeches
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Hunter Court
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Queen's Hospital
- ^ Student
Accommodation: The Spinney
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Ashcroft
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Pritchatts House
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Oakley Court
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Pritchatts Road
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Selly Oak Village
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Douper Hall
- ^ Student
Accommodation: Jarratt Hall
- ^ The BUSA Championship Results 2005/2006, BUSA, 6 July 2006
- ^ Buzz Issue 34 vol.3 November 2003. University of Birmingham. Retrieved on
2007-02-24.
- ^ Buzz Issue 35 vol.3 November 2003 Mid-month edition. University of Birmingham.
Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
- ^ A Very Peculiar Practice. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
- ^ http://www.rednoseday.com/fun-stuff/video/index.php?clip=littlebritain_trail
- ^ Silke, Andrew. "UB
or Not UB?", bbc.co.uk, 2005-06-07. Retrieved on
2007-03-04.
References
- Foster, A. (2005). Birmingham (Pevsner Architectural Guides). London:
Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10731-5.
- Ives, E. (2000). The First Civic University: Birmingham, 1880–1980 – An
Introductory History. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press. ISBN 1-902459-07-5.
- The University of Birmingham Yearbook 2002–2003.
- Cheesewright, M. (1975). Mirror to Mermaid. Birmingham: The University of
Birmingham Press. ISBN 0-7044-0130-4.
- Braithwaite, L. (1987). University of Birmingham Architectural Trail.
Birmingham: The University of Birmingham Press. ISBN 0-7044-0890-2.
- Hughes, A. (1950). The University of Birmingham : A Short History.
Birmingham: The University of Birmingham Press.
External links
