Birmingham City University

Birmingham City University (abbrev. as BCU; and previously Birmingham Polytechnic and the University of Central England in Birmingham) is a newly established British university in the city of Birmingham, England. It is the second largest of five universities in the city, the other four being Aston University, University of Birmingham, University College Birmingham, and Newman University.

 It is the third most highly ranked of the five universities in Birmingham according to the Complete University Guide, below both the University of Birmingham and Aston University.

 Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic in 1971 and gained university status in 1992.

The university has three main campuses serving four faculties, and offers courses in art and design, business, the built environment, computing, education, engineering, English, healthcare, law, the performing arts, social sciences, and technology.

A £125million extension to its campus in the city centre of Birmingham, part of the Eastside development of a new technology and learning quarter, is opening in two stages, with the first phase having opened its doors in 2013
.The university is a member of the million+ group of New Universities.

Roughly half of the university's full-time students are from the West Midlands, and a large percentage of these are from ethnic minorities. The university runs access and foundation programmes through an international network of associated universities and further education colleges, and has the highest intake of foreign students in the Birmingham area                  

                                  Birmingham Polytechnic

In the 1960s, changes were made to the higher education system creating an expansion of polytechnics as a more vocationally orientated alternative to the typical university.

The City of Birmingham Education Committee was invited to submit a scheme for the establishment of a polytechnic bringing together a number of different colleges in the city in 1967.

Late in 1969, the post of director of the polytechnic was advertised. Although the city lagged behind other parts of the country, Birmingham finally gained a polytechnic in 1971—then the 27th in the UKdesignated by the Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher as the City of Birmingham Polytechnic.

 This was the second polytechnic in Birmingham, the first — Birmingham Polytechnic Institution — having existed in the mid-19th century for ten years.