BCU 2025
How Birmingham City University is making a difference, now and into the future.
BCU’S 2025 MISSION
At Birmingham City University, our mission is simple – we aim to be the University for Birmingham and to enable our students to transform their lives and to achieve their potential. Through our education and research, and the roles our graduates go on to play in the world, we not only support individuals to transform their lives, but we also play a part in transforming society.
Strategy 2025 at BCU
This film, narrated by our Chancellor, Sir Lenny Henry, celebrates BCU 2025 – how we are making a difference now, and into the future.
Tackling racism in sport
Our researchers are exposing racial disparities in sport from grassroots to the professional level.
Read moreForce for good
We contribute more than £532 million to the economy each year helping to drive growth and support employment.
Read moreTransforming our city
We've invested over £400 million to help revitalise the second city, transforming the landscape of Birmingham's Eastside.
Read moreA cultural icon
We're home to Royal Birmingham Conservatoire – a renowned music and acting school housed in a purpose built building .
Read moreTime team
Graduates from our Horology course have been involved in a top secret project to restore the Great Clock of Westminster.
Read moreBreaking the taboo
Covering menstrual health, period poverty and pain, BCU’s research casts new light on hidden issues and inequality.
Read moreCELEBRATING BCU 2025
We have been celebrating the distinctiveness of BCU and the impact our unique university has on the world around us, with a wide range of events on our campuses, across the city, and beyond.
BCU 2025 featured events, performances, conferences and community activities picking up the key themes of our 2025 Strategy and bringing to life our mission, while celebrating our contribution to the city and region, and to our students, through excellence in education, research and knowledge exchange.
Proud to call Birmingham our home
The majority of our students are from Birmingham and the wider West Midlands region, studying alongside others from across the UK and from more than 100 countries around the world. Our local students join us from a diverse range of backgrounds that reflect our city and our region, making our community a rich, vibrant and energetic one.
Our contribution stretches beyond the confines of our University campuses, with many of our graduates powering the front line of public services, transforming the lives of many thousands of other people through their work as nurses, midwives, teachers, and social workers.
For 178 years, we have been proud to call Birmingham our home. From the heritage of our award-winning School of Jewellery, to the modernity of the new Alexander Stadium – which will house our sports courses after the Commonwealth Games – we align with the needs of the city around us. Nowhere is this truer than with STEAMhouse, where we are resurrecting a Victorian cycle factory and transforming it into a space for collaboration between innovators, entrepreneurs and students.
We know too, however, that a healthy society is about more than economic endeavour, which is why our research is pioneering a new approach to the concept of a national park, injecting new life into the urban landscapes of the West Midlands.
Enabling Transformation
More than half of our students are the first in their family to go to university. We work with young people right across our region to raise aspirations and help them to see how higher education could help them achieve their potential, through partnerships like our study centre with Into University in the Kingstanding area of the city.
We continue to grow with our city, and adapt our portfolio to meet the needs of employers, ensuring our education remains as relevant as it always has been.
We also show our students that there are no barriers to their success. Pioneering work such as that from the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity – linking our high-profile Chancellor, our academics and partners – can help change the face of society and show our students that opportunities are open to all.
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Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity
The Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity aims to bring together experts to examine representation and boost diversity across the media industry.
Read moreStrategy 2025
Our new strategy will guide us through to 2025, building on our core missions of enabling personal transformation and being the University for Birmingham.
Download our strategyThe Catwalk: BCU in Digbeth
‘THE CATWALK: BCU in Digbeth’ took place at Birmingham’s The Mill, showcasing the designs of the University’s Birmingham Institute of Jewellery, Fashion and Textiles.
Over 100 guests from across industries and sectors - including designers, buyers, and experts from Burbo K’Ture, Next, Superdry, Zara, and Christian Louboutin - flocked to Digbeth to view the latest high-end fashion collections produced by the University’s Fashion students and graduates. The event also included a state-of the-art digital exhibition and displays of designs created by the University’s Jewellery and Textiles students and graduates.
Inspired after seeing the designs at the catwalk show the University organised in Digbeth, Harvey Nichols chose a collection of work by students to display in the window of its Mailbox store in Birmingham City Centre.
Enjoy the highlights of The Catwalk: BCU in Digbeth event which celebrated the talented work of students and graduates from BCU's Institute of Jewellery, Fashion and Textiles.