UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 22 MARCH 2022
Thousands of prospective students from across the country are expected to descend on Birmingham City University this week for an open day taking place almost exactly two years since its equivalent was cancelled and the first Covid-19 lockdown was announced.
In March 2020 – shortly before Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined historic restrictions on movement – large scale in-person events were called off. At the time, BCU moved rapidly to pivot its March 2020 Open Day to an online model but the gradual return to physical events over the past year has been met with huge enthusiasm from young people keen to get a real sense of higher education, with the University seeing sharp rises in registrations for in-person events.
The event will see the University open its City Centre and City South campuses to thousands of visitors on Saturday (March 26) as it welcomes prospective students and their families.
In addition to meeting academic staff and students, to learn more about the courses on offer at the University, would-be students will be able to learn about the use of therapy dogs to bolster student wellbeing, and explore Birmingham’s vibrant city centre on foot, courtesy of Run of a Kind, an organisation which promotes walking and running tours around Birmingham.
All visitors will also have the chance to experience the University’s state-of-the-art facilities and activities including:
- A first look tour of the University’s STEAMhouse in the redeveloped Belmont Works for Computing students
- A tour of Birmingham’s historic School of Jewellery – where the BBC’s All That Glitters was filmed
- Watch demonstrations from Central Sparks Women’s Cricket Club
Joseph Devo, Director of Marketing and Communications at Birmingham City University, said: “It is clear from the growth in numbers we’re seeing ahead of our first Open Day of 2022, and from a record-breaking autumn series of events, that there is a huge appetite from prospective students to physically come onto campus and enjoy finding out about university in-person.
“Young people and their families know how important it is to find out as much as possible about where they might be spending three or more years studying, so it’s lovely that we can give them the full experience – and all the more so when I think back two years to when we had to cancel our March 2020 Open Day.
The Open Day comes as BCU has launched a new phase of its ‘I AM BCU’ campaign – featuring photography shot on location in Digbeth’s Floodgate Street.
The dramatic new imagery will be appearing across buses, billboards and shopping centres across the region, celebrating BCU’s close association with the city, and the wealth of opportunities Birmingham affords our students.
The University boasts a heritage in the city spanning over 179 years, with its roots in the Birmingham Government School of Design. It now has campuses in Birmingham city centre’s Eastside, as well as its City South Campus based in Edgbaston.
For more information visit: www.bcu.ac.uk/openday