Birmingham City University

Birmingham City University is a large practice-based university in the centre of Birmingham, England, with more than 31,000 students from over 100 countries. Its design lineage goes back to October 1843, when the Birmingham Society of Artists opened the Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design; the school became Birmingham College of Art in 1884 and moved into John Chamberlain’s Venetian Gothic building on Margaret Street, still home to the Department of Art and a Grade I listed landmark.

Five colleges were brought together in 1971 to form The City of Birmingham Polytechnic, and in 1988 Bournville College of Art merged with the Faculty of Art and Design to create the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design. The institution took the name Birmingham City University in 2007. Today its art, design and media schools cover fashion, jewellery, product and furniture design, architecture and visual communication, with a curriculum built on live projects, workshops and industry placement, and graduates regularly showing at New Designers in London.