University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham grew out of Mason Science College, founded by the industrialist Josiah Mason in 1875. The college was incorporated as Mason University College in 1898, and two years later Queen Victoria granted the royal charter that created the university. That made Birmingham the first English redbrick university to hold its own charter and the first English unitary university. Its campus in Edgbaston, with the landmark Old Joe clock tower, remains one of the largest in the country.

The School of Computer Science runs the undergraduate degrees and carries a broad research portfolio. Its recognised strengths include artificial intelligence and machine learning, intelligent robotics, computer security and cryptography, human-computer interaction, and theoretical computer science. The school runs dedicated research labs in areas such as medical imaging, robotics, HCI, and security, and final-year students can take specialist modules like intelligent robotics and advanced cryptography that map onto that work.

For students, Birmingham gives the experience of a large civic university: a self-contained green campus, a big cohort, and a well-established year-in-industry route. The degree is built to be accessible to newcomers, so no prior programming is assumed, though some coding experience is welcomed.

Admissions

The standard offer for the BSc Computer Science is A*AA including A-level Mathematics at grade A. General Studies and Critical Thinking are not accepted, and BTEC IT is not accepted in combination with A-level Computer Science. Some experience of writing programs is desirable but not essential.