The staff at Birmingham City University are very knowledgeable and help us students to learn easily and comfortably with excellent support. Alongside this, the careers team is very involved in the course that I study, this helps us students recognise what we should be applying for e.g., an early training contract. They even conduct mock assessment centre interviews to set us up well for our future career. The law clinic is another great addition to Birmingham City University as it holds up to 12 hours of work experience for students to get involved in working with clients in areas like family law or even immigration law. Our careers team send out a variety of emails for us to get involved in extra curricular activities which would look great on one’s CV such as a judicial shadowing scheme. Lectures and seminars are conducted well with the staff being punctual, rarely being off sick and always being focused on giving us an amazing learning session whether it be for an hour or two. The way this university could be improved is by making sure timetables are set before the term begins and are available to students beforehand. An issue I found was that my timetable was not appearing because the system was down.

My course is taught completely in person, I prefer this to online teaching as it can be difficult to grasp certain areas of law without asking multiple questions and listening attentively. My course hours are what I enjoy the most, because my lectures and seminars are not too long and are spread out evenly throughout the week. In terms of contact with lecturers it is a bit mixed, it is easier to contact some whereas others I found that I needed to ask the same questions in person because I did not receive a response back.

The worst aspect of my uni experience would have to be the change of teaching from college to first year. I feel like you’re thrown into uni teaching not knowing how to structure anything or how to answer uni questions or even take sufficient notes. My favourite part of my uni experience would be the support materials and staff we have. How easy our course leaders and supervisors are to contact. If you need anything they’re basically one call away. This is so helpful as it definitely helps you stay on track and get your work done. Overall Birmingham city university is a great university if you want to experience good teaching as well as the uni student experience. The location of the uni is great as it’s only a 5-10 minute walk away from town and student accommodation. Would definitely recommend bcu to all my friends that want to go uni.

Best aspect of my course would be the modules and the fact you can pick some of your own modules meaning you will be learning things that you’re actually interested in. Most of the teaching team is very supportive and enthusiastic and are definitely ready to answer all your silly questions. However, certain module leaders and lectures are not passionate about teaching and students can very much pick up on this. For example if you pick a module that you’re really looking forward to learning about and a lecture just reads of the board and has no enthusiasm it just takes away from this enjoyment and you lose the motivation to learn.

Bagot was a great friendship making opportunity and the environment is definitely great for first year students however the place can get very noise, very dirty and not a nice environment to be in. Especially if you’re going into your second or third year. The safety wasn’t too great outside as there would always be some criminal activities going on. Inside was a bit better however it all depends on your flat. I was lucky to live in an all girls flat which was relatively safe. Overall Bagot was a 3/5 experience rooms are nice however the environment and flat mates are very much hit or miss.