MA History (Modern and Contemporary History)

University of Birmingham

Overall, I’ve had a really positive experience studying at the University of Birmingham, especially as a postgraduate student. The highlights of my MA History course have been the teaching, excellent facilities, and a campus that genuinely feels like a student community. The teaching on the MA History course is a real highlight. Lecturers create an environment of genuine passion for their subjects and fields of interest, and seminars are small and discussion-focused, which allows you to engage closely with both staff and other students. Lecturers are clearly specialists in their fields and are very approachable, particularly when it comes to essay planning, specific and detailed feedback, and dissertation supervision. Postgraduate research can be demanding, and it’s easy for the workload to feel intense at times. However, the university provides a lot of support to make it manageable, including personal tutors, supervisors, office hours, wellbeing services, and academic guidance. These structures really help students stay on track and make the most of their studies. The university’s facilities are excellent, particularly for History students. The Main Library has extensive print and digital collections, with strong access to online databases and archives that are essential at postgraduate level. There is also an interlibrary loan service, meaning the university can often source books and materials from other universities if they are not available on site, which I’ve found particularly useful for specialist research. There are also plenty of quiet and collaborative study spaces across campus, which is especially helpful during busy assessment periods, as well as reliable IT support. The campus itself is one of the university’s strongest features. It is green, well laid-out, and feels like a dedicated student space, while still being well connected to the city. Having a train station on campus makes it easy to commute and explore Birmingham, which is a diverse and lively city with lots to offer students. The university also offers a lot to balance academic study, including a wide range of Guild societies covering everything from arts and crafts to almost any sport you can think of. The social side of societies is very active, with regular events and popular midweek and weekend socials.

The university itself is lovely being a nice campus university a short train journey from the centre of Birmingham, a nice historic campus. The facilities are impressive with some buildings being slightly older and tired but for the most part great. The student support from lecturers is great but as it is a very large university sometimes the administration support can take a little while. The student life is great with a lot to do around the city. The student union is always there to help if there is ever any issues.

UOB has an amazing campus with great facilities. It has loads of really good workspaces to do independent research and work, and has amazing sports facilities. Its campus is really its main selling point. However, the student accommodation in first year is really good too. The Vale was such a great place to live in first year. I amde so many friends and it was fairly affordable. The fact we all lived close together was great, and we now still live close to each other in Selly Oak. My course is fantastic. I feel like I am stretched enough in my degree but could maybe have some more contact hours, as it has dropped year on year. However, I make sure to utilise my office hours in order to maintain a high amount of contact with my professors. The standard of teaching is high though, and I recieve a good amount of feedback on my work which makes me feel like I am always improving. There are some aspects to the university which could be improved though. I think the price of some things is especially high considering we pay a student loan. For example, the cost of memberships to sports teams is really high, meaning many students cannot afford to play sports, or cannot afford to be a part of a team when I know many more would. There are also a lot of costs that come with joining the teams and memberships to different societies which makes it impossible to do as a student. For example, the price of booking a pitch is really high for students. Furthermore, the gym prices are too high for what you get. I have enjoyed the student life though. The Guild of Students is great and represents students really well. I also enjoy the events they put on for students.

The best things are the campus environment and culture as well as the course itself. It could be improved with more compassionate and helpful student wellbeing services.

Great facilities and amazing campus. Offers loads of things to get involved in through the guild or through the colleges. Worst part is the affordability of the clubs. A lot of the university teams are simply too unaffordable to take part in. Memberships are far too high for students to want to pay to join.