The partnership between University College Birmingham (UCB) and the University of Warwick is founded on a core agreement in which UCB delivers taught programmes of study, including foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate awards, which are validated and awarded by the University of Warwick. The partnership has been in operation since the start of the 2021/22 academic year, following the official signing of the Accreditation Agreement, and the first students at UCB on Warwick validated awards enrolled in February 2022.

Our partnership with UCB officially launched with an event held at UCB on Wednesday 2 November 2022. In the year since the official launch, there have been a number of developments in the partnership – including the first students graduating with Warwick awards earlier this year.

Graduation

The first University of Warwick degrees were awarded to students from University College Birmingham at a graduation ceremony held at the International Convention Centre on 13 September 2023. A total of 523 students graduated with a Warwick degree this year, representing 43 countries. The students graduated from 19 different programmes, including Finance and Accounting, Aviation and Airport Management, International Tourism Management, Culinary Arts Management, Enterprise Management, and Sport Therapy. Professor Michael Harkin, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UCB opened the ceremony, and degrees were awarded by Professor Stuart Croft, the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Warwick.

You can watch a video of the ceremony on the UCB YouTube channelLink opens in a new window.

Expansion of the Portfolio

The portfolio of validated programmes at UCB continues to grow. Warwick have recently validated two new programmes at UCB – BEng Electromechanical Engineering and BSc Construction Management, both due to launch in September 2024. This represents a significant investment into construction and engineering at UCB, which has included new and refurbished buildings opening to students.

Inclusive Education

During the academic years 2021/22 and 2022/23, both universities collaborated on an inclusive education project, co-created with students – Practising Inclusive Education: Co-creating Open Spaces for Learning. Through a series of hybrid workshops, the project engaged a large number of colleagues from both institutions, and fostered inclusivity through pairing students and staff from different subject areas. The project focused on areas including anti-racist practice and race equality training, embedding inclusivity and wellbeing in teaching and learning, community values and inclusivity in student engagement, inclusive and authentic assessment, and queer and trans inclusive pedagogies. More information about the project is available here.