As our 125th anniversary year is drawing to a close, I've been reflecting on the things that make Birmingham such a special place.
I will definitely miss the carnival atmosphere that we have enjoyed across campus, particularly during the summer. Our community festival and concert were truly highlights. Many of you came a great distance to join us, including one alumnus who travelled from India! It was genuinely lovely to be able to catch up with our alumni visitors throughout the day.
Alumni involvement in our celebrations has stretched around the globe: hundreds of you contributed to our first-ever Birmingham Gives campaign in June; and more than 1,000 of you attended a record 57 Global Alumni Gatherings this year. I had the pleasure of attending Gatherings in China and in the US, events characterised by pride at being part of our community and positivity for our future.
Against this backdrop, we have marked some significant reputational achievements too. In June we once again improved our position among the best-performing universities in the world, rising four places to 76 in this year’s prestigious QS World University Rankings. QS publish subject rankings during the year too and their analysis places six of our subject areas in the global top 50, including Sport; Dentistry; English; Theology; Anatomy & Physiology; and Linguistics.
League tables are a convenient way of benchmarking our institution against others, but behind them lies a complex ecosystem of excellent research and teaching, superb facilities and world-class partnerships. Across 12 months it can be hard to pick out highlights, but our new alliance with Birmingham City Football Club, and the creative approach to collaboration it has sparked, has been particularly memorable. So too has our new partnership with the University of Glasgow to work with JOBShaigui to offer careers support to Chinese graduates from both universities, with improved support also planned for Indian graduates.
So many of our achievements are underpinned by the tireless contributions and commitment of our alumni. I am deeply grateful to those of you who have volunteered your time or supported one of our fundraising activities.
We’re already planning many more ways for you to get involved over the coming months, so please keep an eye out on our webpages and your email and let’s look forward to a positive and productive 2026!
Professor Adam Tickell
Vice-Chancellor and Principal