Study at Birmingham Newman University

Location and student life

The campus is on Genners Lane in Bartley Green, roughly eight miles from the centre of Birmingham, and everything is on the one site. Teaching buildings, halls of residence and sports facilities are grouped around inner quadrangles, so day-to-day life mostly happens on foot. Getting into the city is straightforward: buses (routes X21, X22 and 23) and trains from nearby stations connect you with the city centre, the QE Hospital/University station area and the rest of the region. On campus you'll find sports facilities, student support services and students' union activities. Birmingham itself has the shops, music venues, big sports grounds and part-time jobs you'd expect from a large city.

Courses and subjects

Education and teacher training are still the core of the place. There are undergraduate education degrees and PGCE courses leading to Qualified Teacher Status, with routes into both primary and secondary teaching. On the health side you'll find adult and mental health nursing, plus health and social care. Business and management (including an MBA and international business management), psychology, English and history are among the other undergraduate and postgraduate subjects. Many degrees can be started with a foundation year, which has start dates in September and January. For postgraduate students there are master's degrees and research degrees, supported by the university's Graduate School.

Entry requirements for international students

You'll need qualifications judged equivalent to the UK entry requirements for your course, plus evidence of your English. That usually means a Secure English Language Test taken within the last two years. The minimums course pages typically publish are IELTS 5.5 in each component for a foundation year, IELTS 6.0 overall with no component below 5.5 for an undergraduate degree, and IELTS 6.5 with no component below 6.0 for most postgraduate courses. Nursing, teaching and some other health courses may ask for 7.0. These figures do change by course, so check the exact criteria on the course page and the university's entry-requirements pages before you submit an application.

Accommodation

All of the university's halls of residence (Cofton, Maryvale, Littlemore and Oxford halls among them) are on campus, arranged around the quadrangles. New first-year students are guaranteed a room if they apply by the published deadline (2 October for 2026 entry), as long as a suitable room type is available. Living on site means your teaching rooms and the sports facilities are a short walk away. It suits students who'd rather have a quiet suburban base and travel into the city when they want to.

Scholarships and funding

Look out for the International Excellence Scholarship. It gives full-time international students a reduction in their tuition fees automatically, with no separate application to make. For 2026/27 applicants it was recently listed as £5,500 or £1,500, depending on your level of study. Amounts and eligibility change each year, so check the international tuition-fees and scholarships page for the figures that apply now, and make sure you understand what's stated in your own offer letter.