What Students Say
Likes
- The university has a massive, scenic campus, with beautiful architecture and lush greenery. There are a lot of places for students to socialize, chill or study within the campus. There are plenty of options to get nutritious and healthy food on campus.
- The faculty in the computer science department are very knowledgeable. The course is a great opportunity for students to learn from some of the best minds in the field of computer science.
- The course content is challenging, yet rewarding. It has a good mixture of theory and practice, so that the students have a well-rounded subject knowledge.
Dislikes
- On-campus accommodations are a bit pricey, and are not great.
- The coursework might feel intense for people who are not well prepared.
- Students might face problems understanding the accents of some professors.
Course Curriculum
- UoB's MSc in AI and ML is a very challenging course. It requires about 30-40 hours of self-work every week in order to keep up with the pace of the course. It is a good mixture of theory and practical exercises.
- The most positive aspect of the course would be the nature of the content. The course allows students to develop a very solid grasp on building and evaluating AI systems. The most negative aspect would be that I feel like there aren't enough practical exercises in the course.
- I roughly have about 1-2 classes a day (2-3 hours total). They are scheduled between 10 am and 6 pm every day.
- No, as far as I know, the faculty members do not assist students in finding part-time jobs.
- All of my faculty members are great. The professors are very knowledgeable and the TAs are very helpful.
Admission Experience
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The following are the colleges I applied to:
- 1. University of Adelaide, Adelaida, Australia - Unconditional offer
- 2. University of Technology, Sydney, Australia - Unconditional offer
- 3. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia - Unconditional offer
- 4. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia - Conditional offer
- 5. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK - Unconditional offer, accepted
- 6. University of Southampton, Southampton, UK - Rejected
- 7. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK - Unconditional offer
- 8. University of Leeds, Leeds, UK - Unconditional offer
- 9. EPITA University, Paris, France - Rejected
- 10. Jonkoping University, Jonkoping, Sweden - Unconditional offer
- I was rejected from Southampton because my profile did not match their requirements for the course I had applied for (MSc in Data Analytics).
- I was rejected from EPITA because they had better applications for this year.
- The University of Birmingham's computer science department is one of the best in Europe. The content of the course was the biggest reason I chose the university. Besides that, Birmingham is great for students.
- After applying online, I received a mail in about a month saying that I have been accepted to the university, on the condition that I pay the 2000 GBP deposit before January 31, 2024. Once I did that, I received an unconditional offer. Then in May, I received my CAS certificate, and the university regularly sent me information about the next steps and how I needed to prepare myself for coming to the UK and settling in.
- The eligibility criteria was to hold a Bachelor's Degree in Science or Engineering from a good college, with a background in programming. Along with it, an IELTS overall 7.0 was required.
- I'd say that my overall admission experience was very smooth. The university was very responsive, and they gave me regular updates about everything. The information was very concise. I did not face any issues during my admission process.
- There is only one intake for my course at UoB—the September intake. I chose this intake as this is the only intake available.
- The application process took about 2 months from application to acceptance.
- I applied to the University of Birmingham in October 2023, after which I received an email saying that they would review my application (which took about a month). Then, I received an email saying that because of the large number of applications, it is taking them longer than expected to come to a decision on my application. Then in December 2023, I received a conditional offer from the university. The condition was to pay the 2000 GBP deposit amount to officially accept my offer, which I did in January 2024.
Faculty
- There are about 40-50 students in a class.
- I'd say about 30% of the class is Indian.
- The faculty-to-student ratio is 40-1. It could be a bit less. I feel like there are too many students in some of the classes, which reduces the quality of the class.
- The teaching is very good. Its a good mixture of classroom teaching, extra reading for students and practical examples.
Campus Life
- My college has 2 campuses—one in Birmingham and one in Dubai.
- My campus has a state-of-the-art library, a huge sports complex, a professional gymnasium and a hospital.
- We have a lot of events happening throughout the year. I haven't attended any yet.
- There are a lot of sports team that students can join, where they learn and play the sport throughout the year.
Part Time Jobs
- There aren't a lot of part-time opportunities on campus. Mostly the open positions are for campus ambassadors.
- There aren't any TA/DA jobs for postgraduate students. They are available for PhD students.
- You get paid about 12 GBP an hour, but some get paid more.
- You are only allowed to work for a maximum of 20 hours a week.
- It is moderately difficult to find part-time work on campus.
- Most Indians work off-campus in department stores, restaurants, etc. Finding part-time jobs could take some time, but it is not too hard.
- The best way to find part-time jobs is to go to the city centre and look for businesses that are hiring or use online job postings on Indeed or LinkedIn.
- The general process is to apply, and then you are to finish an assessment. There might be an interview and then you attend an induction before starting work.
Placement
- The job market in the UK is not great right now, so the percentage of students securing employment within 6 months is low.
- The average salary is about 40,000-50,000 GBP a year
- Job fairs on campus are great to learn about available opportunities. Besides that, job referrals and online job portals like Indeed and LinkedIn help.
- I am still studying so no one in my batch is placed yet.
Accommodation
- I live in an off-campus accommodation. I applied for it through Amber Student.
- I pay 150 pounds a month. It includes rent, utilities and Wi-Fi. I also have access to a common lounge and a gymnasium.
- The accommodation is about 2 miles from my university and is closer to the city centre.
- One of the biggest challenges was lack of options. There weren't enough options near my university for me.
- My biggest advice to future students is to start looking for accommodations early on, as the more you wait, the more expensive they become.
- Try to find someone who lives in/near Birmingham to help you choose a good house in a good neighbourhood.
Exams
- UoB accepts IELTS and TOEFL. I applied for an IELTS exam and sent them my results.
- These are the required documents:
- Official transcripts
- Passport
- Resume
- Statement of purpose
- 2 letters of recommendation
- Certificate confirming that I have finished my bachelor's degree
- Some students had to attend an interview before they received their decision. But I did not have to attend one; I directly received my unconditional offer because they were happy with my documents.
Fees
- The total tuition was GBP 31,410 for the entire year. I can be paid in two installments or all at once.
- I am not staying at any of the university accommodations, but on average, you end up paying about GBP 170-220 a week on campus, depending on the type of room you choose.
- I end up spending about 30-40 pounds on groceries a week.
- I pay about 40 pounds a month for a bus pass that allows me to take unlimited buses in the West Midlands (Its the state that Birmingham is in).
- Other than that, there aren't any other expenses as such.
Scholarship
- I received an international master's scholarship for 2000 GBP. All the international students who had paid the deposit for the university by January 2024 received the global master's scholarship.
- Besides this scholarship, there are a bunch of other scholarships that students can apply to, like the Chancellor's scholarship and the Chevening scholarship.
- I believe that about 60-70% of international students receive some sort of scholarships each year at the University of Birmingham. The typical amount is 2000 GBP.


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