What Students Say
Likes
- No regular lectures, 3 times a week
- Assignments were to be mostly typed and not written
- One could book group study rooms in the library for group discussions and studies
Dislikes
- Lack of focused teaching. You are on your own with learning and asking questions
- Lack of exposure (specifically in Msc. Cyber Security). Not many events conducted by the uni
- More theoretical curriculum than practical
Course Curriculum
6
- The curriculum was quite simple; however, the modules were predominantly theoretical and fewer practical applications were taught to us. Some modules were entirely practical, such as Penetration testing and Mobile Application security but others were theoretical. Electives were a bit difficult and entirely theoretical.
- The positive aspect of the course is that it is quite versatile and covers a lot of different areas, with the negative aspect being that it’s more theoretical than hands-on.
- 2 lectures, 3 days a week. The Majority of the class were Indian and Chinese.
Admission Experience
-
I applied to universities predominantly within the UK. I applied to 5 universities and got acceptance from 4:
- University of Birmingham
- • University of Chester
- • Nottingham-Trent University
- • Cranfield University
- The one I applied to but got no response from is
- • University of Warwick
- I am not sure why my application wasn’t approved by Warwick. I hired a consultancy to fill out my application for me and had no overview of Warwick’s application process and the data that was sent to them.
- • This university is part of Russell-group universities, a group of the most prestigious universities in the UK. This grants me a massive career boost on my resume for employers both inside and outside of the UK.
- • The application typically involved filling out personal questions and uploading legal documents, marksheets and SOP. Then, a local partner of the university called me to have an informal interview, asking me what my purpose of studying in the UK was, why the University of Birmingham, etc. Thereafter, I was forwarded a conditional letter from them to upload my undergrad pre-degree for the letter to upgrade to unconditional. I received it shortly after I uploaded the required documents and my admission was confirmed after I asked my consulting agent to send a positive response.
- For admission a strong overall profile was required of the individual. No other exams were required except for IELTS, of which the score had to be 6.5+ and the academic score had to be a First Class Honours.
- I had to face no challenges, as my admission procedure was mediated by the consultancy. I just had to provide the required documents, whichever they asked of me. Hence, the procedure was quite seamless for me.
- September 2023. My course just had 1 intake period.
- We applied to the university in October 2022
- Received conditional from UoB in November 2022
- Sent provisional degree in June 2023
- Received unconditional in July 2023
- Sent positive response in July 2023
- Received confirmation and got link to fill in ID card details in August 2023
- Hereby my application was successfully done and accepted into the University of Birmingham.
Faculty
6
- The ratio was 1:32 but we could email them or interact with them whenever convenient. They responded to emails and personal meetings.
- The teaching just involved them explaining a PPT to us and breaking it down. No, it’s not enough to secure a job and one shouldn’t be dependent on the course alone to be skilled enough.
- The penetration testing faculty member “Tom Chothia” stands out from the pool. He is incredibly skilled and only focuses on hands-on training, while others focus on memorising theory.
Campus Life
10
- 5 campuses: Edgbaston, Selly Oak, School of Dentistry, Stratford, and one in Dubai
- Everything listed, including swimming pools, cafeterias, job search areas, well-being society, event area, Great Hall, museum, etc.
- September Freshers’ Week is one of them. Easter, Christmas, Good Friday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Eid, etc.
- You could opt for basically any sport you want. For student orgs, you could check out the Guild of Students in the university, the university’s student union. There is a society for basically everything and they are quite active. Check out the ones you need and email their handlers; they’d let you in when you attend at least one event of theirs. We also boast a massive 3-storey library with books and desktops so you could stay in it all day or all night (It’s open 24/7).
Part Time Jobs
- TA positions are largely closed for MSc students, especially in the school of computer science at UoB. Mostly, they are secured by PhD students. Research Associates are hired after the course is completed.
- Between 12 and 16 pounds/hr
- Worklink is the university’s hiring platform. Students could apply for on-campus jobs from there. There are several jobs for different schools, such as Teaching Assistants, Librarians, Well-being Officers, etc. Hourly wages differ for each.
- Very difficult for MSc students. They would largely prioritise undergrad students.
- Most prefer the service industry in Birmingham, as corporate positions aren’t available to master's students for part-time. • Average would be between 12 and 18 gbp/hour. • Not too difficult if you are applying for service sector jobs like customer assistant or desk but difficult for other roles in Birmingham. Could differ for other locations. • One usually searches for jobs on their website (Tesco, Aldi, etc.). You could also search on LinkedIn and apply through there; you’d likely get a phone call or email with the response and you’d be invited to interview with them. They’d hire you in around 1-2 weeks of application.
Placement
6
- Not sure about the exact percentage, but employment right after graduating is not too common. Usually people seek for internships and then convert to full-time after a term of 6 months. Also do not expect positive responses because most people struggle for a few months before landing in a company.
- Salaries for junior roles could range from 25-35k per annum. Mid-senior and higher roles are 45k+.
- Campus Recruitment isn’t a thing in UoB. They conduct job fairs where companies advertise themselves, which happen twice a year. One in Sep., the other in Nov. Your go-to options would be online portals like Reed and Indeed and networking via workshops and events, especially in IT.
- Some of my friends had secured internships after placement. They had a decent experience and had, on average, about 2 rounds of interviews before being hired as interns. One had landed in CrowdStrike as a Falcon Tester; another had been hired as a Research Associate in the uni after graduating.
- Companies do not hire from the university; rather, they place stalls in fairs. Companies such as Tesla, CrowdStrike, Sophos, KPMG, etc. have been known to hire UoB graduates.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- Friend referral. My friend stayed at HamCam and he recommended the place.
- The monthly rent was 396 GBP, including bills. The facilities provided were central and room heating, an oven, television, tv room within campus, a bar, turf, a church, a library, a washing machine area and instant damage replacements.
- No challenges. We had confirmed this from the start.
- Seek accommodation not too close to the university or city centre; that’s how you’d find it for cheap. The closer it is, the more expensive it gets.
- 30 mins by bus but we had a free bus pass for the entire year so it didn’t matter. Most indians stayed in the city centre or university accommodation, which was highly cost-inefficient compared to the facilities we were provided.
Exams
- IELTS
- 3 LORs, CV, SOP, All undergrad marksheets, financial evidence to support the stay in UK
- No, no interview was required for admission. Only an informal interview that was conducted over a phone call by a partner of the University of Birmingham to ask general questions about studying in the UK. No academic or personal information was requested on it; just the willingness and integrity of the candidate were checked. One does not need to keep documents handy before the call, as the call is unprecedented.
Fees
- The tuition fee was £27650 for the full year, taken in full (yearly). The living and rental costs were separate from the university’s costs, as we were living in student accommodation on the outskirts of the city. The accommodation is named HamCam and it charged us 99 pppw, which leads to 3 instalments of payment through our entire 1-year span (each instalment is £1350 on average).
- HamCam provided us a bus pass for the entire year so we didn’t have to pay any transportation, but looking at the living costs, the average was about 60 pounds per month.
Scholarship
- Yes, I received a Global Student scholarship, which was a discount of 2000 GBP, so the tuition of mine was £25650 at last.
- Not batch-mates, but friends in other majors received scholarships up to 10000 GBP since their courses were unpopular and seats were to be filled, mostly environmental courses.
- A lot of students receive the £2000 discount with very few and exclusive classes of students that receive financial aid after displaying proper evidence.
