The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is the oldest red brick universityin the United Kingdom. Located in the leafy suburb of Edgbaston just outside Birmingham City Centre, it received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham(founded in 1828 as the Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery) and Mason Science College (established in 1875 by Sir Josiah Mason). Birmingham is widely known to be the originalred brick university. It is a founding member of both the Russell Group of British research universities and the international network of research universities, Universitas 21.
The University of Birmingham was ranked 11th in the UK and 64th in the world by QS World University Rankings. In 2013, Birmingham was named 'University of the Year 2014' in the Times Higher Education awards. In an employability survey published by the New York Times, where CEOs and chairmans were asked to select the top universities which they recruited from, Birmingham placed 55th in the world. The Global Employability University Ranking conducted by THES places Birmingham at 57th world-wide. Birmingham is also ranked 4th in the UK for Graduate Prospects in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2015, higher thanUniversity of Oxford and the London School of Economics.
