Job Discussion Forums

chickyabroad · Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Posts: 33 Location: Turkey

I'm looking at taking a course through the Applied linguistics program at Birmingham City University in England and was looking for feedback from anyone who has done a degree or taken courses at this university. Also, I'm from the US, so can anyone give me an idea of how this university is rated in the UK?

Finally, for anyone who has done a distance course/degree - I am currently teaching in Korea and wondering about the availability of textbooks or the cost of buying them online and having them shipped. Any ideas of how much this should add on to the cost of the course?

Thanks!

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

If you're referring to the University of Birmingham (I'm not sure if there is a separate institution with the designation 'city'), I did my MA TESL/TEFL through their distance program. It's solid and reputable, and has been a good career move.

There are other distance MA students on the Bham course based in Korea. You won't be alone - and I'm sure there are book-share programs among them.

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Actually I took a look at this as I'd never heard of B'ham City Uni and assumed (as spiral78) that it must be a mistake. BUT, it turns out there is a BCU - it's one of the 'new-ish' UK unis, created in the early 90s as a result of Mrs Thatcher's education reforms, which greatly expanded the number of UK unis. Most of these, including BCU, were created from former 'polytechnics', often following amalgamations with other local tertiary institutions such as teacher-training colleges.

Although it can't possibly have the pedigree of the original Birmingham University (which is one of the old 'red brick' unis), as an officialy recognised UK uni it will have to conform to certain standards. However, it is obviously not a top rank uni - best to check out the course thoroughly and try and get feedback from people who've done it.

Dedicated · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 972 Location: UK

Birmingham City University used to be Birmingham Polytechnic, then University of Central England.

It is currently rated about 55th in the university league tables (out of about 130), but managed 4th in Drama/Dance, 20th in Art/Design and 25th in Education.

I don't know about the Applied Linguistics course, but I did the RSA DELTA full time course there (when it was the Poly) way back in 1985, and it was truly excellent, with such names as Julian Edge.

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Dedicated, you have reminded me that I actually applied for a course at the old Birmingham Polytechnic. You're correct, it had a very strong languages/TESOL department, and the course I applied for (and was accepted onto but DIDN'T take) was a PGCE TEFL. Birmingham Poly was one of only 5 institutes in the UK that used to run a PGCE TEFL course in the 1980s. Unfortunately the PGCE TEFL doesn't exist any more - it was scrapped by Thatcher's administration.

I sometimes wonder what I might be doing now if I'd taken that course - and not gone travelling round South America instead!

Anyway, for the OP, BCU should have inherited a strong languages/TESOL department - it may well be a good place to study.

chickyabroad · Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Posts: 33 Location: Turkey

Thanks everyone, that's good to hear. The program does sound really good on their website, but that doesn't always mean they have the teachers & tutors to back it up. I'm going to apply once I get settled since the classes can be started at any time, so if any one is interested in how it is, send me a PM.