Summer opening, Games success and get ready for September!

Whether you’re still in Birmingham or away, we hope you’re enjoying your summer break and finding time for some well-deserved rest in between staying connected with friends and family! With only five weeks until Welcome the summer is flying by, so we wanted to touch base as we look forward to welcoming you back onto campus in September.

Library and Study Space opening hours

Our campus continues to be open for you to come and study for those that want to. You can find the summer opening hours of our libraries, including the Main Library on our student intranet. Our Study Spaces page on the intranet has all the information you need so take a look before heading to campus.

What’s on for students

If you’re around over the summer, don’t forget to keep an eye on our What’s on for Students intranet page to see what events, workshops and opportunities are available for you to get involved in. Unless specified otherwise, events are suitable for all undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The Visit Birmingham website also has lots of cool ideas of things to do and see in the city, from food and drink places to try out to local festivals including the Birmingham 2022 Festival.

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Sports update

With the Games drawing to a close last week we hope you enjoyed them as much as we did! It was fantastic to see Birmingham at its best and our University centre stage, with Old Joe even making a guest appearance in the opening ceremony montage! The 11-day sporting event was the biggest sporting event to be held in the UK since the London 2012 Olympics and the largest event to be held in the West Midlands region.

We were incredibly proud to host the hockey and squash here on campus, welcoming more than 175,000 spectators across 48 hockey and squash sessions. A special mention also has to go to the students and alumni who took home medals:

  • Five alumni and one current student were part of the squad to win England's first-ever gold medal in the Women's Hockey. Congratulations to Anna Toman, Hannah Martin, Lily Owsley, Holly Hunt, Flora Peel and Lily Walker!
  • Meanwhile, in the Men's Hockey, alumnus Nick Bandurak helped England to the bronze medal.
  • Business student and sport scholar Lachlan Moorhead also celebrated a gold medal for England in the -81kg Judo.
  • Silver medals were won by Welsh alumna and triathlete Non Standford and current student, English cyclist Anna Henderson in the Women's Time Trial.
  • The bronze medal in the -52kg Judo went to third year Dentistry student Yasmin Javadian, representing Northern Ireland, and fellow judoka and current student Rhys Thompson for England in the -100kg.

It was great to see so many students play a part; whether as athletes, one of the 500 students who were recruited to work on the Games, or over 150 of you that gave up your time as incredible volunteers. We also hosted over 3500 athletes and officials at the Vale, which means that your flat and your bedroom might have been used by a medal winning athlete!

As well as being brilliant opportunity to profile UoB, Birmingham 2022 was also a great platform for Birmingham as a city of international standing. The legacy of such a successful event will live on, and as the Games slogan goes, “Sport is just the beginning”.

Talking of sports, if you have been inspired by the Games then you’ll be pleased to hear the University Sports and Fitness Centre has now re-opened.

Welcoming you all back in September

As we bid farewell to athletes and visitors from all over the world, we look forward to welcoming you, our wonderful student community, back in just a few weeks. If you’re currently away from campus, you may be starting to think about returning for teaching. We’re missing all your faces and our teams are busy planning for your arrival in September for the full campus experience!

Remember, Welcome Week is for everyone and gets underway from Monday 19 September 2022. There’ll be lots of activities taking place (keep an eye on your student inbox closer to the time for more details) on campus, including a ‘Welcome Back’ marquee to help you settle into your new accommodation and the new academic year.

Coming back from a different country?

A reminder that teaching begins the following week on Monday 26 September 2022 and we are expecting that you arrive at the University by then, so make your travel plan as soon as possible. We can’t wait to see you!

We can also share some good news that the two-way direct passenger services between China and the UK have now been resumed, with flights to and from Heathrow starting last week. Please pay attention to the further announcements of various airlines regarding routes, flight schedules and ticketing. We would encourage you to monitor the flights ‘options and book your flight at the earliest opportunity.

Important note: If you have a Student Visa you will only be able to fully engage with your studies and teaching once you are in the UK, so you should make your travel plans to arrive by no later than Sunday 25th September 2022.

We’ll be in touch with you closer to Welcome with any important updates but in the meantime, keep in touch with us through our usual student communications channels including our ‘UniBirmingham’ socials.

See you soon!

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