University pledges civic commitment to Birmingham
Promises on education, innovation, community and growth made as part of 125th anniversary year celebrations
Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Tickell and Joanne Roney, Managing Director of Birmingham City Council holding the Birmingham Civic Agreement alongside witnesses to the signing
The University of Birmingham has pledged its commitment to Birmingham as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations happening in 2025.
At an event in the Exchange in the heart of Birmingham, the Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Tickell and Joanne Roney, Managing Director of Birmingham City Council signed the Birmingham Civic Agreement, a commitment to being a civic institution for the city and region in the future.
With the Birmingham Civic Agreement, Professor Tickell and Joanne Roney signed a pledge on the 125th anniversary of the University of Birmingham signing its original royal charter, and re-committed the University to:
- Promoting Education and Opportunity: We shall continue to provide access to world-class education, empowering individuals to achieve their fullest potential, serving as a beacon of knowledge, creativity, and innovation.
- Driving Innovation and Progress: Through research and innovation, we strive to address the challenges of today and tomorrow, contributing to the prosperity and well-being of the city.
- Supporting the Community: As a cornerstone of Birmingham, we pledge to work hand-in-hand with local leaders, organisations, and citizens to enrich the cultural, social, and economic fabric of our community.
- Foster Growth and Opportunity: Empower the citizens, businesses and public institutions of Birmingham with access to higher education, nurturing talent, and contributing to the city’s development and prosperity
The agreement is our pledge of dedication to the City and its people to help address the challenges of the future, to promote education and opportunity, drive innovation and progress, and support the community.
Professor Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham said:
“Our ‘promise’ in the Birmingham Civic Agreement is born from our origins and reaffirms the original commitment to Birmingham when the University was first established in 1900. It reaffirms – 125 years to the day - our purpose and our place in Birmingham and our region.
“The agreement is our pledge of dedication to the City and its people to help address the challenges of the future, to promote education and opportunity, drive innovation and progress, and support the community. As we strive to be among the very best universities in the world, our commitment to Birmingham and taking the very best of it to the world will in turn bring the very best of the world to Birmingham.”
Welcoming the commitment from the University of Birmingham, Joanne Roney, Managing Director of Birmingham City Council said:
“I'm honoured to represent Birmingham City Council on this special and significant milestone marking 125 years of the partnership with the University of Birmingham. I'm pleased to be able to sign this new civic agreement in the spirit of how we're going to deliver the next generation of Birmingham’s future - together.”
Ongoing benefits for Birmingham
The reception also saw speakers including former students reflect on the University of Birmingham’s impact benefitting education, research, and community engagement across the city.
Guests to the event included regional stakeholders from politics, business, industry, culture and civil society heard about the University’s impact in the city and wider region.
Speakers included entrepreneur, mental health campaigner and speaker Zaynab Sohawon who is in her final year studying at the University of Birmingham. Zaynab spoke about the support she received to develop her charity Emotional Dysregulation in Autism and as a care leaver student:
“Accessing higher education has been the catalyst for change that I needed in my life. The University of Birmingham hasn’t just given me higher education and the academic support, it has given me the tools to empower me to make change in my own world. Whether in the work they have done for my own development or in the world around me, I'm really proud to be University of Birmingham student and even prouder to be a graduate soon.”
The University of Birmingham is proud to be rooted in of one of the most dynamic and diverse cities in the country. England’s first civic university, pursuing and sharing knowledge through outstanding teaching and research since 1900. A comprehensive review based on data from the 2021-22 academic year, commissioned by the University of Birmingham and carried out by London Economics, highlights the significant impact it makes to the West Midlands and UK economies – totalling £4.4bn and supporting nearly 20,000 jobs.
Notes for editors
Notes for editors
- For media enquiries please contact Tim Mayo, Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)7815 607 157.
- The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, educators and more than 40,000 students from over 150 countries.
- England’s first civic university, the University of Birmingham is proud to be rooted in of one of the most dynamic and diverse cities in the country. A member of the Russell Group and a founding member of the Universitas 21 global network of research universities, the University of Birmingham has been changing the way the world works for more than a century.
- The University of Birmingham is committed to achieving operational net zero carbon. It is seeking to change society and the environment positively, and use its research and education to make a major global contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Find out at birmingham.ac.uk/sustainability.