It’s my great pleasure as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham,
to welcome you, to welcome you to a remarkable university
at a remarkable time.
Let me tell you something about the university you’re now a member of.
This university was founded in 1900.
It was founded when Birmingham was the workshop of the world.
It was founded in a spirit of enterprise,
innovation, discovery, curiosity.
It was founded to give the great city of Birmingham a great university.
Over the last 120 years, that vision has gone forward from Birmingham.
We are now a global university.
We are one of the world’s top 100 universities,
we are a university that has a campus not just here in Birmingham
but a campus in Dubai, we teach in China, we teach in Singapore.
So you’re part of a great Birmingham institution
and you’re part of a great global university.
But of course, you’re joining this community at an extraordinary moment.
At a moment where the world is battling the coronavirus pandemic.
You’re joining at a moment where we have had to adjust the way in which we operate
to make the University safe.
And in the months before your arrival, my colleagues have spent a good deal of time
ensuring that you can operate safely within all of the University’s environment.
Our classrooms are safe, our halls of residence are safe,
our teaching spaces are safe.
But we have had to put in place special measures,
and it will important that you follow those measures to the letter.
It’s for your benefit and it’s for the benefit of the community.
We have also put in place additional measures to support your learning.
All of our programmes can be delivered in person and online.
And it may be that from time to time, we have to switch from in-person to online delivery.
All of that will be of the highest quality, all of that will be resilient
and all of that will enable you to fulfil yourself as a University of Birmingham student.
We’ve also put in place, this year, additional tutorial support
so that all of our students get weekly tutorial support
to assist you in your learning and to steer you through your academic programmes.
To be a student at the University of Birmingham is to be a student of a great university.
It’s a life-changing experience
and notwithstanding the challenges of the COVID crisis,
this will be a life-changing experience for all of you.
You will discover more about yourself,
you will achieve the ambitions that you have for yourselves,
you will make new friends, you will discover new interests.
And as circumstances allow, we are going to open up all of the huge range of activities
that this university provides.
So as you start out, start out confident.
You are at this university because you’ve achieved.
You’re at this university because you’re ambitious.
You’re at this university because you will bring great and important things to our community.
And you’re at this university because it will be a crucial chapter which you will write
in your own lives.
So relish what’s ahead of you,
commit yourself to your studies,
commit yourself to the University of Birmingham community
and look forward with confidence to what you’re going to achieve,
to what you’re going to enjoy and what you’re going to give in this great university.
Welcome.
Hi everyone, my name is Tobi
and I am the President at the Guild of Students, your students’ union.
So I've already spent two years in Birmingham,
first studying International Relations and Diplomacy
and then moving onto becoming the Postgraduate Officer, which I very much enjoyed
but now I’m President (OK!), and I’m here to tell you guys about the Guild of Students,
what it is that we offer, how it changed my life, probably not too much,
I’m just going to tell you the opportunities available for you, how you can get involved,
how we can support you make the most of university life
so that at the end of the day, you graduate from Birmingham with more than just a degree.
So what is the Guild? So the Guild basically is here to help you
tackle any barriers that you might face when you come to university
and just basically help you settle in, understand the campus,
what activities that you can get involved in and we’re here to help you have fun –
that’s the important thing. Make new friends, learn new skills,
explore and enjoy your time here at Birmingham.
So at the Guild, we can also help you give new things a go,
so if you’re interested in joining any society or you’re interested in volunteering
or just, you know, making a change in your local Birmingham community,
there’s definitely something for you there. Tonnes of student-led societies
and I’m pretty sure that you can find something for you. But in case you don’t,
you can definitely create something that you fancy, something that you’re interested in
and we’re here at the Guild to help you make that happen.
In terms of support, we’re definitely your go-to.
We know that university life can be full of ups and downs and I’ve been a student here myself,
I know how hard it is to, you know, write a dissertation
and just get stressed naturally about student life.
But we’re here to help you, so even if you’re feeling homesick,
even if you’re having financial issues or you just need mental health and wellbeing support,
at the Guild we offer a free, confidential service that can definitely support you in any way that you want.
So now the golden question – who runs the Guild?
The simple answer is you.
The Guild is run by a full-time officer team and a part-time officer team
who are students just like yourself.
So we have seven full-time officers and eight part-time officers
and even if our roles are slightly different, we’re always here to support you
because our roles cover different remits that are definitely important to you.
So if you’re also interested in becoming President like myself or just any of the other roles available,
every year, we run elections in March
for students who are keen to see change happen on campus
and that could be your opportunity to change things, represent students
and just make the most of University life, for not just yourself but for students around you.
We can also help you change things,
so everything that we do at the Guild is led by the student voice
so if there’s something that you’re passionate about, if there’s a change that you want to see happen,
why not lead a campaign? We can definitely help you with that.
In terms of your academic interests, we can also represent you through the student rep scheme,
so if there’s any change that you want to see in terms of your academics, we’ve got you.
Now finally, even if representing students sits at the core of what we do,
we spend as much time making sure that you have fun
and we know that obviously COVID-19 pandemic has presented us with some unconventional times
but we’re still committed to ensuring that you have fun,
make the most of opportunities presented before you and that you get that support that you need.
So until things go back to normal, please make sure you get involved with things that are on offer,
join a society, lead a campaign, jump on stage in your bedroom
and yeah, just, we look forward to welcoming you to the University of Birmingham,
the Guild of Students welcomes you as well and we’ll see you when you get here –
virtually!