It is the 11th largest university in the UK and attended by around 16,500 undergraduate and 8,000 postgraduate students

The University Council is responsible for strategic policy, finance and assets; the Senate is responsible for academic work, policy and standards; the Executive Board, which is chaired by the Vice Chancellor, is responsible for the day-to-day running of the university.

It is ranked 22nd by the Complete University Guide 2012 and 26th by the Times University Guide 2012.

It is a member of the elite Russell Group consisting of the top 20 research universities in the UK.

The university was ranked 18/158 in the Guardian Graduate Employment Tables 2008/09.

(1) Arts and Law (2) Engineering and Physical Sciences (3) Life and Environmental Sciences (4) Medical and Dental Sciences (5) Social Sciences

It consists of 6 schools:

(1) Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity (2) Birmingham Law School (3) English, Drama and American and Canadian Studies (4) History and Cultures (5) Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music (6) Philosophy, Theology and Religion.

It contains the following research units:

(1) Archaeology (2) Classics and Ancient History (3) Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies (4) Ironbridge Institute (5) Institute of European Law (6) Institute of Medical Law (7) Centre for Advanced research in English

 (8) Centre for Corpus Research (8) Centre for English Language Studies (9) Shakespeare Institute (10) Birmingham centre for Contemporary History (11) Centre for First World War Studies (12) Centre for European Languages and Cultures

 (13) Centre for Early Music Performance and Research (14) Centre for Composition and Associated Studies (15) Centre de Estudos Galegos (16) Centre for the Study of Hispanic Exile (17) Centre for the Study of Global Ethics

The College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (website) is a faculty of the University of Birmingham.

It consists of 9 schools:

(1) Chemistry (2) Chemical Engineering (3) Civil Engineering (4) Computer Science (5) Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering (6) Mathematics (7) Mechanical Engineering (8) Metallurgy and Materials (9) Physics and Astronomy

It contains the following research units:

(1) Materials Chemistry (2) Molecular Processes and Theory (3) Molecular Synthesis and Chemical Biology (4) Bioengineering (5) Energy and Chemical Industries (6) Food, Health and Nutrition (7) Speciality Products (8) Railways

 (9) Resilience and Sustainability (9) Research Centre in Applied Computing (10) Research Centre in Devices and Systems (11) Institute for Energy Research and Policy (12) Algebra (13) Combinatorics (14) Continuum Mechanics (15) Mathematical Biology (16) Nonlinear Systems (17) Numerical Analysis

 (18) Statistics (19) Theoretical and Computational Optimization (20) Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering (21) Manufacturing Processes, Technology and Modelling (22) Vehicle Technology (23) Alloy Processing

 (24) Engineering Properties of Materials (25) Characterisation and Modelling (26) Functional Materials Processing (27) Particle Physics (28) Nuclear Physics (29) Cold Atoms (30) Condensed Matter

(31) Metamaterials (32) Molecular Physics (33) Nanoscale Physics (34) Astrophysics (35) HiROS: Sun Oscillation & Exo-Planet Detection  (36) X Ray Binaries

It consists of 4 schools:

(1) Biosciences (2) Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (3) Psychology (4) Sport and Exercise Sciences

It contains the following research units:

(1) Functional Genomics and Proteomics Unit (2) Centre for Systems Biology (3) Systems Science for Health (4) Centre for Ornithology (5) Resilience and Urban Living (6) behavioural Neuroscience

 (7) Developmental, Social and Applied Psychology (8) Language Cognition and Perception (9) Behavioural Medicine (10) Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiology (11) Exercise Metabolism (12) Human Movement (13) Sport and Exercise Psychology

It consists of 5 schools:

(1) Cancer Sciences (2) Clinical and Experimental Medicine (3) Dentistry (4) Health and Population Sciences (5) Immunity and Infection

It contains the following research units:

(1) Structural Biology and Biomarkers (2) Cancer Cell Biology (3) Cancer Genetics and Epignenetics (4) Cancer Clinical Trials (5) Tumour Immunology and Immune/Gene Therapy (6) Viral Oncology (7) Cardiovascular and Respiratory Science

 (8) Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (9) Neuropharmacology and Neurobiology (10) Reproduction, Genes and Development (11) Medical Science and Education (12) Centre for Obesity Research

(13) Centre for Rare Diseases and Personalised Medicine (14) Dentistry Biomaterials (15) Tissue Injury and Repair (16) UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies (17) Chronic Disease (18) Behavioural Medicine

(19) MRC Centre for Immune Regulation (20) Inflammation and Inflammatory Disease (21) Stem Cell Biology and Gene Regulation (22) Bacterial Infection, Pathogenesis and Antibiotic Resistance

It consists of 4 schools:

(1) Birmingham Business School (2) Education (3) Government and Society (4) Social Policy

It contains the following research units:

(1) Accounting and Finance (2) Economics (3) Management (4) Marketing (5) Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs (6) Professional Education (7) Education and Social Justice (8) Language, Discourse and Society (9) Sport Pedagogy

(10) Autism Centre for Education and Research (11) Centre for International Education and Research (12) Medical and Dental Education (13) MOSAIC Centre for Research on Multilinguism (14) Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research

(15) Politics (16) Health Services Management Centre (17) Institute of Applied Social Studies (18) Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (19) Third Sector Research Centre