<P> The university has three main campuses serving four faculties, and offers courses in art and design, business, the built environment, computing, education, engineering, English, healthcare, law, the performing arts, social sciences, and technology . A £ 125 million extension to its campus in the city centre of Birmingham, part of the Eastside development of a new technology and learning quarter, is opening in two stages, with the first phase having opened its doors in 2013 . </P> <P> It is the second largest of five universities in the city, the other four being Aston University, University of Birmingham, University College Birmingham, and Newman University . It is ranked third of the five according to the Complete University Guide, below both the University of Birmingham and Aston University . Roughly half of the university's full - time students are from the West Midlands, and a large percentage of these are from ethnic minorities . The university runs access and foundation programmes through an international network of associated universities and further education colleges, and has the highest intake of foreign students in the Birmingham area . </P> <P> In the 1960s, changes were made to the higher education system creating an expansion of polytechnics as a more vocationally orientated alternative to the typical university . </P> <P> The City of Birmingham Education Committee was invited to submit a scheme for the establishment of a polytechnic bringing together a number of different colleges in the city in 1967 . Late in 1969, the post of director of the polytechnic was advertised . Although the city lagged behind other parts of the country, Birmingham finally gained a polytechnic in 1971--then the 27th in the UK--designated by the Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher as the City of Birmingham Polytechnic . This was the second polytechnic in Birmingham, the first--Birmingham Polytechnic Institution--having existed in the mid-19th century for ten years . </P>

What is the difference between university of birmingham and birmingham city university