Birmingham is ready

What’s different about the talent the Birmingham city region produces is its quality and quantity. Birmingham and the region delivers both. The city has almost twice as many graduates within an hour’s drive as Glasgow and Edinburgh combined. The graduates from two of the region’s universities achieve higher results than the overall UK average. Talent here is both abundant and high calibre. With this kind of resource readily available, businesses are spoilt for choice.

• Birmingham has 78,000 students and produces 25,000 graduates each year
• Birmingham also provides access to over 300,000 students and 100,000 graduates within an hour’s drive of the city. This compares to 58,000 graduates from within a one-hour drive of both Glasgow and Edinburgh combined
• Birmingham has five universities; Aston University, Birmingham City University, University of Birmingham, University College Birmingham and Newman University College
• Aston University and University of Birmingham achieve higher than the UK average for 2:1 or 1^st class degrees
• Aston University has the highest employability scoring of all regional UK cities – 82% get jobs within six months of graduation
• There are 15 universities within an hour of Birmingham, including the following Russell Group Universities: University of Birmingham, University of Warwick, University of Nottingham
• In addition, there are two major colleges of further education and 385 schools
• Cushman & Wakefield’s European Cities Monitor 2010 rated Birmingham as the 11th as best city in terms of languages spoken, the best score of all English core cities

Birmingham has a demographic mix unlike any other. We’re the most ethnically diverse region and Birmingham is the most youthful city in Europe.

• 4.3 million people of working age within an hour’s drive of the city creating one of the largest catchment pools in the UK

• According to the Office for National Statistics, Birmingham’s population is projected to grow from 1.02 million in 2008, to 1.1 million in 2018 and 1.17 million by 2028 – more than twice that of Manchester, Edinburgh and a quarter more than Leeds.

• Europe’s youngest city, with under 25’s accounting for nearly 40% of our population

• Access over 300,000 students and 100,000 graduates within an hour’s drive of the city drawn from the 15 universities within reach
• In the region nearly 30,000 programmes provide local people the opportunity to learn and develop new skills through Apprenticeships

Business in any language comes as second nature in the West Midlands. Talented linguists enable companies in the region to do business beyond the UK. Birmingham and our region is open for business with the world.

• Our European ranking for numbers of languages spoken is higher than any other English core city (2011 European Cities Monitor by Cushman & Wakefield)
• Almost 12,000 international students choose to study in Birmingham
• Within an hour of Birmingham there are over 15,000 language students
• Birmingham is also home to the Brasshouse Language Centre, the largest Adult Education Centre in the UK
• Nearly 1 million people have foreign language skills in the region

A thriving international city, Birmingham’s perfectly placed for business - a hub at the heart of the UK’s road and rail network.

• It’s this position that puts 4.3 million people within an hour's drive of the city
• Over 1,250 trains use Birmingham New Street each day, moving nearly 25 million passengers annually
• A £600 million redevelopment of New Street Station is underway. Annual passenger capacity is set to increase to 52 million a year on completion
• Birmingham is also served by a light rail system which will see a £129 million extension through the city centre by 2015. Already over 96,000 people use the Metro every week