The Birmingham Award

You can complete The Birmingham Award through the MyAttributes section on Careers Connect. 

1. Access MyAttributes: Go to the MyAttributes section on Careers Connect
   
2. Complete the Attributes Assessment: A self-audit tool to help you reflect on your attributes and skills. Please note, this part is not marked in the evaluation of your award.
3. Reflect on Activities: You will need to complete four attribute reflections on extra-curricular activities that helped you develop graduate attributes. Adding activities:

• On the ‘My Attributes: Review, Develop and Reward’ page, click on the ‘Attribute Statements’ tab
• Guidance: For detailed instructions, refer to the Birmingham Award activities guidance.
• Click ‘Add New’ to add each of the four activities.
• Tag them as ‘The Birmingham Award’ on the 'Custom labels' field and click ‘Create!’.
• Each reflection must be at least 1000 characters long (which is approximately a minimum of 150-250 words)

Advancing your award:

1. • Once you have gained The Birmingham Award you will be well placed to complete The Birmingham Award with Distinction or Post-graduate Professional Development Award which will allow you to demonstrate further commitment to developing your skills, attributes and overall employability.

We recognise over 200 activities on the award and you can include activities such as; part-time work, fundraising, volunteering, sports participation, content creating, parenting/caring or being part of a society committee.

Our activities database allows you to check the activities you have already done and you can explore other activities and try something new to support your award.

For further guidance please visit our logging activities page.

The Birmingham Award with Distinction is now closed.

If you are a non-final year student, this will open again at the beginning of Academic Year 2025/26.

Undergraduate students who have completed The Birmingham Award will have an opportunity to complete The Birmingham Award with Distinction in order to demonstrate an advanced level of reflection and commitment to the development of skills.

Postgraduate Taught students can access the university's Postgraduate Professional Development Award 

The Birmingham Award is proud to be endorsed by our employer supporters. The employers who support The Birmingham Award have been selected to reflect the diverse range of students who participate in the award.

• Employer supporters 2024/25

You can complete your award in any year as a student. Each year we run two deadlines. Our deadlines are different for undergraduates and postgraduates. Please note, the deadline for final year undergraduates has now passed in Academic Year 2024/2025.

For undergraduates:

• December 2025 (Date TBC)
• March 2026 (Date TBC)

For Postgraduates:

• Monday 28 April 2025
• Friday 11 August 2025

• Gain support and feedback in articulating your skills to graduate recruiters
• Develop your transferable employability skills in a completely flexible way, aligned to your own interests 
• Find out what you can get involved in on campus outside of your degree
• Improve your confidence by gaining new skills and meeting new people
• Gain formal recognition of activities you already undertake outside of your degree
• The Birmingham Award is a certificated award that appears on your final degree transcript and can enhance your CV and LinkedIn profile
• Network with employer supporters and find out what attributes they look for in students and graduates when recruiting
• Gain personalised feedback on your application form or interview answer as part of our flexible and authentic assessment process
• Access an enriched programme of practical hints and tips on how to be successful in a recruitment process 
• Receive a digital certificate upon completion of The Birmingham Award

Students who complete The Birmingham Award with Distinction will have the opportunity to submit a video to nominate themselves as The Birmingham Award Student of the Year.

Students can nominate themselves in categories which will be aligned to The Birmingham Graduate Attributes. 

The Birmingham Award Team will create a shortlist for each category and winners for each category will be selected by a panel of The Birmingham Award Team and our employer supporters.

A winner will be selected for each category and they will each receive: 

• A £100 voucher
• A Student of the Year digital certificate  
• A personal LinkedIn recommendation from a member of the judging panel 
• Personal feedback from the employer supporters 

Details and submission information will be available through The Birmingham Award with Distinction Pathway in 2024/25.

I am an Undergraduate student, how can I complete the award? 

As an undergraduate student you have the opportunity to complete both The Birmingham Award and The Birmingham Award with Distinction. You can complete the award in any undergraduate year, though if you are a final year student you would need to complete the award before the completion deadline (in March). If you’re new to the award, the first step would be to undertake The Birmingham Award, by declaring your participation in four extra-curricular activities and then progressing on to The Birmingham Award with Distinction. See the above sections for further information on what this would entail.

I am a Postgraduate Taught student, how can I complete the award? 

You can declare your participation in four extra-curricular activities as instructed in the above section ‘How to complete The Birmingham Award’. Following this, in order to advance your learning, you have the opportunity to undertake the Postgraduate Professional Development Award which is the tailored award for Post Graduate Taught students, offering the opportunity for you to engage with your personal and professional development throughout your studies.

Deadline for postgraduates:

If you are graduating this summer, the final deadline for completion is Monday 28 April 2025. If you are graduating in December, you can work towards our next deadline on Monday 11 August 2025.

I am a Postgraduate Researcher, how can I complete the award?
 
We are pleased to say that The Birmingham Award is now open to all students, including Postgraduate Researchers. You can declare your participation in four activities as instructed in the above section ‘How to complete The Birmingham Award’. As a Postgraduate Researcher you may be involved in many professional development opportunities which support you in developing your transferable skills and attributes, which can be recognised through The Birmingham Award. The activities you declare through the award must be non-mandatory elements of your research programme, some examples include PGR Development opportunities, being a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (if not a requirement of your funding) or participating in Careers Network opportunities. Alternatively you may be involved in off campus external activities such as sports, music or have an external job role – all of which can contribute towards the award. 

For a full list of The Birmingham Award FAQ's, please refer to Student Help - The Birmingham Award