The funds will get invested straight into projects designed to enhance our student experience.
The OfS funding is allocated in accordance with a robust bidding process that aims to ensure the funds are distributed as widely as possible.
Eligible training and education providers in England could bid for a minimum sum of £150k and a maximum of £2.5 million.
All bids were judged as to how well they met the following criteria:
Investment of the allocated funds by further and higher education providers should prioritise both innovative and exciting opportunities for students, alongside supporting local business, the regional economy and national growth, in alignment with government objectives.
Professor Rosa Wells, FE principal and dean for STEM at UCB, said: “It’s an exciting opportunity for us, this allocation of funds recognises the work we’re already doing to enhance our student experience and empowers us to do more.
“The funding also represents a chance to support local employers to ensure that our students experience aligns with their needs.
“Producing graduates, not just with the skills our network of employers is telling us they desperately need, but the confidence to enter the workplace and use those skills to make an impact.”
University College Birmingham is one of only 60 institutions from across England to have been awarded funds, and will use the £900,000 investment to deliver two capital expenditure projects – AI & robotics and health & social care.
These investments will enhance student and apprentice access to real-world technologies used in these sectors, and they respond directly to the West Midlands Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), building on UCB’s role as a regional leader in battery manufacturing education and sustainable infrastructure skills.
The AI and robotics labs will include robotic arms, drones, programmable sensor kits and AI-capable computing infrastructure. We will also be investing in additional equipment to support training related to battery technologies.
The funds will also be used to update and refurbish the existing engineering and construction spaces to ensure that they are flexible and adaptable for interdisciplinary delivery.
The health and social care project will give students the chance to train for real life scenarios, putting their skills into practice and bringing the theory to life.
Mirno Virtual Patients will offer immersive learning opportunities without the need for a physical body or person. Simulated community spaces will bring together a range of digital case studies based on lived experience.
This innovative approach brings students as close to working in the sector and with living patients as one can get, before they enter the workforce, and the technology selected has been done so in consultation with employers to ensure it aligns with occupational standards.
Work has already begun on implementing these projects, with completion expected in March 2026 and students accessing the facilities when they return for the summer term starting in April.
Looking ahead, alongside the capital investment, University College Birmingham will be investing in staff development to ensure academic and technical teams are fully trained and ready to maximise the impact of the new equipment and learning environments.
