The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is located in the leafy suburb of Edgbaston outside Birmingham City Centre.

It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1828 as the Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery) and Mason Science College (established in 1875 by Sir Josiah Mason), making it the first English civic or 'red brick' university to receive its own royal charter. It is a founding member of both the Russell Group of British research universities and the international network of research universities, Universitas 21.

The University of Birmingham was ranked 11th in the UK and 64th in the world in the QS World University Rankings for 2014-15. In 2013, Birmingham was named 'University of the Year 2014' in the Times Higher Education awards. In an employability survey published by the New York Times, where CEOs and chairmans were asked to select the top universities which they recruited from, Birmingham placed 55th in the world. The Global Employability University Ranking conducted by THES places Birmingham at 57th world-wide. Birmingham is also ranked 4th in the UK for Graduate Prospects in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2015.

The student population includes around 19,000 undergraduate and 9,000 postgraduate students, which is the 11th largest in the UK. The annual income of the institution for 2013–14 was £528.2 million, with an expenditure of £499 million.

The university is home to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, housing works by Van Gogh, Picasso and Monet, the Lapworth Museum of Geology, the Cadbury Research Library home to the Mingana Collections of Middle Eastern manuscripts and the Chamberlain Collection, and the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, which is a prominent landmark visible from many parts of the city. Academics and alumni of the university include former British Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain, and Stanley Baldwin, and eight Nobel laureates.