I chose to apply to the University of Birmingham because of the School of Computer Science’s focus on cutting-edge topics within Human Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence, which sets it apart from its counterparts in the UK.

The best thing about the course is how practical and interactive it is in nature; throughout we’ve been able to understand and practice user centred design. Additionally, the way in which the course is taught helps students to improve their soft skills as delivering presentations in front of our peers plays a big part of it.

The best thing about studying at the University of Birmingham for me is the facilities that support our learning as well as the quality of the teaching. Birmingham is such a well-respected global institution, but it also has such an inclusive and well-designed campus which makes student life really enjoyable.

The highlight of my time here has been meeting people from different backgrounds. I have enjoyed a really good social life and have begun friendships that I will value long after my time studying at the University.

I would advise anyone considering this course to think about whether you are more interested in user experience design for software, or by software development i.e., the programming language concepts. The course is heavily focused on user perspective, so it’s not programming-intensive despite being a computer science subject. However, if you want to focus more on understanding user requirements and designing towards their needs, this course is great as it will teach you principles which you can apply in industry after your studies.

As with anything, it’s important to have a passion for what you are studying, so if you are truly passionate about computing, user requirements, user centred design and HCI, I would really recommend this course. The course is purposely designed to be an intensive coverage of the subject, so having a passion for HCI will help you to do well whilst studying it.