Frequently Asked Questions

BCUSU’s Big Welcome is a series of events from the 13th September – 1st October designed specifically for you!

We’ve all been through an incredibly tough time, so we’re excited to bring you events – some free, some at a reduced cost – to celebrate the beginning of term and make you feel part of the BCUSU family!

We’ve got everything from kayaking, outdoor cinemas and more.

You can find out more about our events on our What’s On page.

Some of our events have limited capacity, so you will need to book if you’re attending. This is not the case for all of the events, so make sure to double check each event so you’re in the know.

We’ve worked hard with our external partners to bring you these events either free, or at a reduced cost. Your Students’ Union is making up the difference in cost to make sure you have the best experience for the lowest cost possible!

We’ve been really excited to see how enthusiastic you are about our events! We appreciate some have sold out already, and we are looking at putting additional dates on where possible.

Keep an eye on our social media for any announcements on additional tickets, or new events!

Freshers Fest tickets are BCUSU’s only official nightclub tickets. However, these are purchased through a ticketing site called Fatsoma. This is the only place to buy official BCUSU Freshers Fest tickets. All other tickets for Big Welcome events are only available on the BCUSU website.

No, you don’t have to book tickets for our Big Welcome Fair in Millennium Point or the BCUSU Marquee on Gopsal Street.

For health and safety regulations, we will be keeping a check on the numbers entering Millennium Point and the BCUSU Marquee, so you may be asked to wait for a period before entering either venue.

We would recommend not all arriving at 11am – but to spread it out across the day. We’ve got a number of activities to keep you busy in the mean time.

Whilst we’re open from 11am, we would recommend planning a whole day visit. During busy periods, we will be managing the queue for health and safety reasons.

You won’t be missing anything by coming later in the day, all of the stall holders will be on-site the whole day.

Please ensure to follow the University's Covid rules whilst on campus. Please DO NOT come onto campus if you have any Covid symptoms, and ensure to report it through the Notify app. Wearing a mask is not mandatory, but will be encouraged. We will have masks and hand sanitisers available on the day. We also expect all students to complete two LFD tests per week, which can be collected from the University for free prior to the event.

Good news! We’re putting on coaches to bring you to the City Centre site and back again. You can check the times on the Big Welcome Fair event page.

Walking from City Centre Railway Stations

It is easy to get to the Big Welcome Fair, no matter where in the city you are coming from. The City Centre Campus is a short 10-15 minute walk from Birmingham Moor Street Station, and a 20-25 minute walk from Birmingham New Street Station. Follow the walking signs to Birmingham City University and Millennium Point.

Nearby Bus Stops

Many bus services terminate within the city centre and most terminuses are within a 25 minute walk, many much closer. Moor Street Queensway and the Priory Queensway Interchanges are the closest to City Centre Campus. Bus number 14 stops on-campus on Cardigan Street, halfway between the Millennium Point and BCUSU Marquee on Gopsal Street. If it is your first time using a bus in Birmingham, we recommend paying with a contactless method – just tap your card on the reader every time you board a bus and you won’t be charged more than the maximum DaySaver rate, no matter how many times you travel. Don’t forget, we are running a free bus service from City South Campus!

Cycling

Plenty of bicycle stands are available on campus. We would strongly recommend using two strong D-locks around the frame and wheels. Gated bicycle stands are located behind the Curzon Building on Gopsal Street but please be aware that Gopsal Street is closed to all vehicles on the day of the Big Welcome Fair. Student ID is required to access these particular stands.

There is also a West Midlands Cycle Hire dock on Cardigan Street, opposite Gopsal Street.

Free Blue Badge Parking

Blue Badge holders can make use of unlimited free parking in the Millennium Point Multistorey Car Park. There is step-free access to Millennium Point and Gopsal Street where the BCUSU marquee is. Level 2 is the quickest way to access Millennium Point. Level 0 is the quickest way to access Gopsal Street.

 

Please note, there is no on-street parking in the immediate area of the Big Welcome Fair for non-blue badge holders. Gopsal Street will be closed to all vehicles. The nearest car park is the Millennium Point Multistorey Car Park, charges apply.

As opposed to most of our Big Welcome events, our Freshers Fest events take place at night. We’ve been working with a local promoter to organise nighttime events in the city’s biggest and best clubs. If you love clubbing and nightclubs this is perfect for you. If you’ve never been clubbing before, this is the best chance to try it!

Yes, close friends and family are welcome at our Freshers Fest events, even if they’re not BCU students. However, if they are purchasing wristbands, it will need to be collected by a BCU student, as they will have access to campus buildings.

You will be able to collect your wristbands from particular checkpoints at the City Centre Campus. You will be alerted when the specific place has been confirmed!

You can use the BCUSU website to check what events are happening on and off campus, browse and join different societies and keep informed of activities, vote in Students’ Union elections, have your say on the student ideas board, apply for student jobs and more!/p>

In order to buy anything on the BCUSU website, first add the item to your basket, then checkout. If you have purchased a digital ticket to an event, make sure you check your email and look out for an email from us!

If you are joining a free society or buying a free ticket, you still need to check-out these membership/ticket items from your basket.

If an event is ticketed, it usually means that there is a limited capacity in the venue/activity, meaning there are only a limited number of tickets available. Unfortunately, sometimes items may appear visible if they were already in somebody else’s basket and have just completed their purchase while you were adding them to your basket.

Please double-check for an error message appearing next to the buy button after you click it. Any message stating the ‘product group has sold out’ means that these items are currently sold-out and have not been added to your basket. Depending on the specific event, there may be later releases of more tickets.

To log in to the BCUSU website, you will first need a working BCU email / IT account.

Make sure you have enrolled at BCU through the mySRS portal – sometimes it will take up to 24 hours for this to take effect. We receive your data from the University after you enrol and have given your consent to sharing your personal information with BCUSU. This action must be completed if you wish to have a BCUSU website account. After confirming your choices on mySRS, please try logging in again after 24 hours.

If you are still struggling to log in and know you have completed the enrolment process and consented to the University providing your information to us, please double-check you are not logged in to any other Microsoft account in your current web browser session. BCUSU uses the same single sign-on you will use for your BCU IT account and logging in to iCity. An easy way to test this is to log in to iCity first, then open the BCUSU website in a new tab and click ‘Log In’. This should automatically log you in using the same account details.

Sometimes our database needs confirmation if you are returning to BCU, for example: for a postgraduate course or you have changed courses during your time at university. Don’t worry, just contact us and let us know more details. You can contact us using this login help form.