TEACHING
QUALITY
University of Essex
32
nd
NATIONAL
RANK
RANK
64.7%
FIRSTS
2:1s
2:1s
86.6%
COMPLETION
RATE
RATE
Key Stats
n/a
8th=
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
27th=
RESEARCH
QUALITY
QUALITY
65th
GRADUATE
PROSPECTS
PROSPECTS
Contact details
ADDRESS
Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ View on map >
Telephone
Email
Website
Open days
October 11 (Southend); October 25 (Colchester)
University Profile
Essex has set itself ambitious targets to be “firmly established” in the top 25 UK universities in five years’ time, while also increasing its student numbers by 50%. By 2019, too, every subject should be among the top 20% of institutions in its discipline.
The university sees these ambitions as chiming with those of its founders, who wanted Essex to be “freer, more daring, more experimental”. The social sciences already meet those standards comfortably and the university achieves excellent student satisfaction scores across the board. This year’s seven place rise in our league table to 32 puts the university within touching distance of its overall ranking target.
Essex, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, is ranked by Times Higher Education magazine in the top 100 in the world for social sciences and in the top 200 overall.
The university received the only Regius Professorship in Political Science in the awards to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and achieved the best results in the last Research Assessment Exercise for both politics and sociology. It was also in the top three for accounting and finance, history and
The main campus, two miles from Colchester, is set in 200 acres of parkland. The university has been carrying out major refurbishments to its 1960s buildings, at the same time as expanding student facilities. The Albert Sloman Library is being expanded by 30% and a new Student Centre will open in 2015, providing a one-stop hub for student services.
The new developments are costing more than £200m and include a £1.4m gym, renovation of the students’ union bar, a café with adjoining learning space and an innovative shared IT workspace.Wivenhoe House, the original centrepiece of the campus, has been converted into a thriving four-star hotel run by and home to the Edge Hotel School.
Essex Business School will open a new £21m building during 2014 with the same low-carbon features that have taken the university to the top three in the national Carbon Reduction Commitment rankings. The next change will be the completion of the Knowledge Gateway development, which will provide space for research and business, as well as residential accommodation for 1,300 students.
The incorporation of the East 15 Acting School, in Loughton, as a department of the university was the university’s first venture beyond Colchester. There has since been heavy investment in a third site in Southend-on-Sea – a modern multi-faculty campus offering courses in business, health and the arts.
Situated in the town centre, the Southend Campus has been based around the Gateway Building and Clifftown Studios, a former church that is now the university’s theatre. There is an accommodation complex which also houses a gym and fitness studio. The Forum was added in 2013, a £27m project comprising a public and academic library, learning facilities, café and gallery.
Another regional project has seen Essex collaborate with the University of East Anglia on University Campus Suffolk, which offers courses in Ipswich and at smaller centres across the county. Essex degrees are also taught at Writtle College, near Chelmsford, the Colchester Institute and South East Essex College, in Southend.
The university now has almost 12,000 undergraduates. The student population is unusually diverse for a pre-1992 university, with high proportions of mature and overseas students. A third of undergraduates are from working-class homes and 96 per cent went to state schools or colleges.
The students may have lost the radical edge that brought the university national attention in the late 1960s and 1970s, but they still like to get involved. More than 3,000 registered with a club or society last year, 1,000 undertook voluntary work and 500 completed the Big Essex award, which records their extracurricular activities in their degree transcript.
The Employability and Careers Centre has seen major investment over recent years. The award-winning Frontrunners scheme, established by the university and students’ union, arranges on-campus, paid work experience for students.Many courses offer work placement opportunities. Essex Abroad supports students studying, working or volunteering abroad, while the new Languages for All scheme offers all students language tuition at no extra cost. The university does not charge a fee for a full year abroad, and many courses also include work placement opportunities where students are based.
Social and sporting facilities are good, with an active students’ union and some 40 acres of land on the Colchester campus devoted to sports facilities. All new first years are guaranteed a residential place in university accommodation, which has been voted some of the best in the UK. Some ground-floor flats have been adapted for disabled students.
A £23m new development opened on the main campus in 2013 with 648 student bedrooms in flats and town houses. All the campuses are within easy access of the bright lights of London and, closer still in Colchester and Southend, the tranquil beauty of the Essex coastline.
The university sees these ambitions as chiming with those of its founders, who wanted Essex to be “freer, more daring, more experimental”. The social sciences already meet those standards comfortably and the university achieves excellent student satisfaction scores across the board. This year’s seven place rise in our league table to 32 puts the university within touching distance of its overall ranking target.
Essex, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, is ranked by Times Higher Education magazine in the top 100 in the world for social sciences and in the top 200 overall.
The university received the only Regius Professorship in Political Science in the awards to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and achieved the best results in the last Research Assessment Exercise for both politics and sociology. It was also in the top three for accounting and finance, history and
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economics. Essex featured in the top ten in more than half of the 14 areas in which it was assessed, demonstrating quality well beyond its traditional strengths in the social sciences. It has been building up its science departments, and is strong in biological sciences and computing.The main campus, two miles from Colchester, is set in 200 acres of parkland. The university has been carrying out major refurbishments to its 1960s buildings, at the same time as expanding student facilities. The Albert Sloman Library is being expanded by 30% and a new Student Centre will open in 2015, providing a one-stop hub for student services.
The new developments are costing more than £200m and include a £1.4m gym, renovation of the students’ union bar, a café with adjoining learning space and an innovative shared IT workspace.Wivenhoe House, the original centrepiece of the campus, has been converted into a thriving four-star hotel run by and home to the Edge Hotel School.
The incorporation of the East 15 Acting School, in Loughton, as a department of the university was the university’s first venture beyond Colchester. There has since been heavy investment in a third site in Southend-on-Sea – a modern multi-faculty campus offering courses in business, health and the arts.
Situated in the town centre, the Southend Campus has been based around the Gateway Building and Clifftown Studios, a former church that is now the university’s theatre. There is an accommodation complex which also houses a gym and fitness studio. The Forum was added in 2013, a £27m project comprising a public and academic library, learning facilities, café and gallery.
Another regional project has seen Essex collaborate with the University of East Anglia on University Campus Suffolk, which offers courses in Ipswich and at smaller centres across the county. Essex degrees are also taught at Writtle College, near Chelmsford, the Colchester Institute and South East Essex College, in Southend.
The university now has almost 12,000 undergraduates. The student population is unusually diverse for a pre-1992 university, with high proportions of mature and overseas students. A third of undergraduates are from working-class homes and 96 per cent went to state schools or colleges.
The students may have lost the radical edge that brought the university national attention in the late 1960s and 1970s, but they still like to get involved. More than 3,000 registered with a club or society last year, 1,000 undertook voluntary work and 500 completed the Big Essex award, which records their extracurricular activities in their degree transcript.
The Employability and Careers Centre has seen major investment over recent years. The award-winning Frontrunners scheme, established by the university and students’ union, arranges on-campus, paid work experience for students.Many courses offer work placement opportunities. Essex Abroad supports students studying, working or volunteering abroad, while the new Languages for All scheme offers all students language tuition at no extra cost. The university does not charge a fee for a full year abroad, and many courses also include work placement opportunities where students are based.
Social and sporting facilities are good, with an active students’ union and some 40 acres of land on the Colchester campus devoted to sports facilities. All new first years are guaranteed a residential place in university accommodation, which has been voted some of the best in the UK. Some ground-floor flats have been adapted for disabled students.
A £23m new development opened on the main campus in 2013 with 648 student bedrooms in flats and town houses. All the campuses are within easy access of the bright lights of London and, closer still in Colchester and Southend, the tranquil beauty of the Essex coastline.
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Detailed Statistics
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
CATEGORY
SCORE
RANK
Ranking
-
32 (39)
Student experience
85.7
8th=
Research quality
22.7
27th=
Ucas entry points
343
53rd=
Graduate prospects
65.2
65th
Firsts and 2:1s
64.7
70th
Completion rate
86.6
58th
Student-staff ratio
16.1:1
44th
Services/facilities spend (£)
2,401
8th
World ranking
-
370 (338=)
VITAL STATISTICS
Undergraduates
(Full-time)
9,755
Undergraduates
(Part-time)
1,670
Postgraduates
(Full-time)
2,325
Postgraduates
(Part-time)
915
Applications/places
18,335/3,135
Applications/places ratio
5.8:1
STUDENT CITIES
Chantel Le Carpentier, students’ union president
Being a campus university the busyness of open day remains all year round with students spending most of their time on site.
The room numbering system makes no sense, so it is easy to get lost, but older students are happy to help.
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Cost of living
Nightlife
Transport
Culture
ACCOMMODATION
FEES
UK/EU fees
£9,000
Fees (placement year)
Free
Fees (overseas year)
Free
Fees (international)
£11,950-£13,950
Finance website
Graduate salaries
£17,128
BURSARIES/SCHOLARSHIPS
>
Household income below £25K, bursary of £1,000 in years 1 and 2, £500, year 3.
>
Academic scholarship of £2,000 in year 1 for students with a score of 34 or above in the International Baccalaureate. Other bursaries and scholarships available.
SPORT
Sports points/rank
699, 45th
Sport website
Student satisfaction
93.8%
91.2%
87.7%
86.7%
86.7%
85.9%
85.4%
85.0%
85.0%
84.8%
84.7%
84.4%
83.9%
83.3%
82.8%
82.4%
80.1%