University of Essex

The University of Essex received its royal charter in 1965 and is now one of the UK's leading academic institutions.

The feel of the University is uncompromisingly modern with the six towers providing ideal student accommodation, whilst at the same time creating a skyline and identity for the University. Their sheer power, like that of the Library, expresses the confidence of the University's founders in the pursuit of international standards of learning and in the opening of higher education to a wider public.

The University has always been dedicated to research and scholarship of the highest international standards.

In recent national assessments Essex was ranked tenth out of 136 universities in the country for the quality of its research, with many of its departments rated as 'outstanding' by international standards.

The University has its main campus, just two miles from the centre of Colchester. It is set in over 200 acres of beautiful parkland, much of it landscaped in the eighteenth century. As the University was conceived as a university town rather than a single building, it incorporates teaching buildings, student accommodation, shops, banks, a gallery and a theatre, bars and cafés, and sports facilities all on the one site. This mixture of activity creates a friendly and cosmopolitan campus.

The Colchester campus is a lively community with some 7,243 full-time students, 5,648 of whom are undergraduates. We have roughly equal numbers of men and women students and over 125 different nationalities are represented. Visitors to Essex almost invariably remark on the very friendly and informal atmosphere - one of the advantages of a compact campus where people quickly get to know each other.

The University also has a long tradition of admitting students, including mature students, who do not have standard entry qualifications but who will make good use of the opportunity to study for a degree.

We have always welcomed students from overseas so that today, students at Essex feel part of a thriving international community.