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TSR Wiki > University > Choosing a University > University Guides > University of Essex

Brief Overview

The University of Essex was founded in 1964 and is today one of the UK's leading academic institutions, with a worldwide reputation for top-quality teaching and research. Students come from over 130 countries, and there are more than 11,660 full-time students across three different campuses (Colchester, Southend and Loughton). The University of Essex hosts 18 academic departments for example within the humanities, social sciences, science and engineering, and law and business management

Colchester is the original University campus, and is based at Wivenhoe Park. Set in 200 acres of parkland the campus boasts beautiful lakes and views and is only two miles from Colchester in north Essex. The Colchester Campus offers a range of amenities on it's friendly campus, such as accommodation, a sports centre, teaching and research facilities, the Albert Sloman Library, shops, banks, restaurants, and entertainment venues.

In 2007, the Southend Campus opened and offers courses in Business and Entrepreneurship, Nursing and Oral Health sciences, and is home to some of the East 15 Acting School courses. Located in the heart of the high street, students benefit from having a new state-of-the-art building with modern and high-tech facilities, but also being right in a busy town right by the seaside.There is brand new student accommodation ready for 2010 entry - which is a few minutes walk away.

East 15 Acting School is one of the UK's most innovative acting schools and is part of the University of Essex. It has it's own campus (although some courses are now run at Southend) located east of London in Loughton, offering a dynamic portfolio of degrees that span many areas of training and study of performance for actors, directors and technical theatre specialists. East 15 draws on its long and successful traditions, and combines this with a keen sense of the changing world of theatre today.

Academic Structure

Faculties

In order to deliver the University's academic vision and strategy, the academic structure within the University of Essex is split into 4 faculties which collaborate in all aspects of teaching and research. More precisely, these faculties are the following;

Academic Departments

The above faculties are comprised of 18 academic departments. All Departments are student oriented with regards to teaching and all provide the necessary resources, both in terms of facilities and opportunities, to foster student success and progression. Furthermore, all are committed to the highest excellence in terms of research and teaching and this is reflected in national rankings where Essex is ranked 9th and 8th respectively in the United Kingdom. The 18 academic departments are as follows;

Facilities

Libraries

The Albert Sloman Library located on the Colchester campus, offers a wide array of texts concerning all subjects offered by the University, in addition to many that aren't. The library is structured as a 5 floor building (excluding the basement) where floors are accessed by revolving lifts, which the students love! There is a large computer lab located on the ground floor however there are labs all over campus. Books located on the main shelves can be loaned for 3 days or 7 days and can be renewed consistently providing no hold has been placed on a particular book by another student. If one finds himself in need of a book for short reference, then it's possible to loan a text for a period of 3 hours before returning it.

Students from the Southend campus can request books online and these are delivered by the daily courier service. Southend students also have use in the library at South East Essex College next door which stocks all the core texts books for each course.

IT and Computing

All rooms in accommodation are linked up to the uni network so if you wanted to bring your own computer you can have have speed internet access in your room, however there are computer labs all around campus so it is easy to get use of a computer.

Sports

The University's showpiece Evolve gym [1] opened in July 2010 after a £1.4 million refurbishment offering students state-of-the-art fitness technology in light, spacious air-conditioned comfort. Featuring more than 130 fitness stations, the cutting-edge Life Fitness cardiovascular equipment enables you to record, download and monitor your workouts. With integrated TVs on many of the machines, you can enter a world of your own, whilst burning off the calories. The University has a range of sports memberships - called Passport to Sport - it offers tiers of unlimited usage suited to your fitness needs. With on or off-peak options, they represent fantastic value. The University has a wide range of sports clubs, including many sports not normally experienced outside of University life such as Frisbee Golf or American Football. It has a well-equipped sports centre, including a fitness suite, studios, squash courts, netball and tennis courts and an 8m climbing wall. The University has its own clubhouse and boat-park at nearby Brightlingsea.

Sports that can be played at Essex:

Welfare

The university is well equipped in looking after the welfare of their students. There is a free counselling service, a medical centre on site, and Student Support which is dedicated to helping out students who experience any difficulties or concerns whilst at Essex.

Healthcare

There is a Health Centre on campus which students can register with when they arrive.

Shops

The SU shop is open 24 hours a day, with a night window open after 12pm. The shop sells a wide variety of everyday products, although prices are generally more expensive than the 24 hour Tesco superstore which is ten minutes away by foot. The Students Union also runs an international food store and a Stationery shop inside the Post Office. The international food store stocks products that are hard to come by in the UK, including noodles and traditional snacks. The stationery shop provides almost all the pens and notebooks you will ever require, along with Essex branded hoodies and other goodies. Again, you'll probably find stuff cheaper at Tesco.

Students at the Southend Campus have a large range of high street shops and supermarkets on their doorstep due to the campus being located in the centre of town.

Restaurants

There are lots of places to eat such as the SU bar, Mondos, Food on 3, the Blues Bar (healthy options) or our very own Happy Days (McDonalds style outlet).

Banks

Located on the Colchester campus, there are 3 branches of major banks, namely Santander, Barclays Plc and Lloyds TSB. Furthermore, there are 4 cash-points scattered throughout the squares that allow free withdrawals.

Transport

At the Colchester campus everything you need is on campus and within walking distance. If you want to go into town, there are buses every 15 minutes or so although it is walkable. There's also a bus every 20 minutes that takes you to the train station, and then you're only an hour away from London.

With the campus in Southend being in the town centre there is great transport links locally and around Essex. There are two train stations by the campus taking you to London Liverpool Street or Fenchurch street in 50 minutes.

Both campuses have a bus coming every hour that takes you to Stansted airport.

Careers Service

Essex Careers Centre helps students searching for jobs during their studies, however the Careers Service provides support, workshops and advice for students once graduated. Opening times are 9am-4pm weekdays only.

Part-time jobs

There are loads of opportunities for part time jobs at both campuses. If you sign up to the 'JobsOnline', which is the university's online job seeking service, you will get about 3 or 4 emails a day offering local part time jobs. Also as Colchester is a campus university all the shops, bars and food outlets are staffed by students so there are many jobs available there or in town, for the Southend students there are all types of jobs on offer.

Religious Facilities

The University Chaplaincy Centre is a dedicated space, running for 24 hours a day, that caters for the religious needs of all faiths, although primarily the facilities are used by Christians and Muslims. There are also Whudu facilities within the centre for both Muslim males and females. Furthermore, the centre contains various volumes of texts concerning many faiths. Lastly, there is also a Chaplain in residence within the centre offering advice. In the Southend campus there is a mutli faith prayer room and a chaplain around at certain times.

Essex Discussions

Latest relevant discussions	Last post/replies
University of Essex. 2013 entry by Fleur100	Miouhaneun 21 Hours Ago Replies: 67
2013 Essex Applicants by LaCRossE92	xBethanie 2 Days Ago Replies: 155
Advice appreciated :) by fantana	mickymouse1995 2 Days Ago Replies: 9
University of Essex: Ask A Student Thread / Information Thread :) by ByronicHero	Mirea 3 Days Ago Replies: 714
The Meadows ? by chezmoiz_diet	Nikolaj 4 Days Ago Replies: 2
Criminology and Sociology at Essex by Kemiritchiee	Kemiritchiee 5 Days Ago Replies: 0
Go to University of Essex forum Post new thread

Social

Bars, Pubs and Clubs

The 2 major clubs:

Sub Zero - the uni's nightclub is one of the best campus clubs in the UK. Open every Friday and Saturday and sometimes other days for big events.

Level 2 - Another bar place where events are held during the week. Also very good.

The SU Bar - The main bar/pub on campus. Shows alot of Sport on various flat screen televisions, and and night plays louder music for a more live atmosphere.

Top Bar - A more relaxed bar, more like a traditional English pub. Alot more quiet, with pool tables and dart boards.

If you do want to go to town, the main the club is Liquid. The other nightclub in Colchester is Route. There are also loads of bars and pubs around.

Events

The university holds lots of events on and off campus. There are events on almost every night of the week every week which is pretty amazing. Albeit rather limited to whatever is fashionable at the time. They do however have various nights for more niche markets. Such as the Alt. night, and Vibez held in Level 2. There is no real need to go off campus for a quality night out.

Since September 2008, we have had guests like Calvin Harris, Pendulum, Jay Sean, Tim Westwood, DJ Ez, Trevor Nelson, The Automatic, Zane Lowe, Chipmunk, Mystery Jets, Chase & Status, Erol Alkan, Signature and more recently: Dave Pearce,Example, Roni Size, Faithless, The Holloways, The Hoosiers and Hed Kandi. And don't forgot the yearly Summer Ball! A must attend event for all students.

Clubs and societies

There are a number of clubs and societies and over 40 sports clubs, as listed above, and 120 registered societies covering cultural, religious, political, social and academic interests, as well as Musical. Each society does it own little thing and have parties - law has the law ball. The DJ Soc helps to give training on using decks for free while the Film Soc show weekly films to its members. There's a lot to do when a member of a society.

Accommodation

Accommodation Policy

The University guarantees on-campus accommodation to 1st year undergraduates studying at the Colchester campus. Students progressing into their 2nd year of study are normally required to live off campus, although students may wish to sign up to a waiting list for University accommodation. Never put down Avon way house. Further details regarding accommodation policy can be found via the following link, http://www.essex.ac.uk/accommodation/.

Facilities

Residences

The University has a number of residences. There are the Towers (4 being North & 2 are South towers), the South Courts, the Houses and Wolfson Court. The Towers are the cheapest and the Courts are the most expensive, although you do have the luxury of an en-suite in the latter. For more information regarding rent and general questions, please visit the accommodation office at http://www.essex.ac.uk/accommodation/.

Private sector

The private accommodation list gets released in April each year - 2nd year students can't get on-campus accommodation so you'll have to move out. Most people move out to Wivenhoe, Hythe, Greenstead or other areas of Colchester. Third years also tend to move out, though all years can go on a waiting list for accommodation on campus.

Student union

he University of Essex Students' Union is well regarded nationally. It has a very successful volunteering programme that is a national award winner. It has been successful in expanding services offered including considerable expansion and relocation of its Advice Centre. The Students' Union runs the majority of commercial services on campus. Its shops stock a great deal of imported food products, reflecting the University's international community. It has many licensed venues, the primary venues being the Student Union Bar and the Top Bar. There are club-style venues: Mondo (which doubles as a restaurant during the day), Level 2, and the newly refurbished Sub Zero (formerly the Underground), which have hosted many bands and top name DJ's, including AC/DC, The Kinks, The Pretenders supported by the then little known UB40, Iggy Pop and the Sugababes, whilst in recent times Maxïmo Park, Editors, The Paddingtons, The Subways, Babyshambles, Boy Kill Boy and The Young Knives, Pendulum, and DJ Paul Oakenfold continue its reputation. Sub Zero was voted best student union venue upon its refurbishment and is one of the biggest in the country holding over 1,200.

The student newspaper is The Rabbit, named after the many rabbits which can be seen on campus. It had been suggested that the editing of The Rabbit had previously been somewhat prejudiced due to its affiliation with the Students' Union Executive Committee. As of the academic year 2006-2007, it is now loosely autonomous from the Students' Union and is a no more balanced and critical newspaper as a result.[neutrality disputed]

The student radio station is called RED AM1404, broadcasting on 1404AM and over the Internet, and was the second student radio station in the UK. Established in 1971 it was originally called URE (University Radio Essex). There is also a student-run TV production company called R:TV.

The Students' Union is run by an Executive Committee of 5 full time officers and 7 part-time officers. The Students' Union is a member of the National Union of Students and many of its members are involved.

The University of Essex provides a lot of support for its students, such as the advice centre, the health centre, Student Support and Nightline.

Prices

Drinks
The Pricing in the S.U. run venues is decent. Not the best, but still much better than a bar or club in town. Drinks range from £1.50 (for the cheapest shots, spirits and mixers, bottles etc) to the more premium quality drinks at around £2.60 Non alcoholic beverage are also of similar good prices.

Food
The price of food is depending on where you buy it from on campus. There is a cheap pizzeria, and a cafe in the morning selling full english breakfasts. There are also weekly deals in the SU Bar, such as 2 for 1.

Campus Shop
The campus is relatively expensive, esp. when compared to the close by supermarket Tesco, with regard to big named products e.g. Coca-cola. But does offer alot of extremely cheap 'own brand' alternatives

Environment

Architecture

Concrete architecture is typical of England's 60s' universities and quite similar to that of the University of East Anglia. The architect of the University of Essex campus took the Tuscan town of San Gimignano with its squares and towers as an inspiration.

The Ivor Crewe lecture Hall, which opened in October 2006 and was designed by the architect Patel Taylor, has attracted a mixed response, with Prince Charles reputedly referring to it as 'like a dustbin' while The Civic Trust, a charity of which he is patron, have awarded it a Civic Trust award (2008) for making 'an outstanding contribution to the quality and appearance of the environment'. The building was named after Professor Sir Ivor Crewe in April 2007, to mark his retirement from the position of vice chancellor, a position he had held since 1995.[5]

The University's new £30m 'Gateway' building in Southend was opened in January 2007, housing the academic activities including business, health and acting, as well as being home to a facility operated by Queen Mary Dental School, a GP practice and a business incubation centre.

Currently under construction on the Wivenhoe campus are new buildings for the departments of Psychology and Health and Human Science

Local area

Campus set in, Wivenhoe Park - over 200 acres (809km²) of park land, two lakes.

Teaching and Research Quality

Teaching

Despite being one of the youngest Universities in the United Kingdom, Essex has maintained a teaching and research record that ranks it above many larger institutions. In the 2002 QAA, which assessed teaching quality throughout British Universities, all departments within the University received a grading of 20 or above out of 24. In particular, the Departments of Economics, Government, Philosophy and Sociology all received maximum QAA marks.

Research

Essex prides itself on its research quality and this is reflected in its performance in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

Essex ranked ninth in the UK for the quality of its research. 22 per cent of research is rated as 'world leading' and more than 90 per cent is recognised internationally for its quality. Essex is the UK's leading university in social sicences with politics, and sociology ranked first, economics third and linguistics fourth nationally. Excellence in the humanities is confirmed by outstandin national rankings for history (second in the UK), art history (ninth) and philosophy (tenth). Essex Business School ranked second in the UK in accounting and finance research.

Notable Alumni

In its relatively short history, the University of Essex has produced many notable graduates in the field of Politics, Social Science, Technology and the Arts, as well as several Nobel Prize Winners.

John Bercow- Speaker of the House of Commons

Christopher A. Pissarides - The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2010 was awarded jointly to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides "for their analysis of markets with search frictions".

The Current President of Costa Rica, Óscar Arias, completed his doctorate in Political Science at the University in 1973, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. Vice President of Costa Rica, Dr Kevin Roberto Casas Zamora, also completed his studies in Essex, earning a MA in Latin American Government & Politics in 1993. Other political figures educated at Essex include the foreign ministers of Slovenia (Dimitrij Rupel) & Iraq (Hoshyar Zebari), Conservative Party MPs Virginia Bottomley & John Bercow, Labour Party MP Siobhain McDonagh, Pakistani Social Activist Omar Asghar Khan, South African politician Thozamile Botha and Singapore Workers' Party politician James Gomez (MA 1994).

Notable graduates in the field of the Humanities & Media include Stephen Daldry & Mike Leigh, who both studied at the East 15 Acting School (part of the University of Essex since 2001), acclaimed Artistic Director William Burdett-Coutts (MA Drama), Documentary Filmmaker Nick Broomfield, Malaysian Poet Kee Thuan Chye, veteran BBC Correspondent Brian Hanrahan and Booker Prize Winning Author Ben Okri.

In the field of Architecture, world renowned Architect Daniel Libeskind, who was recently commissioned to rebuild the World Trade Center Site in New York City, attended Essex and completed a MA in History & Theory of Architecture in 1972. Architectural Historian Alberto Pérez-Gómez, who now heads the History and Theory of Architecture program at McGill University in Canada, completed his MA & PhD programs in 1975.

Many of the University's graduates have gone on to staff various university departments worldwide. In particular, half of the sociology professors in UK Higher Education have completed all or part of their education at Essex. Some graduates have even returned to Essex and have held, or hold positions within the University's various academic departments [6]. The Current Director of Essex's Human Right's Centre, John Packer, completed his LLM at Essex.

Applying to Essex

Thinking of applying to University of Essex? Why not read some Personal Statements which were used for applying here?

Other Essex Articles

Why not read these other University of Essex Articles?

Links

• Our University of Essex Discussion Forum
• University of Essex Homepage
• A-Z of Universities