Founded on the vision to integrate living alongside learning, Essex is a campus university in the historic setting of Wivenhoe Park, immortalised in John Constable’s painting and now famed for the university's warm welcome and its brutalist accommodation towers, along with the students’ union, sports facilities and teaching buildings.
The much-reduced footfall of undergraduates from EU countries at UK universities since Brexit has been felt keenly at Essex, but the university remains determined to keep up its longstanding European links post-Brexit. As a member of the Young Universities for the Future of Europe alliance of ten research-intensive universities — including Maastricht in the Netherlands and Bremen in Germany — students have opportunities to study across the Continent.
Essex is also among the ten founder members of ResearchPlus — a consortium of research-focused universities launched in 2025 “with a common purpose — to advance economic growth, prosperity, and societal wellbeing for the benefit of the places where we are located and for the wider world”.
What is the University of Essex’s reputation?
The social sciences are Essex’s longstanding academic strength. The university ranks 72= for sociology in the 2025 QS World University Rankings, though has slipped outside the top 100 for politics. Politics and sociology were to the fore in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), along with economics and modern languages. Across all subject areas, 83 per cent of Essex’s research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent. While an improvement on its performance in the previous REF in 2014, even bigger gains elsewhere meant that Essex dropped 16 places to 41st in our research quality index.
At the new £10.7 million Clingoe House building at the Knowledge Gateway on the Colchester campus, the focus is on health research. The Health, Wellbeing and Care Hub provides integrated services to locals while delivering work placement and research opportunities for students within nursing, allied health therapies, law, computing and social work, among other subjects.
Essex was rated triple silver in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023) — overall and for the underpinning aspects of student experience and student outcomes.
The university’s position in our ranking has fluctuated, going from the top 25 in 2017 — when Essex was shortlisted for our University of the Year award — to 56=. Its NSS results contribute to its yo-yoing: and for these metrics across two years it has gone from 92= to 32= for teaching quality, and 53rd to 21= for the wider student experience. In the latest National Student Survey (NSS) 2025, the university is hitting the right notes with undergraduates: our NSS analysis puts this Sixties research-intensive university in the top 35 for teaching quality and the top 25 for the student experience.
A freeze on staff promotions was introduced in 2024 to help prevent a financial deficit for the institution, and job cuts have been reported.
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
Twenty-five undergraduate courses have been suspended from 2025. These include global politics, journalism with literature, sociology and politics, and accounting with economics. There are temporary suspensions of 17, including American studies, art history and modern languages, and sociology and health.
However, the curriculum has gained four new degrees: stage management, microbiology, urban sustainability studies, international affairs, and international affairs and economics.
A new degree apprenticeship in biomedical science launches in 2026, joining an earn-while-you-learn roster of seven programmes with more than 400 students enrolled.
What are the University of Essex’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?
Most courses require between BBC and BBB (112 to 120 Ucas tariff points). Essex’s contextual admissions policy undercuts standard offers by up to two A-level grades, or equivalent, to UK applicants who meet eligibility criteria.
What are the graduate prospects?
The Knowledge Gateway on the Colchester campus is home to more than 90 businesses, many of which offer internships or employment, and work-based learning and placements are offered on almost all courses. But Essex sits outside the top half of our graduate prospects table, ranking 91=, based on the proportion of leavers in high-skilled work or further study 15 months on from their degrees.
What is the University of Essex’s campus like?
Upgrades to the university’s academic facilities include modern skills laboratories and simulation equipment at the School of Health and Social Care. The School of Life Sciences has extended its marine biology and aquatic sciences laboratory, while the new £3.5 million Smart Technology Experimental Plant Suite (Steps) provides a research facility where the internationally acclaimed Plant Productivity Group are continuing to study how to improve crop photosynthesis. The £19 million Parkside phase of the university’s Knowledge Gateway research and technology park in Colchester incorporates the new Institute of Public Health and Wellbeing.
Less well known is its modern seaside campus at Southend, which has courses in business, health and the arts. The third campus, Loughton, is home to Essex’s acting school, East 15, which counts the actress Alison Steadman and the director Stephen Daldry among its alumni.
When can I visit?
essex.ac.uk
Everything you need to know about the University of Essex’s student life and wellbeing support
The students’ union includes a revamped bar and common room, and there are more than 100 student-led societies, along with volunteering opportunities. There’s plenty for arts and culture too, with three theatres — one on each campus — as well as the Art Exchange at the Colchester site, which hosts exhibitions, talks and film screenings.
Sport is well supported at Essex, which enjoyed its best British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs) season in 2023-24, reaching the top 30 (29th) — and 30th in the 2024-25 season out of more than 140 higher education institutions. The £12 million Essex Sport Arena in Colchester hosts the university’s elite national basketball and volleyball teams, the Essex Rebels. The arena is part of a 40-acre sports area that includes an 18-hole disc golf course, all-weather tennis courts and room for five-a-side football. Essex now has a Women’s High Performance Football Centre, in partnership with the Football Association, and Essex County Cricket Club was chosen by the England and Wales Cricket Board for an elite women’s cricket team. Rugby-playing students are benefiting from a new partnership with Colchester Rugby Club. Student athletes also have access to sports testing and coaching at the university’s Human Performance Unit.
Counselling is available on all three campuses, and students can access SilverCloud online cognitive behavioural therapy resources. Antiracism training is run for students and staff, and upon registration all new students must complete a mandatory online sexual consent and bystander training module.
What do the students say?
“Your experience is yours to shape. You can join societies, sports teams, volunteer on meaningful projects, or get involved and represent students, all while being part of a welcoming, international community. You can also enjoy nights out at our on-campus bar and nightclub.”
Lily-May Cameron, Essex students’ union president
What about student accommodation at the University of Essex?
The interiors of the six accommodation tower blocks on the main campus have been revamped. The Pastures halls of residence added 1,204 rooms and 58 studios. Halls at the Southend campus contribute to Essex’s provision of more than 6,000 spaces. The university guarantees accommodation to first-years who make Essex their firm choice and meet application deadlines.
How diverse and inclusive is the University of Essex?
Essex has ambitious outreach programmes in schools and colleges across its home county, neighbouring Suffolk and east London. Their success is reflected in the student population, which is more diverse than most pre-1992 universities: Essex is 35= in our social inclusion index, dropping out of last year’s top 30 place at 29=.
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at the University of Essex
At least half of new entrants qualify for one of Essex’s financial awards. Many are automatically applied and their number is uncapped. These include cash bursaries of up to £3,000 a year, awarded on a sliding scale based on household incomes, while merit-based academic awards include law scholarships.
