University of Essex

The University of Essex is a place for the ambitious and the bold; proud to have provided excellence in research and excellence in education for over 50 years. The university has a close-knit, supportive and welcoming community, with a powerful and pioneering global outlook and over 12,000 students from more than 130 different countries.

Course Flexibility
The university offers a broad first year with opportunities for students to try new subjects they may not have encountered before. In subsequent years, students have the chance to tailor their course to suit their developing interests. Students can also change direction at the end of their first year and switch degree scheme.
Essex promotes interdisciplinary study with many undergraduate courses allowing students to study a combination of 2 or 3 subjects, even if not related.
Almost all courses offer the chance to spend a term or a year studying, working or volunteering abroad.
Student Services and Facilities
Computer facilities are in the library and in open access labs, generally open 24 hours a day. Online resources includes myEssex virtual learning environment with information on living and learning at Essex and a Course Material Repository (CMR) hosting all course-related materials for students. A Listen Again service makes MP3 recordings of lectures.
The Albert Sloman Library at the Colchester campus has 6 floors of e-resources, research resources (included thesis binding), specialist materials, and more than 1.7 million books, pamphlets, e-publications, and microfilms. It opens late, 7 days a week in term-time, with a 24-hour reading room; there are short loan and student collections for books in high demand – 34,000 extra copies in all. In Southend, the Forum is an integrated municipal and academic public library, with over 140,000 books and, accessible online, 52,000 e-books and 33,000 e-journals.
Students can book 1-to-1 sessions with study skills advisers to help them with a wide range of academic skills such as managing reading lists, increasing academic style and improving note-taking to planning essays, referencing and bibliographies and help with seminar presentations.
The Languages for All programme gives students the chance to learn a modern foreign language at no extra cost alongside your studies.
The University of Essex is the only UK University to have its own theatre at each of the 3 campuses, and an art gallery with an internationally important collection of art from Latin America, ESCALA.
Disability Services
The university encourages and supports disabled students, including those with specific learning difficulties.
Provision includes: a named adviser, advice on Disabled Students’ Allowance, help with booking a needs assessment, study strategies, mentoring or tutoring, practical learning support, individual exam arrangements, and support with allocation of accessible accommodation.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the Disability and Access Team to discuss individual needs and access requirements.
In addition students experiencing emotional or mental health difficulties can access assistance from the Wellbeing Team within the Student Support service.