The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. It was established in 1963, welcomed its first students in 1964 and received its royal charter in 1965. Essex's motto, ’Thought the harder, heart the keener’, is adapted from the Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon.
Essex's largest campus is the Colchester Campus within Wivenhoe Park, less than a mile (1.6 km) from Wivenhoe and two miles (3 km) from Colchester. There is also a campus in Southend-on-Sea and East 15 Acting School is based at the Loughton Campus. Essex has 19 academic partnerships in the UK and around the world. UK partnerships include University of Essex Online with Kaplan Open Learning; Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and University of Essex International College. International partnerships include a franchise arrangement with Kaplan Singapore and double and dual degrees with several universities in Europe and Asia. This includes a double degree with Northwest University in Xi'an approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
We're a university going places with increasing numbers of students and one of the most international academic communities in the world.
We were named University of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards in November 2018.
We strive for excellence and we're excelling in everything we do. We are Gold rated in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2017), top 15 for the seventh year running in The National Student Survey (2019, overall student satisfaction, English mainstream universities*), and top 25 for research quality in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020.
National Ranking Complete 2020 : 44
Guadian 2020 : 66
Times/Sunday Times 2020 : 37
Global Ranking
ARWU 2019 : 502-600
QS 2020 : 355
THE 2020 : 251-300
We’re a university where curiosity prevails, and where exploring new ways of thinking and pushing boundaries, isn’t just encouraged, it’s expected.
We were named University of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards 2018 for our determination to do things differently and put student success at the centre of everything we do.
We’re proud to be gold rated in the Teaching Excellence Framework 2017 and we're in the top 25 for research quality in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide. This year we were also in the top 15 for the seventh year running in the National Student Survey for overall student satisfaction (2019, overall student satisfaction, English mainstream universities*).
We're committed to two things: excellence in teaching and excellence in research. We put student success at the heart of our mission, supporting every student from every background to achieve outstanding outcomes; preparing our students to thrive in their future lives.
