Facts and figures
Nobel Prize winners, a starring role in one of Constable's paintings, a
theatre established in a converted church, celebrity graduates and marzipan
figures of political leaders - find out a little bit more about the University.
You can also discover how it all adds up by looking at our key statistics.
Top 10 Facts
Nobel Prize winning graduates
Two of our graduates have won Nobel Prizes. In 2010 Chris Pissarides won the
Nobel Prize for Economics and in 1987 Oscar Arias Sánchez won the Nobel Peace
Prize for his efforts to end civil wars in Central America. Another Nobel Prize
winner, Derek Walcott, was appointed the University's Professor of Poetry in 2009.
World-class research
We are in the top 10 for research in the UK according to the last Research
Assessment Exercise - an independent review of research at all universities, carried out in 2008.
Many of our departments were ranked in the top 10 nationally including Government,
Sociology, History, Economics and Language and Linguistics. Essex Business School was
ranked second in the Accounting and Finance subject area.
Investing £200 million in our future
We are spending more than £200 million on improving our facilities at our
three campuses. Future projects include building the landmark Institute for
Democracy and Conflict Resolution, set to be designed by world-famous architect
Daniel Libeskind. We are proud of our creative approach - in Southend our
award-winning Clifftown Studios was created in a converted former church and
University Square student accommodation complex is a new icon for the town
centre.
Top 20 for student satisfaction
We are placed seventeenth in England for overall student satisfaction according to the
National Student Survey (NSS) for 2012.
Eighty-eight per cent of Essex students expressed overall satisfaction
with their course, compared with a national average of 85 per cent.
Half of our 16 schools, departments and centres included in the NSS achieved overall satisfaction scores
of 90 per cent or above. In addition, the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies achieved 100 per cent, History 97 per cent
and Government, Language and Linguistics each achieved 94 per cent.
Real Constable Country
At our Colchester Campus you are surrounded by historic parkland which was
once painted by eighteenth century landscape artist John Constable. In 2000
Constable's painting of Wivenhoe Park returned to our Colchester Campus for a
special exhibition.
Nightline makes a difference for 40 years
In 1970 Essex was the first UK university to launch Nightline, an anonymous
telephone support helpline, now operating at over 40 universities.
Award-winning clubs and teaching facilities
Our Students' Union nightclub Sub Zero continues to win awards and has just
received the Best Bar None Award. The Ivor Crewe
Lecture Hall, opened in 2006, has won three architectural awards and with space
for 1,000 people it is one of the biggest lecture halls in the country.
World's largest survey of how people really live
The world's largest long-term longitudinal survey is being led by the
Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Essex, with 40,000 UK
households being interviewed to find out how people really live their lives.
Unique library collections
Special collections in our library include papers, books and paintings from
leading local, national and international figures including Sigmund Freud and
crime novelist Margery Allingham. Unusual items in the collections include
marzipan figures of former SDP leaders David Owen and Roy Jenkins.
Providing top political insights
Essex is the only university other than Oxford, to have conducted the UK's
top political science research study, the British Election Study, which
continues to be based here.
Other quick facts:
- Europe's only public collection of modern and contemporary
art from Latin America is based at Essex.
- Our commitment to the arts is shown by the fact that,
uniquely among UK universities, we have a theatre at each of our
three campuses.
- Recent awards for the University have included the Queen's
Anniversary Prize in 2009 for its pioneering work on
international human rights in 2010.
- Computer scientists at Essex developed the world's first
autonomous robotic fish, which took to the water at the London
Aquarium in 2005.
- The University is worth more than £200 million annually to
the local economy.
- Six residential towers at our Colchester Campus were the
tallest load-bearing brick buildings in the country when they
were built in the 1960s.
- Former students of East 15 Acting School include actress
Alison Steadman, Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison, and film directors
Mike Leigh, Stephen Daldry and David Yates (director of the four latest Harry Potter films).
- Our Southend Campus was built on the site of a former cinema
which played host to The Beatles, Roy Orbison and Laurel and
Hardy in its heyday.
- Our 18-hole Frisbee golf course at the Colchester Campus has
hosted the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships.
- Famous bands who have played at the University include rock
legends Pink Floyd, Iggy Pop and The Kinks, plus indie giants
Blur.