University of Essex: Annual Review, 2000-2001
Contents - The University - Vice-Chancellor's Introduction - A New Partnership - Constable and Wivenhoe Park - Campus Developments - Research at Essex - Review of the Year - People and Honorary Graduates - Financial Summary and Statistics

A New Partnership

2000-2001 ushered in a new phase in the University's collaborative Partnership for higher education with South East Essex College in Southend-on-Sea.

The Partnership brings to fruition more than three years of careful planning and preparation that has developed into a new model for higher education in the UK. It builds upon the diverse expertise of two institutions, but will offer something different from either the University or the College. Moreover, the courses and services offered by the Partnership are designed specifically to meet an identified need in the south of the county.

The first cohort of University of Essex undergraduate students was admitted to the BSc Social Studies degree at the College  in September 2001, blazing a trail which will bring a further 1,500 Partnership students to the University within the next five years.

The students were welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor on an induction day at the University's main Colchester campus in October 2000, the first of many such visits from the University's wider community of students in the region. Partnership students will be taught entirely at the College's Southend-on-Sea campus, but will have access to social, sports and library facilities at Wivenhoe Park. By 2004, it is hoped that Partnership students will be studying for their degrees in an architecturally innovative new purpose-built building in the centre of Southend.

Over the past year, academic and administrative staff from both institutions have worked closely together to put in place the academic programmes and support systems that this unique Partnership needed to succeed. Academic staff from the University have worked with their College colleagues to develop a total of seventeen new degree programmes for 2001-2002, focussing on vocational areas such as Business Studies, Fashion, Graphic and Interior Design, Computing, Sports Studies, Health Studies, Tourism Management, E-Commerce and Media Technology. These courses draw on both institutions' established strengths and are designed to meet an identified demand for increased vocational higher education opportunities in south Essex.

Further collaborative work with the College continues apace, with new programmes in Journalism, Performing Arts, Fine Art, Digital Arts and Education now under development for 2002-2003 and beyond, alongside plans to increase part-time and Foundation Degree provision. The energy with which the University has entered the sphere reflects both its firm commitment to regional growth and its policy of widening access to mature students and those from low-income households, many of whom now prefer to study for a degree in their local area.

Working with the College, now a national Centre of Excellence for Media Technology, has proved a stimulating experience for members of the University community, who have seen for themselves the open-plan accommodation and ICT resource-based learning for which the College is renowned. The University's progressive approach to collaboration, not simply franchising its existing programmes but actively developing a range of new degrees in co-operation with its partner College, provides a model for raising standards in higher education in the region.

University of Essex: Annual Review, 2000-2001
Contents - The University - Vice-Chancellor's Introduction - A New Partnership - Constable and Wivenhoe Park - Campus Developments - Research at Essex - Review of the Year - People and Honorary Graduates - Financial Summary and Statistics