Planning

1959-1963

Key events
1959: Essex County Council initiates enquiry into a University in the county following proposal from Ald Charles (later Lord) Leatherland.
1960: Promotion Committee, chaired by Sir John Ruggles-Brise, prepares submission to University Grants Committee.
1961: Three new universities announced, in Canterbury, Coventry, and Colchester. Academic planning board set up under Noel (later Lord) Annan, Provost of King's College, Cambridge. Wivenhoe Park selected as the site.
1962: Dr Albert Sloman, MA, DPhil, Gilmour Professor of Spanish and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Liverpool, appointed Vice-Chancellor. The Rt. Hon. R A (later Lord) Butler, CH, MP, invited to be Chancellor.
1963: Site cleared for building, first prospectus prepared, and red chosen as University colour. First members of staff appointed.

An academic plan

In 1962 the academic planning board set out a blueprint to establish a forward looking University, concentrating on modern studies with a strong school of social sciences bridging the gap between the sciences and humanities.

Following the appointment of Sir Albert Sloman, and the first Professors, this blueprint was taken forward in the first Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Government, Sociology, Literature, Maths, Economics, the Language Centre and the Computing Centre.

The founding Professor of the Department of Government, Jean Blondel, arrived in 1964 and helped shape Essex's academic future. He remembers the early developments:

'There were elements unique to Essex which contributed to its success.'

'I was struck by the need to modernise political science in western Europe, to take on a comparative approach, analysing modern political behaviour, incorporating surveys and statistics. Essex provided an opportunity to influence the teaching and research of political science. One of the first graduate schemes in the Department reflected this. The MA in Political Behaviour was a move away from traditional text based studies that had dominated the field to examine new 'cutting edge' methodology.'

This forward looking approach was carried through to undergraduate provision: 'Students left school often with little understanding of the modern world and the key events of the 20th century, they were not taught about Communism or Fascism. I was involved, with Richard Lipsey, Peter Townsend, and Donald Davie, in creating interdisciplinary schemes, within the Schools of Comparative Studies and Social Sciences, which provided students with a common grounding, across all subject areas, to enable them to go on and specialise in their second and third years.'

A strong graduate profile was also a founding aim, Professor Blondel remembers: 'Masters degrees were almost a mini-PhD, assessed by dissertation with no teaching involved. At Essex the decision was made to introduce formal training into graduate schemes to lead students into a PhD and create a professional graduate programme. This filtered down to undergraduate level and was one reason Essex was so successful.'

The academic development was characterised by Sir Albert's approach to academia. 'The traditionally hierarchical structure of academic departments headed by a single professor was broken down and replaced with a rotating departmental chair system that saw all members of the department take the lead, and the appointment of multi-professorships.'

A 'university town'

The forward-looking, modern curriculum was reflected in the physical construction of the campus under architect Kenneth Capon.

Together he and Sir Albert spent time creating a plan which gave 'physical and visual expression' to the founding ideals of the University.

The main buildings, described as spreading out like ribs from a central spine of squares, captured an important academic aspect, interdisciplinary teaching and research. Their close proximity stressed 'the non-separateness of subjects, the interrelation between mathematics, the sciences, economics and sociology,' said Kenneth Capon in the Essex County Standard.

In a similar way, social and educational space was integrated to help foster a community. The University was different from other institutions characterised by separate colleges, libraries and halls of residence. Its compact design was aimed to keep the thousands who would eventually study at the university together as one community.

A model of Kenneth Capon's architectural vision for the campus