Our key statistics

Latest rankings

• We are Top 40 in the UK (The Complete University Guide 2023)
• Our Students' Union is 7th in the National Student Survey 2022 for representing students (Broad discipline English universities)
• Number one university in the UK for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), the flagship Innovate UK programme.
• We’re 76th in the global Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2022 and ranked in the top 25 globally for three of the UN Sustainable Development Goals assessed.
• Top for Drama and Dance (The Guardian University Guide 2022)
• 25th for international outlook in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022.
• Top 50 for politics and sociology in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021.
• Top 75 for social sciences and law in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022.
• Top 200 for business and economics in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022
• Top 175 for the arts and humanities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022. 
• 88% of our graduates are in employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2022) 

Research excellence

• Find out more about our performance in the Research Excellence Framework 2021 in our news section 

Essex is a centre of world-leading excellence for the social sciences. Four social science subjects are in the UK top 10 for research quality (Grade Point Average, REF2021) and three are in the UK Top 10 for research power (Times Higher Education 2022). We have further outstanding strengths in science and health, and arts and humanities.

The four Essex subjects in the UK top 10 for research quality are -  sociology, economics and econometrics, politics and international studies, and modern languages and linguistics. 

The five Essex subjects in the UK top 10 for research power are – sociology, law, economics and econometrics, politics and international studies, and computer science.

• Research Excellence Framework 2021 web page

Truly international

We have students from more than 140 countries and a third of our students are from outside the UK - 12.8% are from the European Union and 21.5% are from overseas.

A growing university

• 17,800+ students on Essex programmes at our three campuses.
• 13,800+ undergraduates at our three campuses.
• 3,900+ postgraduates at our three campuses.

Note: Our figures refer to headcount - total number of students registered on Essex courses in 2021.

Awards won

• Most Innovative Teacher award at the 2021 Times Higher Education Awards.
• Outstanding collaboration award for national NVSA for Students’ Union Refugee training programme.
• Wivenhoe Park, the home of our Colchester Campus has won the Green Flag award fives years in a row and was named in the top 10 of the People’s Choice Awards.
• Collaboration Award for a decade of successful partnership to deliver high-quality student housing at the National Student Accommodation Award

Economic impact

• Our contribution to the UK economy is worth more than £500m. In Colchester our economic impact is £478m and in Southend our economic impact is £55m.
• We are number one for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships in the UK (Innovate UK).
• Our research income is £42m (2020-21) – including contracts, grants and fees.
• We employ more than 2,644 academic, research, senior support and general support staff.