Starting at Essex following the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak

The University of Essex is a campus-based university. We offer our students a distinctive, on-campus, living and learning experience, and our students benefit from being on our campuses, sharing their Essex learning experience with fellow students and being part of our rich and diverse community.

Across the University we are planning for 98% of our teaching to be delivered face-to-face. Departments are providing students with specific details relating to their courses and modules and will be in touch with you, should you be affected prior to the start of term.

COVID-19 vaccination

At the moment there is no UK Government requirement that you should have a vaccine to enter the UK, although this might change/and individual airlines might introduce specific requirements. You should check UK Government requirements regularly as these are subject to change.

We will not require all students and staff to be vaccinated for COVID-19 but would encourage everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated to do so.

As a student at Essex, we want to support you to get vaccinated in order to protect yourself, fellow students and the campus community you live and study within. We have health services available locally to all campuses (doctors’ surgery on Colchester Campus) and NHS hospitals close to all of our campuses. You will be able to access these (and wider health care) through the fee paid for health cover.

Travelling to campus from overseas

Currently, you are not required to take any COVID-19 tests, be vaccinated or quarantine/self-isolate before or after your arrival into the UK. As information may change, it is best to regularly review the Government webpages for up-to-date information for the country you are travelling from.

If you are issued with a student visa to study at Essex, you can expect to be issued with entry clearance that will start up to one month before the course start date stated on your CAS. The standard processing time for Student visa entry clearance applications is currently 15 working days but it can take much longer during peak application periods. You will need to have your student entry clearance vignette (sticker) in your passport before you travel to the UK and must enter the UK on or after the date it is valid from.