How we teach 

Across our three faculties of Humanities, Science and Health, and Social Sciences, a range of innovative teaching initiatives encourage our students to broaden their understanding, develop their analytical skills, and boost their professional confidence.

We have established an annual Excellence in Teaching Award. These awards are open to everyone who teaches and supports learning and we celebrate the best of these at Graduation every year. 

Our academic staff also have the opportunity to gain professional recognition as Fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) through our CADENZA programme, which is designed to foster teaching excellence in all staff who teach and support learning. It is accredited by the Higher Education Academy and is mapped against the UK Professional Standards Framework.

The Learning Lounge is a virtual staff room that helps our academic colleagues enhance their professional performance by encouraging exploration across different interests - such as curriculum development and assessment and feedback.

With our students as the focal point, our education insight workshops provide academic staff with the opportunity to develop their teaching practice inside and outside the classroom.

We have prioritised investment in a range of learning resources and facilities to help students develop their full potential. Our libraries at Colchester, Southend and Loughton campuses, provide 24-hour study facilities, and extensive space for individual and collaborative working.

Our new, state-of-the-art £18m STEM centre, specialist facilities for life sciences, and our centre for brain science, a new £12m sports arena that contains a sports therapy clinic.

Our mock hospital wards for health and social care students, oral health sciences lab and consultation rooms, and translation and interpreting labs for language students, provide the means for hands-on teaching in a realistic environment.

Learning technologies are widely available to our academic community to help them enhance the teaching and learning experience for our students, in the lecture hall, seminar room and in the virtual space. 

These include Moodle, the virtual learning environment, Listen Again, the lecture capture and playback system, and an Electronic Voting System that lets students vote in the classroom in real-time.

We are also strengthening research and teaching links through partnerships with key European universities, including YERUN, YUFE and UROP. These partnerships are crossing disciplines to enrich our research, and enhance learning opportunities for our students.