University of Essex

The University of Essex is a public research university in Colchester, England. It was established in 1963. The university is spread over three campuses in Colchester, Southend and Loughton and each of these campuses has its own theatre. Moments away from the Colchester Campus lies Wivenhoe Park, home to a wide range of plants and wildlife. The park was once painted by artist John Constable and this painting now hangs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. There is a high percentage of international students, coming from around 140 countries to study at the university and a third of the students are from outside the UK. Some 14 per cent of the students come from the rest of the EU. The courses available are organised into three faculties: humanities, science and health and social science. Within these three faculties there are 20 different schools and departments. The university holds a number of partnerships with more than 100 higher education institutions from around the world in China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and Singapore. Students can join many different societies and sports teams including table tennis, fencing, lacrosse and American football as well as less traditional sports such as korfball and ultimate frisbee. Student sports teams are known as the Essex Blades. The student union has won national awards and many bands such as Pink Floyd, The Kinks and Blur have played in the union. The university can count two Nobel Laureates, as well as filmmaker David Yates, author Ben Okri and architect Daniel Libeskind, as alumni.