Ratings and Reviews
Attending the University of Essex has been an incredible experience for me. The campus is vibrant and welcoming, with plenty of facilities and everything you need close by. The student union is fantastic, offering a range of fun activities and support, making student life really enjoyable. The location is great, with the campus being safe and just 1 hour and 30 minutes from London, which is perfect for international students. The faculty is excellent, and the courses are well-structured and comprehensive, though a bit more contact time and support would be helpful. The student life here is lively, with lots of opportunities to join sports, societies, and events, which helps create a strong sense of community. While there's room for improvement in student support services, the career prospects after graduation look promising. Overall, I highly recommend the University of Essex for a rich and fulfilling student experience.
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University of Essex Hall Rankings
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the hardware of the campus is a bit historical , many undeveloped area nearby , looks like inside an industrial area
Lovely, green campus with great facilities. The shops and restaurants have good variety. The award-winning SU consistently goes above and beyond in its support of the students. The student support staff are helpful and friendly.
The university campus is really nice, however, it's a disappointing place to study your PhD. The lecturers are unhelpful they just scratching each other backs, regardless of students rights; it's a trap try to avoid it. I am happy that I am not there anymore.
The best university I've ever attended !! Need to say more?
the best thing was the accomdation
Everything is closely accessible so I don't have a huge problem with the facilities already available but occasionally the internet on campus did become an annoyance since some lectures rely on it for class quiz.
great system of education, staff are polite and helpful.
The maltings is a great place to live, it’s on the pricey side however the place itself and location is great and definitely worth the accommodation. The management, and staff are great. Lorraine and Debbie are my favourite, always greeting me with a huge smile, Michelle new addition to the team is amazing too :) They try their best to make you feel at home. Definitely disappointed towards how much the management staff have been bashed. Fix up smh :/
Loved the friends I made here. Will always have a special place in my heart.
Gonna miss this university so much. Love how it has its own campus and its own club. Friendly people too. Only downside is the town isn't very huge so there isn't much to do there.
Met nice people. Cant complain
Excellent student experience but better staff training for lecturers delivery of teaching is needed.
The university of Essex is an overall good university in terms of facilities, clubs and societies and teaching.
The university has everything you could need.
very international and sociable
It’s a decent university. They could offer more in stores and give more choice of food on campus. The groceries are very over priced though.
Essex uni is a great university. Had a fun experience living on campus and it was very lively every time I stepped foot.
Love the university and the friends which I have made
Great rooms and staff always happy to help.. Luxury like a hotel
Generally a pretty good uni. I personally haven’t needed it but many say the mental health support is poor, so something to consider. It’s quite communal with shops/bars/clubs on campus, big library, lots of study spaces (lovely to study by the lake in summer).
the uni campus is nice and everything works fine the only thing is that the WiFi is really slow or it does not work at all!
uni us nice, canteen in there tase good with a not expensive price
This is a decent Uni with decent provisions made.
Very well equipped university, brilliant range of courses. Staff are always helpful.
Great university enjoyed my experience.
good sized classrooms. the university is kept clean and hygienic good, cheap shops on campus
Essex Uni is pretty good. The campus looks great and has a lot of heart for sure. I'm a bit mixed on my course and it's pacing. It can be a little bit slow moving but then suddenly ramp up in pace at the more important stuff. Also booking equipment is difficult, I do BA Film and Creative Writing and you need to book filming equipment well in advance if you want it because there's not much to go around. Especially when the course keep booking it themselves to run demo workshops while we really need to be working on our projects. The Wifi 'eduroam' is pretty laughable. Overall, nice scenic place with terrific buildings, I just wish the course was better paced and that there were more resources. Also damn they need to time their union strikes better. It's always during some major assessment and it's always everybody all at once.
I really like the university and everything in it.
Essex campus is pretty okay. It’s nice to have so much in one place.
Easy to get around with modules Lovely peaceful campus Extremely helpful for emotional and educational support
Great university with supporting staff
Lots of facilities local including gym and convenience shop. Good wifi available too
A pretty good university over all!
Definitely enjoyed my time at the university.
Great University would recommend
Covid-19:
I love University of Essex. I have really enjoyed my mine here and studying. I've made some friends for life. All the lecturers are friendly and I also talk about my Uni life when I go home.
Covid-19:
I found that there is something for everybody no matter how niche your interests are.
What can I say... If you like a University that is literally always on strike, missing 10 lectures due to strikes and only a £40 payment reimbursement. Go for Essex. The way it's run is subpar. The food is subpar. The facilities are subpar. It's like a giant drink and drugs orgy. Terrible. The internet cuts off constantly, panic when trying to get essays in as it always goes down. I could go on all day. Not great at all.
The best university I have encountered. So involved with students' needs and always available for anything. Advanced and beautiful campus. Definitely recommend this university.
Great university with a huge support system
The University of Essex is an institution that unfortunately agrees with xenophobic fees for international students. I had to pay 1/3 more than any other European student to have the same education, just because I'm overseas. If that's not xenophobia, then what is it? They always charged interests for delayed instalments (more than 10% a month), even when they knew I was hardly struggling to pay the tuition fees and that the extra money would make the whole difference for me. It's sad and I think that everyone should know what is the experience of an overseas student in this institution. I actually don't know how I'm managing to finish my 3rd year. But for sure, it's not because I received support, cause I had none.
Best university experience! Helped me with every little problem I had
I’m in my second year of computer science and I’ve never regretted anything in my life more than going to this university. Cultures just hang out with each other. If you don’t like ur nationality then tough luck. Nightlife is poor. It can be either fully packed and so crowded u can’t dance or so dead and boring that the only people that go there are people who get drunk or weirdos. In my first year, most of my teachers either got fired or quit. You couldn’t understand anything they said when giving lectures. The department handled teachers quoting poorly and don’t let u know anything. All my exam marks and assignments throughout the year were marked late and poorly, therefore always needing a remark which takes even longer. The grading is unbalanced; they make a very very difficult assignment worth only 10% whilst a multiple choice progress test can be worth 30%. The town and university is dangerous; constantly hearing police cars go past my accommodation.
WiFi could be better but overall great
very skin colour biased univeristy lots of privileges if your face fits SW dept is very biased
A great university with all the facilities I need including study areas, library and also space I can hang out in my free time.
Currently I’m studying in the uni, not the best uni out there. The staff is great, at least for my department EBS. The teacher teaching quality is a range from okay to good. Price wise it’s quite worth it, if I compare to another uni with my major in uk. Most would go >19.500, but essex is lower. Unfortunately, if you are interested in marketing, they don’t hv CIM marketing certification. Colchester for me is okay, everything is there, and if ur bored u can always go to London by train. What I don’t like about uni is the range of accommodation they provided, not so great for post grad. And accommodation price in Colchester is quite expensive. The bus i think the worst of them all, it never on schedule, and doesn’t work 24 hours and some buses even doesn’t work at night. Another option is taxi, which can be difficult on friday and Saturday night. And it would be really expensive. Library is quite good, but small.
The WiFi could use some improvement. Other than that the Maltings is a nice place to stay
Students Union seem to make a lof of effort, in the library toilets are always out of order and the WiFi is always cutting out
Awful, certain students are marked down no matter how hard they try. I was a victim of racial abuse in first year. Teaching is variable it ranges from very good to awful. Economics and politics departments are a shambles. International students who “No hablo ingles” get first class marks on everything, but the home grown native speaking students got to worse marks??!?. Don’t go here it’s weird, it’s tacky, full of man dem and other types of plebs, sub par education and a very dead night life.
Good uni place it's pretty decent met lots of people.......
Limited resources throughout the Southend campus
Regarding nightlife: Freshers week is totally packed as you'd expect. Squares are bustling, SU bar is full, queue for the club is 1hour+ and lasts until last entry. About 2 months later, the club will never hit max capacity. And during the last term, they actually put a wall up across half the nightclub to try and hide how dead it is. But the last week of term is basically freshers week part 2. Alternative music style events are always dead *cough* indie night *cough* which is a shame. You get occasional big nights like derby day (crossover with UEA), and when live performers come. FED is usually a good night too but it's Wednesday night. The bouncers are power hungry. Will stop you for random searches, not let random people in, shout at you, etc Nightlife in town is a bit crap, Atik is full of weirdos and it's so far away. NO UBER. Buses are awful. Make sure you book a cab before 4pm, and it's £10. There's a taxi rank in town so getting back won't be a problem (also £10).
WiFi is sometimes problematic but is mostly fine. It's actually a really nice campus with lots of food options.
Quality of education depends on faculty.As a someone who graduated from the economics faculty, l would say that the worst experience l have ever had in my life.Teachers are disaster.It is difficult to talk to them.Some lecturers do not know how to speak English.So you do not understand anything in the lecture.The solution is going to the library and studying on your own without support.It is definitely marketing guys.Also in economics faculty, a lecturer has been removed from teaching because, he treated some students, he did not provide qualified education etc.l have spent a year there.What l recommend is do not spend your money in economics faculty.Waste of time, waste of money.By paying lots of money, you have to encounter weird people.Everything is great until you do your payment guys.Watch out with them
It is an incredibly poor educational environment. They do a lot of marketing to try and attract as many students as they can, but they cannot accomplish what they promise. Once the student is enrolled there, they are left completely on their own. The learning activities and the quality of the academic body are both subpar.
If you love your mental health and well-being, then do not go here. In this post-brexit UK, students from overseas (especially those from Africa and Asia) should be wary, since they are being used as cash cows for the University’s coffers. There aren’t enough words to complain about this lacklustre university. You will probably see other reviews on here giving them 5 stars, but I would be wary of them. It is only marketing.
I’ve honestly had the best of my life at uni. I’ve been with the best people learning what I love
The campus is a little city with everything you need without all the noise pollution of a big city. The student services are amazing and truly helpful. The wi-fi works most of the time, but in some points it just disappears esoecilly within some accomodations. The student union is very active and olenty of eventa are organised. However, the tend to always put reputation (smoke) first and real student satisfaction.
Student Union only cares for money. The rest of the university is pretty good though
everything about this university is a disgrace, the tutors and the lecturers do not care about their students, they do not help with problems or situations, the whole university is a joke, i was a victim of harrasment and the university literally did nothing, but if i was a girl they would have taken action, they stand for diversity and fairness but they do not implement it at all. when it came to publishing exams results they were days late without any communication with its students, its a shambles of a uni. if you can avoid going here then AVOID IT!
No facilities at all, activities are offered, used to have free football which was very popular. Then they started charging so no one goes anymore. Same goes for all the over activities. Student union is great as they make the most out of the bare minimul they have to work with
This uni is ok , really depends on your luck and ability to make friends. Some night are good but tend to be repetitive not much to do outside the uni. So if find your self in a group of friends that can turn everyday into something fun congrats because if not good luck.
Essex is disappointing. First, the accommodation is poor. When I moved into my room, there was a blood stain on the mattress as well as stains on the walls and carpet. The internet isn't very good either. Just the other day the lights in my room went out completely for no reason. Washing clothes is very expensive for poor machines (I spent 15 quid on 2 loads of laundry that didn't even dry!) I came here because Essex was said to have a very good international relations programme. But this is not the case. At Essex, teachers assign a TON of reading and tell you to write an essay. The teaching is very hands off. There is also a lack of academic support. So if you are struggling with a subject like statistics for example, you're in trouble unless you can catch your professor during office hours (typically once a week for 2 hours, so if you have class at that time, its hard to get them to make an appointment). There isn't room to voice all my issues here but I am hoping to withdraw soon.
Not Russel Group, but better than at least three of the Russel Group universities that my best friends attend at least
If you do need help the university will help you out. The club on campus is a major bonus and the place where you will meet a lot of new friends. Security is friendly and the Acts that do come are amazing!
The University of Essex is a great institution. I am glad that I made the choice of coming to do my postgraduate studies here. The diversity is amazing, but most importantly the focus on the course content itself forces one to really engage and learn. As an MSc Financial Engineering and Risk Management student at the Essex Business School, I can say with confidence that I received enough support from the department. There are even those classes where the Professors just had so much fire which really encouraged me, and hopefully my classmates as well, to be the best they could ever be. I had a great time here and I highly recommend the Essex Business School and the University of Essex as a whole. There are also some great societies like the Public Speaking and many others. The social life is awesome as well, it just depends on where your loyalties lie.
I do not recommend anyone to join this campus, it's the worst place to study masters if you decide to go to Southend-on-sea you will lose one year of your life
The University of Essex is a great institution. When I started here I had no idea just how much I would love this place. Main advantages: - Good teaching and studying facilities. The library and Silberrad Centre provide loads of space for students to study. - The Student's Union is fantastic. lots of SU organised events and activities throughout the year, many of which are free or very cheap. SU jobs are great for students who want to work part time. - Sport at Essex is easily accessible and its completely free to join any club. The sports facilities are great. The majority of sports clubs welcome members of all abilities. - Inclusive and Tolerant. Very multi cultural University, there's a real global community at Essex. - Brilliant academic support for students such as help with employability and studies. Disadvantages - Colchester is not a town that caters well to students. - The medical centre needs improvement (particularly their reception staff) - Campus can be confusing.
Amazing uni. Essex is the bomb !
Top university. The campus is big and spacious with lots of services
Everything you need in one place, wish there was a pool however the uni does weekly trips to the local pool.
Very poor communication, very poor student support
An amazing school with amazing people who are always there for you.
Always something to do, SU bar is great, campus shops are really handy for everyday essentials.
Everything is great! Internet is a little temperamental, but better in central campus than in rooms.
If you can go somewhere better, do it
Great campus with many facilities and opportunities
Love the SU, really nice people in there and there is always something to do at the weekend. I haven't been to the careers service but i assume its very good however, the wifi could be faster but i assume thats because so many people use it
Wfif: Eduroam is awful, but this is a problem all across the country. Studentcom in the accomodation works most of the time, but is likely slower than home internet, although they should be able to supply an ethernet cable free of charge. One of the best SUs in the country with societies, events, catering etc however they do need more communication with the university itself, the two are very separate organistions.
The campus was designed by a Brutalist architect. It's not as bad as it sounds: it's a lot worse. A concrete desert in the middle of Essex with the hideous, towering eye-sore for student accommodation, it is definitely the ugliest campus ever.
Resolutely Awful The accommodations undergraduates receive are horrid, grey eye-sores. The food served, if improved immensely, would be awful.
Like suggested, the only way is essex
Best uni ever. Really enfayed lecturers, great facilities, friendly vibe. Loved it!!!
There's a famous expression for Essex... I can't remember what it is...
There is a good amount of choice between places you can eat and do things. Essex offers free sport, meaning that you can do as many as you like and meet more people. They offer a huge amount of societies which anyone can set up. The wifi can be crap, but that's just because it's eduroam. The big E project is a great way to get a better idea of careers and is easy to do.
I've only been to the Evolve gym for the most part. The Evolve Gym is amazing, people re-rack their weight, it's spacious and the staff are friendly.
I am an ex-mental health nursing student of this university and was treated appallingly by The School of Health and Human Sciences. I have a mental health condition and was unfairly kicked off of my course with only 8 months remaining of my degree because at this point I owed a mere 40 placement hours! Considering, I still had two placements remaining and had shown that I was more than willing to make up time previously, this should not have been grounds for dismissal as I had been performing well on placement and academically. I was also wrongly advised not to use all of my two weeks holiday for making up placement hours so used just one week instead. I was then brought in front of a committee who claimed that I wouldn't be able to make up the 40 hours. The university were aware of my condition as I had to intermit a year due to illness. I have since set up a petition on www.change.org to protest the decision. Do not go here if you suffer from a mental health condition.
most selfish university, does not promote getting experience or jobs.horrible overpriced accommodation. useless staff. horrible lecturers who wrongly mark your assignments "by accident" . internet never worked. campus shop overpriced,
Love the uni, but the campus is quite far away from everything.
Coming here was the best decision iv ever made
I love it here, and everyone I know is very happy with the university. Diversity is beautiful and acceptance of diversity is a miracle. Eye opening experience, fun moments, you learn something new everyday.
University doesn't believe free speech is a thing we should have.
A great international university which is keen on helping its students push further their limits, and extremely encouraging and supportive in identifying ourselves in a unique, prosperous environment.
Student Union is very engaging and revolutionary, though wifi speed could be better
Decent campus and faculties. However Computer science teaching standards are very, very poor. The Student Union are also very big money grabbers who don't really care for the students.
The university of Essex has a full range of very active societies, and a student union which is always improving student life.
The Students Union and the International Students Association are in real our family, the biggest one. No one is left out of the family. There are too many societies that it is impossible that someone cannot find one that fits him.
Good wifi over campus. SU is ok. Too many societies to count!
At Essex you fit right in and there's is literally something for everyone