This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 80.4.3.78 (talk) at 13:46, 21 March 2004. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 13:46, 21 March 2004 by 80.4.3.78 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The University of Essex is a campus university based at Wivenhoe Park on the outskirts of Colchester in the English county of Essex, less than a mile from the town of Wivenhoe. It received its Royal Charter in 1965. The university has 17 departments spanning the Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, and Engineering. It is a living, breathing example of the '60s love of concrete.
Essex University enjoys academic respectability, with courses in law, electronic systems engineering, sociology, psychology, philosophy and art history all faring well. Set a couple of miles away from the oldest recorded Roman town in England, Colchester, deep in Constable country, the campus, which was showing signs of wear and tear, is undergoing refurbishment, but could be called picturesque. Sports facilities are also good: they were designed for a larger student population than Essex actually has.
Founded in 1965, the university was expected to develop quickly into a medium or large institution, but cuts in funding put paid to expansion. Recently, numbers have been increasing and with them has come an extension to the library and its opening hours, more accommodation and more space for teaching. Its reputation attracts large numbers of overseas students: in 1997/98, 36% of full-time first years were from abroad.
Among Essex's alumni are John Bercow, a Tory MP who bucked the trend in 1997, Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, and Oscar Arias Sanchez, a Nobel Prize winner. Plus, of course, the majority of the UK's sociology lecturers.