Study abroad

Your education extends beyond the university campus. We support you in expanding your education through offering the opportunity to spend a year or a term studying abroad at one of our partner universities. The four-year version of our degree allows you to spend the third year abroad or employed on a placement abroad, while otherwise remaining identical to the three-year course.

Studying abroad allows you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised.

If you spend a full year abroad you’ll only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year. You won’t pay any tuition fees to your host university

Placement year

Alternatively, you can spend your third year on a placement year with an external organisation, where you learn about a particular sector, company or job role, apply your academic knowledge in a practical working environment, and receive inspiration for future career pathways. You will be responsible for finding your placement, but with support and guidance provided by both your department and our Student Development Team.

If you complete a placement year you’ll only pay 20% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.

Our expert staff

We are a team of internationally recognised writers and lecturers with expertise across the arts, humanities and social sciences. Plus, some of the biggest names in the field of politics teach and research at Essex, giving you unparalleled access to some of the best minds in political science. Our staff are training politicians and civil servants in democratising countries, advising on economic development and commenting on political events in national and international media.

On this course you’ll be taught by staff from around the university, who’s research topics that stretch across the globe – we are working on issues in Latin America, North America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Get to know us.

You are also taught by a highly qualified, enthusiastic business management team with wide ranging research interests and proven academic track record.

Our Essex Business School staff specialise in areas including the management of organisational space and architecture, psychoanalytic approaches to management and marketing, creativity and organisation, events and festivals and the impact of ‘fun cultures’ on employees.

Specialist facilities

• Our Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) is the largest of its kind in Europe
• Our Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence provides a forum for pan-European research
• Our Albert Sloman Library’s collections of Latin American, Russian and Eastern European materials are of national significance

Our landmark Essex Business School building is the first zero-carbon business school in the UK. Set around a lush winter garden, the Eden-style dome will give the building its own micro-climate.

Our new building provides you with a stunning new work environment, offering:

• A virtual trading floor with Bloomberg Terminals offering direct use of Bloomberg data, information and analytics A light and spacious lecture theatre, with seating for 250 students
• Study pods and innovation booths for group working
• Dedicated office space for student entrepreneurs
• A café with an adjacent sun terrace

Your future

Our graduates are well-placed to address the complex issues which confront the modern world. You can gain a diverse set of skills as well as a wide-ranging knowledge of the world’s most current and significant problems.

Our course provides you with an excellent basis for going onto a career in international business, media, education, politics, the Civil Service, international organisations such as the UN and NATO or non-governmental organisations, and many other fields.

Our Centre’s recent graduates have gone on to work in a wide range of desirable roles including an events co-ordinator for Age UK, a business provision manager for BT, an accountant in London, and an account executive for Bluesky PR.

We also work with our Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

Course structure

We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists.

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.

Teaching and learning disclaimer

Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.

The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently approved for 2022 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.