Welcome to our Chelmsford campus

Student on university campus

You’ll find our campus nestled down by the river in the city’s University and Innovation Quarter, just a short stroll from the lively centre. 

The campus is made up of striking, modern buildings that house state-of-the-art facilities to support teaching of the courses we offer.

Compact enough to explore and enjoy at your leisure with a great mix of independent stores, high street retail, restaurants, bars and cafes, we know why Chelmsford was voted one of the top ten places to live in the UK.*

Chelmsford has a rich history as the birthplace of broadcasting and one of the first Roman settlements in Britain. Today it offers a warm welcome with a vibrant feel that’s the perfect base to explore the wider Essex and Suffolk counties, and the capital city of London which is just 30 minutes away by train.

*Halifax quality of life survey

Our campus: past, present and future

We’ve been around since 1893 when we started with adult further-education classes. In 1904 a foundation stone was laid in Market Road by Lord Rayleigh, which marked the start of our journey to create purpose-built further education buildings in Chelmsford – and we’ve never looked back.

We’ve continued to invest and grow to become the modern University we are today delivering work-ready graduates. Just some of the highlights of the campus today include:

  • our new School of Medicine, which is training a whole new generation of doctors
  • one of the largest business schools in the East of England, based in the award-winning Lord Ashcroft Building
  • high-quality study facilities – lecture theatres of course, but also mock hospital wards and our medical science SuperLabs
  • the university library and open access computer area
  • restaurant, cafés and plenty of outdoor space
  • Arise Chelmsford, an innovation centre to support businesses that are just starting out
  • a range of services including our Students’ Union, medical centre, gym, ARU Temps, and finance and accommodation offices.

A great place to study

In its serene location by the river, our Chelmsford campus is a great place to be. It offers plenty of outdoor space as well as fitness trails that run around and throughout the campus. With more than 6,000 students here, there's also a real multicultural feel.

As well as training the majority of the region’s nurses and midwives, we’re also home to students of education, law, engineering, business, architecture, computing and more.

It makes for a great mix of people.

Whatever you’re interested in we’ll help you work towards your ambitions. Our courses are recognised by industry, with many of them being professionally accredited. And we're ranked in the top 20 universities for teaching excellence in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017.

World-class teaching and research

There’s no doubt you’ll be inspired by our bright and highly motivated tutors. Our teaching staff hold or have been nominated for a number of prestigious higher education awards, either for teaching itself or their subject expertise. They benefit from industry experience which helps to form our courses and their teaching so you graduate with a degree that’s relevant to the workplace.

Add to this our growing reputation for world-leading research. You’ll find high-profile research institutes here, including the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region (PIER), the Veterans and Families Institute for Military Social Research (VFI) and the Medical Technology Research Centre (MTRC).

We’re proud to say the VFI is the first in the country to research the needs of former military personnel and their families. Meanwhile, the MTRC concentrates on medical technologies, life sciences and clinical research; and PIER supports policing improvement in the East of England and beyond, through research, knowledge exchange and opportunities for continuing professional development.

Life on campus... and off

If you’re a first-year undergraduate, it’s more than likely you’ll live on campus in the Student Village. Our students love the fact they’re only ever a few minutes away from all the action whether that’s lectures, cafes, the library, clubs or Students’ Union fun.

You can relax in the Students’ Union lounge, in the Tindal building, which hosts everything from bar nights to live music – and also runs a weekly club night, Midweek Mashup, in the city centre. The SU supports over 30 clubs and societies and is always encouraging its members to create more.

And then, of course, there’s sport. We have a proud tradition of sporting success from judo to distance running and you’ll find plenty of opportunities to get involved – and get active!

Meanwhile, the centre of Chelmsford is a ten-minute walk away with a wealth of things to do; visit the Living in Chelmsford page for more information.

Visit us in Chelmsford

Interested in discovering Chelmsford for yourself? Come along and explore. We’d love to welcome you to our campus.