page_title: East of England
section_title: Universities
hierarchical_section_title: East of England / Education / Universities
caption_attribution_description: English: University of Essex near Colchester.
context_page_description: The East of England is one of nine official regions of England situated at the first level of the European Union's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. NUTS is an administrative structure for referencing the subdivisions of countries for statistical purposes. This structure was given its current form in 2018 and revised in 2020 to account for changes in EU membership. The East of England region was created in 1994 and adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Essex has the highest population in the region.
  The population of the East of England region at the 2011 census was 5,847,000.
  Bedford, Luton, Basildon, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Cambridge are the region's most populous towns. The southern part of the region lies in the London commuter belt.
context_section_description: The main university in the region (and also highly important in England generally) is the University of Cambridge. The university has been officially rated as the best in the world in 2010. It has the second-best medicine course in the world, and in 2010 became the only university outside of the US to raise over £1 billion in charitable donations.
  There are eight universities in the region. Cambridge hosts two universities: the University of Cambridge, which enjoys an international reputation, and Anglia Ruskin University, a vibrant, modern university with an impressive range of undergraduate Degrees, Masters and Ph.D. courses (8 subject areas are rated as 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' by the government for their research). It is also the home of the Open University's East of England branch. Norwich also hosts two universities: the University of East Anglia and Norwich University of the Arts. There are also other towns and cities in the region which have universities including Bedford and Luton (University of Bedfordshire), Colchester (University of Essex) and Hatfield (University of Hertfordshire). Other higher education centres in the region include University Centre Peterborough, University of Suffolk, and Writtle College.
  For England, the region has the highest proportion of post-graduate students—thanks mainly to those at Cambridge. Of those undergraduate students studying in the region, around 45% are native to the region—most go elsewhere, and the region is a net exporter of students. Around 40% of the region's students are from other regions. The University of Cambridge, due to the high calibre required for entrance, has a mix of students from all over the UK. Around 55% of students in the region come from either the East of England, the South East or London. Very few come from anywhere in the North of England, especially the North East (less than 1%—and most of those will be to Cambridge). Only around 3% come from the neighbouring East Midlands—a much higher proportion of East of England native students go to study in the East Midlands, however.
  The University of Cambridge receives almost three times as much funding as any other university in the region, due to its huge research grant—the largest in England (and the UK). The next largest, by funding, is UEA in Norwich. The University of Essex and Cranfield University also have moderately large research grants, but no other universities in the region do. The largest university by student numbers is ARU, and the next biggest is Cambridge. The smallest is Essex.
  For total income to universities, Cambridge receives around £1 billion—around six times larger than any other university in the region. The University of Bedfordshire receives the least income. Cambridge has the lowest drop-out (discontinuation) rate in the region. Once graduated, over 50% of students stay in the region, with 25% going to London and 10% going to the South East. Very few go elsewhere—especially the North of England.
  University of Cambridge
  University of East Anglia
  University of Essex
  University of Hertfordshire
  Anglia Ruskin University
  University of Bedfordshire
caption: University of Essex near Colchester
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