When you embark on your educational journey with us, we will make sure you never lose sight of your destination: preparing for your chosen career!
Our links with industry
Our vocational curriculums are industry relevant and blend academic study with professional practice to instil the confidence, skills, knowledge and contacts necessary to ensuring that graduation is just the beginning of a fulfilling and rewarding career.
Across all faculties, the College has healthy links to a wide variety of prestigious organisations ranging from Sony, Apple and Nikon to the NSPCC, Mencap and Microsoft. We also deliver programmes that also lead to professional accreditation; for example our Microsoft and Apple Academies. We have also been awarded the Training Quality Standard in recognition of the high quality of our work with and for employers.
Expert training
The College is an Apple Certified Training Centre for Education (AATCe), which empowers us to deliver high-quality training and certification in key software applications used by professionals. We were also the first official Nikon Academy in the UK with benefits that include seminars for learners where Nikon’s own experts are available to deliver information and demonstrations of the new hardware.
We are members of the National Skills Academies (NSA) in Creative and Cultural, Enterprise, Retail and Advanced Manufacturing; and we work closely with the NSA in Financial Services. NSAs are government championed institutions that are led by employers in collaboration with colleges and training providers nationwide. Membership of these NSAs means that we are able to provide up-to-date, career focused learning programmes for our students with the support of key industry sectors. In particular, South Essex College is proud to be founder member of the National Skills Academy in Creative and Cultural.
Business
Our business lecturing team have significant commercial and professional experience as well as connections with key employers across the region. This means you will experience live projects and case studies that are relevant and based on successful companies – to prepare you for the business world as well as giving you a sense of the challenges that actual businesses face. In addition, many of our Business graduates have gone on to successful careers with high profile companies such as Ernst and Young, Lloyds TSB and Jaguar Landrover.
Computing
A strong theme of the Network Technology degree is the embedding of the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) programme into the course modules. You may register with the Cisco Academy and gain certification for each element of the CCNA course. This enables graduates to take up jobs equipped with current industry knowledge which they can implement practically.
For Computer Games Design learners, the College has recently become a member of The Independent Games Developers Association (TIGA), which allows us to follow industry innovations and provide students with a quality of knowledge.
Guest speakers and master classes
The College has links with industry professionals including:
- Phil Dale – lead animator on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
- Mike Milne - BAFTA/OSCAR winner and Director of Computer Animation Framestore
- Barry Purves - BAFTA/OSCAR Nominated Director/Producer/Animator
- John Ronson – investigative journalist
- Teddy Sheringham – former England and Manchester United footballer
- Danny Crates – paralympic record holder Sport Essex personnel
- Katie Cuddon - Sainsbury Scholar in Sculpture and Drawing at The British School at Rome
- Lee Lennox – music video director
- Mick Cooper – Director of the Masters in Counselling
- Marcie Begleiter – LA-based storyboard artist and art director
- Simon Swords - local awarding-winning entrepreneur.
Honorary Degree holders
- Mark Foster - One of the most successful British swimmers of all time
- Sir Teddy Taylor - The most celebrated Parliamentarian to stand for a South Essex constituency
- Phill Jupitus – Comedian and TV personality.
Sport
A regular roster of sporting personnel visit the college to speak to our Higher Education learners including Sport Essex, the official body for sport in Essex. Our sports learners have also benefited from talks from physiologists, rehabilitation therapists, coaches and sports development officers and personal fitness instructors.
On location
Media and Creative Arts learners can expect to make the most of our extensive industry contacts and close proximity to London. Throughout the year we run an extensive programme of guest speakers, industry visits (including Sky and Universal), exhibitions and gallery visits as well as taking part in a number of local and national festivals.
Computer Games Design learners will have the opportunity to visit the International Games Convention in Tokyo to find out about the latest developments in the gaming industry and meet industry professionals.
‘Live’ projects
Those studying within the Faculty of Media and Creative Arts will benefit from an exciting programme of live briefs, developed in partnership with high profile companies like NBC and Universal, who participate in setting the project brief and in reviewing your work. We also involve the local community in live projects including local museums, galleries and voluntary organisations.
A taste of the workplace
The Network Technology degree provides an industry-based project offering you experience of networking in action. Previous learners have been placed with organisations such as Lloyds TSB, FMI Solutions and Entuity. Such placements regularly lead to offers of permanent employment.
Early Years’ learners spend one day a week in a work-placement setting, putting theory into practice.
Interior Design learners have taken up work placements with companies such as KSS Design Group, DEGW Design Consultancy, Zebra, and Fletcher Priest Architects amongst others.
South Essex College is a partner institute of the Film and Digital Media exchange (FDMX), which offers skills development, training, careers help, networking and research.
Finally, our innovative three-year Social Care programme is accredited by the General Social Care Council (GSCC) who congratulated the College on the quality of the degree and that it reflected the GSCC’s views of modern social work practice.