The college, which will open in September, will be based at the university’s campus in Colchester, and will have the capacity for 450 international students.

In addition to teaching study skills, the college will offer a variety of courses, including foundation certificates and pre-masters for humanities, science and health, and social sciences.

Pre-sessional English will be taught from the summer of 2019,

It will also offer International Year One for business and economies.

And pre-sessional English will be taught from the summer of 2019, for direct entry to university programs.

This is not the first time that Kaplan and the University of Essex have had worked together, having had a joint venture in the online learning space for the past 10 years.

Kaplan Online Learning delivers the University of Essex Online distance learning courses, and was awarded The PIEoneer Award for public / private partnership of the year.

The Kaplan Higher Education Academy also offers degree programs from the University of Essex in Singapore.

Linda Cowan, managing director, Kaplan International Pathways, said: “The high levels of academic provision and student support that we provide for our online students are the best foundation on which to develop this new on-campus pathway college to prepare international students for university study at one of the UK’s most innovative and exciting universities.”

The University of Essex is spread across three campuses in Colchester, Southend and Loughton.

This marks Kaplan’s 10th pathway partnership in the UK, in addition to its colleges in the US, Australia, China and Japan.