Essex students outside ITV News

This year’s General Election is turning into one of the most dramatic for decades with experts struggling to predict the final outcome and a group of Essex students will be at the heart of election night results coverage at ITV News.

The prestigious opportunity will see students travelling down to ITV News headquarters in Gray’s Inn Road in London to work in the election night call centre hub.

Throughout election night and into the next day the students will be recording and updating election results on ITV News’s live results system as information comes in from 650 constituencies across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Politics student Madeleine Leathley said: "It's already a fantastic time to be studying politics at Essex and this opportunity only enhances my experience. The training has given me a valuable insight into election coverage and I hope to do Essex proud."

Moheddine Ben-Aribia from ITV News said: “Accuracy and attention to detail are absolutely essential along with excellent team-working skills and the ability to remain calm under pressure.

They will need to be able to maintain high levels of concentration and professionalism throughout the night.”

The University of Essex is recognised as the number one university for political science and is top in the UK for research excellence according to the latest Research Excellence Framework.