Yearly Archives: 2015

Study support for mature and part-time students

VALUE MaP is a short programme of free workshops for mature and part-time students wanting to extend and develop their study skills. It is open to all students but will be of particular interest, perhaps, to those returning to study after a long break. These informal workshops aim to look at all the tools of the trade, from researching and preparing essays and assignments through to referencing and learning from feedback. Students from previous VALUE MaP workshops have frequently commented on the way in which the relaxed and friendly atmosphere not only helped them to focus on the work in hand but also enabled them to meet other mature students from other departments and form some important friendships. VALUE MaP runs at both the Medway and Canterbury campuses, and full details of dates, times and how to book can be found at https://www.kent.ac.uk/learning/programmes/valuemap.html?tab=contact-details.

Axel Sthäler co-edits companion to Jewish fiction

Dr Axel Stähler, Reader in the Department of Comparative Literature, has just co-edited with Professor David Brauner (University of Reading), The Edinburgh Companion to Modern Jewish Fiction (Edinburgh University Press, 2015).

The collection of essays presents a new departure for, and a potentially (re)defining moment in, literary Jewish Studies. It is the first volume to bring together essays covering a wide range of American, British, South African, Canadian and Australian Jewish fiction. Moreover, it complicates all these terms, emphasising the porousness between different national traditions and moving beyond traditional definitions of Jewishness.

The volume is divided into three parts American Jewish Fiction: British Jewish Fiction; and International and Transnational Anglophone Jewish Fiction. Although this presents a clear structure, many of the essays cross over these boundaries and speak to each other implicitly, as well as, on occasion, explicitly. Extending and redefining the canon of modern Jewish fiction, the volume juxtaposes major authors with more marginal figures, revising and recuperating individual reputations, rediscovering forgotten and discovering new work, and in the process remapping the whole terrain. The book opens windows onto vistas that previously had been obscured and opens doors for the next generation of studies that could not proceed without a wide-ranging, visionary empiricism grounding their work.

For more details of the collection, please see the publisher’s webpage.

Academic Peer Mentoring training

New for 2015: SLAS is piloting a new extra-curricular module for Academic Peer Mentors. This will be available to all registered mentors online via Moodle and face-to-face via weekly workshops. The training will support mentors in their role and provide them opportunities to share ideas and reflect on their experiences. Topics covered by the module include; the role of mentoring at Kent, active listening and communication skills, equality and diversity and student-centred learning approaches.

Academic Peer Mentoring at Kent has grown from strength to strength; the scheme is now running in 18 schools across the Medway and Canterbury campuses. Last year SLAS worked with approximately 350 mentors, this year it is anticipated that there will be even more. The idea behind the scheme is that experienced students provide academic and social support to newer students. This gives mentors invaluable employability skills such as; communication, time management leadership and team work whilst also benefiting mentees by providing them with a friendly face to ask questions about their course and university life. The focus of APM is on improving student achievement and as such it targets difficult modules rather than failing students.

Being a mentor is a fantastic way to ‘give something back’ to the university and it looks great on your CV. To find out more about mentoring please contact SLASapm@kent.ac.uk

Staff offer at Coopers

Starting on Monday 3 August, Coopers – based at Medway campus – will be introducing a special ‘Staff Offer’.

The August offer will be a Jacket Potato with any filling for £2.50 (the offer will exclude the chilli topping).  Choices of filling available includes:

  • Cheese
  • Tuna Mayo
  • Tuna/sweetcorn
  • Beans
  • Cheese/Beans

Staff will need to show their ID card if they wish to get this discount price.

Coopers will also start to sell milk, tea and coffee. This will be on a trial basis (to identify demand) and if staff would like to buy these items they will need to request them from the bar counter.

Bemused by bOing?

Summer is here and fluffy clouds with bOing! on them are appearing all over the campus.Its the countdown Kent’s newest (and brilliant-est) family festival (29 and 30 August).

If you are still uncertain what bOing! is, take a look at the newly launched bOing website, where you can flick through the packed programme of events and buy tickets to theatre performances, film screenings and creative workshops across the campus.

Or if you have any questions about bOing! you can email the Box Office.

Team Kent iGEM 2015

iGEM, the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition, is the largest synthetic biology community and the premiere synthetic biology competition for both university and high school level students.

iGEM inspires learning and innovation in synthetic biology through education, competition and by maintaining an open library of standard biological parts, the Registry of Standard Biological Parts.

Combining molecular biology techniques with engineering concepts, students work in an interdisciplinary team to create novel biological systems.

The University of Kent is participating for its third year in a row with a team of eight Biosciences students, two Electronic and Communication Engineering students and a Physics student.

Our aim is to manipulate the DNA of E.coli in order to produce nanowire that could be used in consumer products.

Read the project webpages.

Follow our progress on Twitter and Facebook.

 

SAUL Staff Presentations

Staff presentations, aimed at helping members understand the proposed changes to SAUL, are being held on:

Canterbury Campus:

  • 7 August 2015, Marlowe Lecture Theatre 1 at 10.30am (Final Salary members) and 12.00 (CARE members)
  • 13 August 2015, Jennison Lecture Theatre at 9.30 (Final Salary) and 11.00 (CARE)
  • 25 August 2015, Keynes Lecture Theatre 5 at 14.00 (Final Salary) and 15.30 (CARE)

2 September 2015, Darwin Lecture Theatre 1 at 9.30 (Final Salary) and 11.00 (CARE)

Medway Campus:

  • 11 August 2015, Rochester Building R2-09 at 9.30 (Final Salary) and 11.00 (CARE)

To check which presentation you should attend, please check your payslip. Those who joined SAUL before 1 July 2012 will be in the Final Salary section of the scheme and payslips will read ‘SAUL’ against the pension contribution deduction. Members who joined after this date will be in the CARE section (although there are some exceptions). CARE member payslips will read ‘SAUL_CRB’ against the pension deduction. Eligible members would go into the CARE section of the scheme.

The presentations on 7 August will be delivered by a SAUL representative, other presentations will be given by Alan Gazzard from the University Pensions Team.

For individual pension queries or more information about the proposals, book a one to one appointment at one of our Pension Clinics:

Canterbury Campus:

  • 10 August 2015, Estates Conference Room from 9.00
  • 19 August 2015, Keynes Seminar Room 2 from 13.00
  • 3 September 2015, Darwin Seminar Room 11 from 9.30

Medway Campus:

  • 11 August 2015, Rochester Building, R2.05 from 12.00

To book a place at a presentation or Pension Clinic email hrsaulchanges@kent.ac.uk. Individual appointments are also available at other times.

William Rowlandson to talk at the Indiano Archive

Dr William Rowlandson from the Department of Hispanic Studies will be presenting at the annual summer conference at the La Fundación Archivo de Indianos in Colombres, near Santander, Spain on Friday 24 July 2015.

La Fundación Archivo de Indianos [The Foundation Indiano Archive] is housed at the Museum of Emigration. The principal objective of the Indiano Archive is the progressive accumulation of information and development of a museum about the phenomenon of Spanish emigration to South America.

William’s talk, entitled ”The Spanish Civil War and Revolution of Cuba by Ernest Hemingway’, evaluates Ernest Hemingway’s reactions to the Spanish Civil War and to the Cuban Revolution, and to the prevalence of certain motifs and narratives that bind the two conflicts in the writer’s work.

Further details about the the Indiano Archive can be found at www.archivodeindianos.es/

Ultimate Karate Fighter’s Boot Camp 2015

The University is proud to announce the Ultimate Karate Fighter’s Boot Camp will be hosted by Kent Sport from 31 July-2 August.

The event is led by Wayne Otto OBE 5th Dan, who is nine times World Champion, nine times European Champion, eighteen times English Champion and University of Kent alumni.

Also at the event will be Elisa Au Fonseca 5th Dan, three times World Champion, four times Pan American Champion, World Games Silver and Bronze Medalist and World Combat Games Silver Medalist. There will also be Alex Biamonti 5th Dan, six times World Champion, nineteen times European Champion, and eleven times French Champion.

The Boot Camp is for athletes with experience at regional, national or international level competitions, and will teach fitness and conditioning, training drills and routines, attacking and defensive techniques, fighting scenarios and strategies and more.

Visit the event web page

Registration online or at hall 3 office from Thursday 30 July.

Review of key administrative processes

The University has engaged PwC Consultants to undertake a review of our key administrative processes and to recommend how these might be improved to better support our students and staff. The review will also look at the implications for how we use our administrative resources to best support those processes.

This review is being undertaken against a challenging environment for the University, with expected cuts in funding and no increase in the £9k Home/EU undergraduate tuition fee since it was announced. In addition, there are large increases in our cost base occurring during 2015/16 and 2016/17, arising from the recent review of the University’s pension schemes and the Government’s removal of the contracting out national insurance rebate. These two latter costs will add about 4% (£5.1m) to our pay bill, before any cost of living and incremental increases to salaries are applied. As it has done successfully in the past, this university aims to respond by trying to increase income rather than focus on cost reductions in order to meet the shortfall between income and costs. Fortunately, we remain in a strong financial position and do not need to take drastic action in the near term, while we try and increase student numbers and research income. So far, applications for next year look robust and schools and professional support departments are working hard to increase home and overseas student numbers. A month ago, the University’s Governing Body, Council, agreed a budget that included additional investment in new academic buildings and a provision for strategic investment in new academic activity. This reflects a desire to continue to build upon our substantial progress over recent years and to reflect the confident ambition that is now becoming a feature of Kent, still based upon its collegial approach.

But while we focus on raising income to meet the forecast disparity between income and expenditure over the next few years, we cannot continue to raise our costs in line with the growth in income or the benefit of that income to our bottom line will be lost. As a result, we will increasingly have to focus on using our existing resources more efficiently as we grow and not waste money and time on processes that do not add value to our objectives and, in some cases, may prevent a timely and user focused delivery of administrative tasks.

PwC will be engaging with many members of staff during the course of their review and will be supported in the gathering of information by university employees. It is hoped that all those approached will enter into the spirit of identifying ways in which we can improve our services and administrative activities so that we can ensure that we have the flexibility to deal with additional external requirements and, more importantly, focus our endeavours on successfully delivering the new institutional plan, due in final form in October.

A short note describing in more detail the nature of the review is available here: http://www.kent.ac.uk/pdf/admin-processes-review-2015.pdf

A sharepoint site will be developed over coming weeks where further information and details of progress on the project can be obtained.

Denise Everitt,
Deputy Vice-Chancellor