Are you a University of Kent student interested in using your interpersonal and problem-solving skills to ensure a safe and harmonious environment for your fellow residents?

Will you be living in Liberty Quays in 2016-17?

Student Services will employ a Residents’ Support Officer for the 2016-17 academic year, to assist the Master’s Office with the provision of advice and support to students from diverse backgrounds, helping them to socialise, work, learn and develop in ways compatible with formal academic pursuits.

This post is part-time (14 hours per week for up to 32 weeks per year to coincide with University term times) and is being offered on a one-year rotational basis, to allow as many students as possible access to this personal development opportunity. The closing date is 8 May 2016, interviews will be held on Friday 27 May 2016, with the post beginning the week commencing 12 September 2016.

The Residents’ Support Officer will:

* establish and maintain regular contact with residents and be available to them to help resolve everyday domestic issues

* assist with the pastoral care of all students, and in particular those who are vulnerable

* be knowledgeable, supportive and positive about University procedures, rules and regulations and specifically the role of University services

The Residents’ Support Officer will need:

* to be eager to assist others to resolve problems

* strong communication, listening, negotiation and facilitation skills

* experience of residing in University accommodation

* a balanced and non-judgmental perspective

* the ability to maintain confidentiality at all times

If you are committed to the promotion of understanding, tolerance, and good human relationships and you have the skills to encourage this in others, this role could be ideal for you.

HOW TO APPLY:

Residents’ Support Officer (Medway) – Please see the University of Kent website for more details and to apply online: http://www.kent.ac.uk/jobs/

Over the Spring vacation, K-Bar has undergone a major renovation which will bring a whole new lease of life to this much-loved campus bar. Taking inspiration from the current Rough Lux trend, K-Bar has transformed into a unique and textual social space, featuring recycled materials, warm metals, natural fabrics, and industrial elements. Customers can nurse a coffee while sinking into the comfy corners of a big old Chesterfield sofa, gaze at the quirky wall art, or perch at the copper bar top to enjoy a zingy mojito. This eclectic style makes for a welcoming and relaxed environment.

As well as the new décor, there is also a brand new juice and smoothie bar with the health-conscious student in mind. So if you’re looking for your daily dose of vitamins, K-Bar is the best place to grab a green juice or plant-based protein shake. Customers can watch their chosen drink made-to-order with fresh and high quality ingredients. For those people looking for a drink with a little more kick, K-Bar is also offering premium cocktails, wine, beer, ale, gin, vodka and other premium sprits. Kilner jars full of healthy and indulgent bar snacks are on hand for students, staff, and visitors to nibble on while they sip their drink.

With the bar furnished with the latest audio/visual equipment – it makes a great place to enjoy live music, sports matches, and themed nights.

K-Bar will be re-open to everyone from Tuesday 10th May.

Thank you all for your very helpful feedback on our new-look Campus Online.

In response, we have decided to stay with the updated format and to introduce some further improvements.

These include:

• Renaming the ‘More systems and services’ button as ‘Other useful links’ and making it more visible
• Reorganising the links within this section to make it easier for you to find the one you’re looking for (check back for more information on this soon)
• Renaming ‘Notices’ as ‘Updates
• Introducing a new section showing the top two or three News Centre stories likely to be of interest to staff.

Looking ahead, we are hoping to move towards a Staff Guide equivalent of the existing Student Guide webpages – creating a new one-stop site linking to anything and everything for staff at the University.

We’ll keep you updated on these and other developments as they happen.

Wendy Raeside and Etienne Donzelot 
Corporate Communications

Canterbury’s Wise Words Festival, a celebration of the written, spoken and sung word bursts into life across the historic city centre from next weekend, and this year includes as part of its Midday Music series a concert of operatic arias and music theatre pieces accompanied by the University Deputy Director of Music, Dan Harding.

The performance takes place at 12.30 in Greyfriars Garden, just off the High Street, on the opening day of the festival, Saturday 30 April, in which Dan Harding will accompany mezzo-soprano Michelle Harris in a range of arias including Handel, Saint-Saens and Bizet, together with music theatre songs such as ‘The Trolley Song’ from ‘Meet Me in St Louis,’ Irving Berlin’s ‘Face The Music and Dance’ and ‘If I Lov’d You’ from ‘Carousel’ by Rodgers and Hammerstein; more details here: http://www.wisewordsfestival.co.uk/event/operatic-arias-songs-from-shows-michelle-harris-dan-harding/

The festival also includes appearances by poets such as Ian McMillan, Lemn Sissay, Patience Agbabi and John Siddique; find out more about Wise Words online here. http://www.wisewordsfestival.co.uk/ The festival runs from Sat 30 April to Sun 8 May.

Whitstable artist and School of Music and Fine Art Lecturer, Adam Chodzko, has stunning work featured in the exhibition Stories in the Dark, curated by artist Ben Judd.

The exhibition is a co-commission by The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge and Whitstable Biennale, a festival of contemporary art. (The exhibition is also part of the programme of the University of Kent’s International Festival of Projections, which ran 18 to 20 March 2016.)

Using rare, original magic lantern machines, projection devices invented in the 17th century that used the light of candles and oil lamps to produce shows that projected moving images for the very first time, and beautiful Victorian slides, this unique exhibition by artists Ben Judd, Jordan Baseman, Benedict Drew, Louisa Fairclough, Dryden Goodwin, Haroon Mirza, Lindsay Seers and Guy Sherwin, creates new work especially for The Beaney.

Adam Chodzko stuns us with images of dust ‘explosions’ in his work Ask The Dust, whilst his second work Mask Filter Arc he then combines the Beaney’s Venus Flower Basket with two magic lantern slides, creating a lantern whose intense flashes of light remind us of the process of inspiration and expiration, ugliness and beauty.

Stories in the Dark: contemporary responses to the magic lantern is running until Sun 19 June in the Special Exhibitions Room.

For more info go to: http://www.canterbury.co.uk/Beaney/whats_on/stories-in-the-dark.aspx

Kent has been ranked 12th out of 125 UK universities in the Whatuni 2016 Student Choice Awards.

The Whatuni Rankings are based on averages taken from reviews submitted by over 25,000 students and published on whatuni.com.

Kent’s other recent league table achievements include: 16th in the Guardian University Guide 2016; 23rd in the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2016; and 22nd in the Complete University Guide 2015.

In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, Kent is in the top 10% of the world’s leading universities for international outlook and 66^th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20^th in its ‘Table of Tables’ 2016.

Kent is also ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.

Monday 25th April, 2016

Due to essential maintenance the telephone system in the following areas of the campus will be subject to disruption on the morning of Monday 25th April 2016.  Work is expected to commence at 07.30am and will affect credit/debit card machines in addition to telephones. Normal service should be restored by 10am.

• All Parkwood Accommodation
• Parkwood Admin Building
• Pumping Station
• Grounds Maintenance
• East Oast
• Sports Pavilion
• Woody’s Bar
• Parkwood Shop

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If there are any queries please contact the Estates Helpdesk on Extn 3209.

Our Kent Student Awards judges had the very difficult task of narrowing down over 150 excellent nominations to this year’s shortlist.

Winners and runners-up will receive their awards and cash prizes at a gala dinner on the Canterbury campus on Friday 6 May 2016.

The Kent Student Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution students make to the Kent student experience.

Find out more about the awards and view the shortlist at the Kent Student Awards webpages.