Book your place now for the first Student Success mini seminar, to be held on Medway and Canterbury campuses next month (February).

The seminar, which focuses on “Student Motivation” by Stephen Earl, will take place on:

Wednesday 15 February 2017, Medway Campus, Medway Building Room M1-22, 13.00 – 14.00.

Friday 17 February 2017, Canterbury Campus, Grimond Building, GS3, 13.00 – 14.00.

The purpose of the event is to share details about student motivation at Kent and to allow colleagues from across the University to meet and exchange ideas.

The seminar will provide an overview of research undertaken in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences as part of the Student Success Project. The research takes a psychological perspective to student success, investigating how students’ motivation and experiences at university may influence their attainment, engagement and well-being.

Underpinned by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), this work also considers factors that may influence students’ autonomous learning, feelings of competence, and sense of relatedness at university. The aim of the research is to identify how students’ motivation may differ between student groups so we as an institution can better support students’ motivation at university.

All staff are invited to attend. To register your attendance please email Elizabeth Buswell.

From Monday 23 to Friday 27 January 2017, Grounds Maintenance will be working in Eliot Extension courtyard to prune and tidy the shrubbery next to the now demolished Law School.

Please be aware that access may be restricted from time to time for safety reasons and that there will be some noise disruption due to the use of machinery.

We apologise in advance for these works, which are necessary to bring the Wigoder build to a conclusion.

For any further information please contact the Estates Helpdesk on ext 3209.

Paul Griffiths, Grounds Maintenance Manager

The National Student Survey (NSS) launched on the 23 January and gives you the chance to tell us (and everyone else!) what it is like being a student at Kent.

It takes less than 10 minutes to complete!

If you are eligible to take the survey, you will have received an email invitation from Ipsos MORI this week.

Take the survey

In past years, Kent has scored highly in the NSS for student satisfaction, and the survey results help to improve our university for future students.

So tell us what we are doing right and what we can improve, to help shape the future of Kent. If you don’t take the survey, your views won’t be heard!

Are you keen to learn the tech skills that will make you stand out to a graduate employer, or to learn more about computing for your own interests or future study?

The School of Computing offers a ‘Year in Computing’ for all Kent undergraduate students*. This extra year can be taken after stage 2 or the final year of your degree, and you will not only learn coding and web skills, but also how to analyse data and how to make computer systems that people will want to engage with.

The Year in Computing will be an addition to your current degree and it should be possible to extend your student finances for an extra year.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, find out more on our Year in Computing webpages.

*Please note that students whose degree already contains a lot of computing, and School of Psychology students, cannot take the Year in Computing

Dr Lois Lee, Research Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies, will appear at London’s Southbank Centre as part of a discussion panel ‘Meaning for Atheists’, on 22 January 2017, exploring the origins of atheism as a philosophical worldview.

The panel will also include Richard Norman, Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy from the Department of Philosophy; and Nick Spencer, Director of Research at Theos Think Tank.

The talk is part of a weekend of events under the umbrella ‘The Search for the Meaning of Life’, with entry gained through weekend or day passes.

The weekend itself is part of the Belief and Beyond Belief festival, a collaboration between Southbank Centre and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, exploring the music, art, culture, science, philosophy, ritual and traditions that have risen out of religion in its many guises.

For more details about the event, please see the Southbank Centre’s webpage.

Don’t miss the chance to catch internationally renowned jazz singer-musician Earl Okin, at Gulbenkian on Thursday 2 February.

Earl Okin is also one of the University of Kent’s first 500 students, completing a degree in Philosophy here from 1965-68.

His musical career began, while still at Kent, when he was signed to the same company as The Beatles in 1966. He has worked with some of the biggest names of the 1960s including Wings and Van Morrison, and written songs for the likes of Cilla Black and Bing Crosby.

A second career on the alternative comedy circuit began in the early 1980s after a performance on The Comic Strip, and he has performed over 500 shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Earl Okin continues to work as a songwriter and jazz singer/musician. He is renowned for his vocal-trumpet solos and regarded as one of the most accomplished Bossa Nova artistes outside Brazil.

The concert at Gulbenkian is his first concert in a few years and partly to celebrate his 70^th birthday the same week

Tickets are available now – priced £12, £11 GulbCard and University staff and £10 students – on Gulbenkian webpages.