The Alumni Pub Nights series is Kent’s social and networking series for alumni and students. The next Pub Night will be on Tuesday 27 March with the theme of career advice and mentoring. We’d love you to see you there to catch up on news from Kent and socialise with current students and fellow alumni.

The University of Kent’s Careers and Employability Service will be joining us to talk about what help they can give students, staff and alumni and how the mentoring platform, KEW-NET, could be of use to you.

Alumni should come along to find out how you can help a Kent student progress in their career by mentoring, talking on campus, taking part in Kent’s Employability Festival or taking on a student for work experience. This is also a great opportunity for 1st or 2nd year students to come along to find out upcoming graduate careers fairs and work experience opportunities.

We will be at the Miller’s Arms in Canterbury on Tuesday 27 March from 18.00 – 20.00. Please still come along even if you don’t need careers advice to meet with current students and fellow alumni! First drink and nibbles provided. Please let us know you are coming along by registering here.

And join the event on Facebook.

£150K of funding is available to departments wishing to develop new academic programmes to underpin higher or degree apprenticeships. Funding can be used to support activity such as employing new staff or developing learning materials.

Currently Kent has over 140 apprentices and offers the following apprenticeships:

•       Laboratory Science underpinned by FdSc/BSc Applied Bioscience, FdSc/BSc Applied Chemical Sciences

•       Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship underpinned by BSc Management.

Funding is offered by the Centre for Higher and Degree Apprenticeships (CHDA) a PSD established to support the delivery of apprenticeships. CHDA handles student administration and recruitment for apprenticeship programmes, allowing departments to focus on the delivery of the underpinning degree.

Funding proposals should identify an apprenticeship that will be supported by the development of a new academic programme. The full list of apprenticeship standards available for delivery, as well as those in development is available here.

We will accept proposals for funding to develop both standards approved for delivery and those still under development. We are focusing on developing provision at levels 6 and 7 only and applications should be to support apprenticeships at these levels.

Examples of apprenticeships applications may align to:

•       Advanced Clinical Practitioner (L7)

•       Animator (L7)

•       Bioinformatics Scientist (L7)

•       Creative Digital Designer (L4-6)

•       Ecologist (L7)

•       Internet of Things (L7)

•       Journalist (L4-6)

•       And many more….

Applications should be in the form of an e-mail (endorsed by head of department) detailing:

•       The apprenticeship and academic qualification for which funds are sought.

•       The intended activity/activities to be funded.

•       Expected launch date of apprenticeship programme.

•       Amount of funding requested.

Deadline for applications is 6th April 2018 to s.s.wildman@kent.ac.uk.  Applications will be considered by the CHDA Steering Group and decisions endorsed by Faculty Deans.  All funds must be spent in academic year 2018/19.

SMFA Lecturer in Music, Jackie Walduck, will be performing with her improvising ensemble Ignite at London’s Wigmore Hall, in an early evening performance at 17.45 on Wednesday 21 March. Tickets cost £5. Find out more and book.

A composer and vibraphone player, whose work explores the meeting points between composition and improvisation, and their impact on ensemble performance, Jackie Walduck has performed across the UK, Europe and in the Middle East, with musicians as diverse as the Philharmonia, Sinfonia Viva, Kala Ramnath, and the Royal Army Band of Oman.

The programme will include her new piece Skeeter, which plays with the sounds of mosquitos.  Other pieces include works written for Ignite by Luke Bedford, Stephen Warbeck and a new commission form Layale Chaker.

Image credit: Hannah Strijbos

We would like to remind staff who are participating in the UCU industrial action that they are asked to complete an online declaration of their participation in the strike action and action short of strike (ASOS). Whilst there is no requirement or obligation to give advance notification that you are intending to take industrial action of any kind, completing the declaration will allow the University to manage the disruption to our students as effectively as possible. The University will maintain both your employer and employee pension contributions provided that you give consent via the online declaration process in a timely way.

To declare your participation in (or subsequent withdrawal from) the industrial action, please click on this link to log into Staff Connect and select the relevant Industrial Action Form button on the left-hand menu (if you intend to go on strike and participate in ASOS, you will have to click on both buttons). This will then display the declaration forms, please select the form(s) you wish to complete. Once completed, please ensure that you click on the submit button which is in the bottom right-hand corner of the form. Please note that you will need to submit both the strike and ASOS forms separately if you intend to participate in both.

If you have any questions related to the industrial action, please direct them to the Employee Relations & Business Partnering team.

Martin Atkinson
Assistant Director – Employee Relations and Business Partnering | Human Resources

Deborah Molloy, a member of the Graduate School team, has been named the International Women’s Day competition winner by the Transatlantic Literary Women team for her ‘fascinating and informative piece on Canadian author, Margaret Atwood.’

You can read the official announcement and Deborah’s piece here.

Deborah joined the Graduate School in November 2014 and began a part-time PhD in 20th Century American Women’s Literature in September. Congratulations to Deborah on this accomplishment from the Graduate School team!

Earlier this week, the Vice-Chancellor & President Professor Karen Cox  wrote of her concerns over campus relations between us all, staff and students, and announced that the University will not  be deducting any pay for action short of a strike (ASOS) for this period of action and that we were talking to Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) about our Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and hourly-paid lecturers (HPLs) positions to ensure there is no long-term detrimental impact if they choose to take strike action.

As a result of these discussions, the University has made the following changes to the position of GTAs, HPLs and other timesheet colleagues involved in the current action.

Changes to our Pay Policy

With respect to our GTA colleagues, and in recognition of their positions both as students and employees, we will be making no pay deductions at all related to this current period of UCU industrial action. There are no conditions attached to this decision.

With respect to HPLs and timesheet colleagues we will guarantee the offer of additional hours to match any hours they lose through industrial action once they have ceased their participation in the action. We will exercise this offer positively and flexibly where HPLs or timesheet colleagues, for reasons outside of their direct control, may have difficulty in accepting initial re-offers of work. With respect to HPLs and where it makes sense to do so (eg because a HPL contact hour has been missed due to strike action but there is still a requirement to undertake exam marking) we will pay for work at flat rate. Schools will make clear to HPLs in advance of requiring marking to be done whether they regard this marking as connected with earlier contact hours which have been worked (and therefore payment has already been received for the associated marking) or whether the relevant work will be paid at flat rate. No staff will be expected to work without payment.

This position, will be reflected in the HR FAQs and pay policy as soon as we are able. We will also edit our pay policy and FAQs so that there is no longer a reference to deductions for Action Short of a Strike (ASOS). These changes may though take a couple of working days to be made. In the meantime, all Timesheet and HPL colleagues should now complete a ‘Record of Hours Not Worked’ form for the hours they were due to have worked, but have missed due to industrial action. Once signed by the relevant Head, a copy will be returned to the member of staff and another retained by the school/department as a record of the hours to be offered in the future. The new form will be available on the HR website by Monday 12 March – https://www.kent.ac.uk/human-resources/pensions/uss-industrial-action2018/.