The University has been commended for its positive progress on Technician Commitment.

The Technician Commitment is a sector-wide, collaborative initiative led by the Science Council and supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Technicians Make It Happen campaign, to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research.

Kent signed-up to the Technician Commitment in September 2017 and has formed a working group chaired by Mark Ellis, Assistant Director, University Operations Support. In October 2018, the working group submitted a self-assessment and two-year action plan to the Technician Commitment Steering Board.

The Steering Board has recently provided its feedback on the submission and commended Kent for ‘positive progress coupled with a clear and ambitious Action Plan’ which is comprehensive, well-structured and aligned to the aims of the Technician Commitment. The University will be presented with an Award of Submission at the next Technician Commitment Signatory event.

The Technician Commitment Working Group at Kent is in the process of developing resources for technical staff and there are a number of upcoming events:

• 6 March – Information session on technical Apprenticeship standards to tie in with National Apprenticeship week
• 22 May – Kent Technician Network, Technician’s Symposium at the Canterbury campus (details available soon).

Further information about the Technician Commitment is available on the Learning & Development webpages.