Monthly Archives: November 2019

Estates Christmas Hours

Estates Department closure on Friday 13 December

In order to permit members of Estates to participate in their Christmas lunch, the following areas will be closed or operating a reduced service from 11.30 on Friday 13 December:

Estates Customer Services will be closed from 11.30 and will re-open again at 08.00 on Monday 16 December.  Anyone with enquiries about emergency defects should contact Campus Security on extension 3300.   Authorised intranet users can still report non-essential defects via the Estates customer self-service portal or email estatescustomerservices@kent.ac.uk

The Postal Counter (for personal mail) will be closed on 13 December.  All other Postal Services will be operating as usual.

The Design & Print Centre, including the Shop will be closed from 11.30.  The Design & Print Shop will re-open again for orders and branded goods from 09.30 on Monday 16 December.

All other areas of the Estates Department will be operating as usual.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused, and would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Pound coins laid out in shape of pound sign

Financial support available

Kent Financial Support Package

The Kent Financial Support Package (KFSP) 2019/20 is a financial support package of £4,500 for eligible undergraduate students across three stages of full-time study. Eligible students studying a full time four year undergraduate programme with a sandwich year or an integrated Masters year will receive a further cash bursary of £1,500.

All new full-time students should now have been automatically assessed for the KFSP.  Students who have not received a letter confirming eligibility for the KFSP should contact the Financial Aid Office.  Some students may need to make a separate application.

New part-time students starting in the academic year 2019/20 may be eligible for a pro rata cash bursary in each year of study as part of the KFSP. Part-time students will need to make an application.

Further information on KFSP

Access to Learning Fund

The Access to Learning Fund (ALF) provides financial assistance to UK students so they can access and remain in higher education, particularly those students who need financial help to meet extra costs that cannot be met from other sources of support.

The amount will depend on your circumstances and how many applications the fund receives.

Further information on ALF

Kent Emergency Student Loan

The University can lend students who are in financial difficulty up to £240 to help with their immediate essential living costs, such as food and essential travel.

Kent Emergency Student Loans (KESL) are available to all undergraduate and postgraduate, Home, EU or International, full-time or part-time students, who find themselves in temporary financial difficulties. Any loan would need to be repaid within 3 months.

Further information on KESL

Learn more about the other financial support packages available. If you need more help on your funding and financial support options, email financialaid@kent.ac.uk or call 01227 823851/824876/823488.

Our outstanding library team at the THE awards

THE Award win for Kent’s Outstanding Library Team

The University has won the Outstanding Library Team category of the Times Higher Education (THE) Awards 2019.

This award ‘recognises outstanding work in library and information-services departments, in particular with regards to collaboration with other administrative and academic departments to enhance the team’s delivery, and the effective use of leading-edge practices from other sectors’.

The Library Team is part of part of Information Services and its collaboration with colleagues from a range of Schools and departments on the University’s accessibility project OPERA and its Student Success Project contributed significantly towards its success. Its Collection Engagement Strategy, through which it connects with local communities, alumni and other libraries, and the Kent Book Club – created alongside Kent Union for students who want to discover new books and resources outside of their academic studies – also played an important part.

The judges remarked on the team’s ‘inventive collaboration’ and its ‘particularly noteworthy’ innovation in fostering co-created reading lists. They said the work was an example of ‘collaborative working in the digital and physical environment’ that sought to ‘transform’ the student experience by building inclusivity and diversity into learning and research.

Kent’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Karen Cox said: ‘On behalf of all our students and staffI would like to congratulate the team on winning this award. The work of Library colleagues is inspiring and the team should be rightly proud of this tremendous achievement.’

John Sotillo, Director of Information Services, added: ‘I am absolutely delighted that the professionalism, dedication and enthusiasm of our staff has been recognised with this prestigious award. I would like to thank everyone who has helped make our Library services one of the best in the UK. Many congratulations to all.’

Information Services was also a recent finalist at the Society of College, National and University Libraries – Library Design Awards for its work to create the outstanding Templeman Library.

Kent has previously won THE awards in the category Outstanding Support for Students; once for the Student Success Project and once for OPERA.

Ben Thomas publishes on Humphrey Ocean RA

Dr Ben Thomas, Reader in the History of Art, has just published a new book on Humphrey Ocean RA for the Royal Academy of Arts.

Over five decades, the painter Humphrey Ocean’s work has filtered into our national culture. This includes his series of portraits entitled ‘A Handbook of Modern Life’ displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in 2013; his portrait of Christopher Le Brun, President of the Royal Academy of Arts; and the cover of Sir Paul McCartney’s 2007 album Memory Almost Full, which featured one of the Chair series.

Ocean’s practice encompasses painting, printmaking, sculpture, book-making and drawing. Of the last, he has said: ‘Paper is lovely, immediate and personal. I draw as an end in itself.’

In 2019, his exhibition ‘Birds, Cars and Chairs’ is on display at the Royal Academy of Arts. Of these subjects, he says: ‘Birds, cars and chairs are, in that order, ancient, modern and intimate. Without them life would be a lot less bearable.’ These works are reproduced alongside others in the book to provide a fascinating overview of Ocean’s career.

For the volume, Ben contributes an essay that sets out to discover exactly what it is that makes Ocean’s art so appealing and universal.

The book was launched at the Royal Academy of Arts on the 27 November 2019.

For more details, please see the publisher’s page.

Jacqui and Debbie presenting flowers

Exciting news for the Centre for Professional Practice!

The Centre for Professional Practice (CPP) celebrated two professional achievements at the British Association of Dental Nurses National Conference which took place earlier in November.

MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare graduate Jacqui Elsden has been elected as President of British Association of Dental Nurses and during the Conference she presented the Head of CPP Debbie Reed with her BADN Long Service Badge of 20 years.

Jacqui said: ”It was a great honour and a lovely surprise to receive a bouquet of beautiful flowers from Debbie Reed, Head of Centre for Professional Practice,  during my inauguration ceremony as President of BADN, at the Annual National Dental Nursing Conference which was held at Oxford in November 2019. It was particularly notable as Debbie was my educational supervisor for my MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare at the University of Kent during my time of study, from whom I received selfless professional support and guidance”. 

Why study the MSc Professional Practice at the University of Kent?

 The programme offers:

–             Flexible, part-time studies over 3 years, on average 4 to 6 weekends a year at our Medway Campus

–             Work-based studies to enhance your professional knowledge and career progression

–             Accreditation of prior experiential and certificated learning is welcome

–             Kent’s staff may be eligible for staff fee remission

Find out more and apply: www.kent.ac.uk/cpp

 

 

cyclist and runners dressed up as santa

Ho! Ho! Ho! Get in the festive spirit with our Christmas activities

Come one, come all! ‘Tis the season to be…active! Get those seasonal clothes and jolly ol’ cheer ready for our fun Christmas activities on Wednesday 4 December. Jump-start your festive spirit with our Christmas-themed fun-run and fitness classes. Santa outfits encouraged!

Santa Run

A free 3km charity fun run in support of Kent Team Uni Boob with a suggested donation of £2. Meet the Kent Sport team at 12:30pm for registration and the run will start at 1pm at The Plaza, finishing at The Pavilion. Christmas-themed costumes encouraged! We also promise to fill you up with hot chocolate and mince pies afterwards for ALL participants. This event is open to all and you do not need to be a Kent Sport member to participate.

Those who email sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk will receive a Santa hat prior to the run.

Christmas-themed fitness and dance classes

We also have Christmas-themed fitness and dance classes in the Sports Centre to give you that extra special feeling later in the day.

5.30pm Santa’s Freestyle Cycle

Don’t be left home alone! Come and join us for a super festive spin session hosted by Mrs Claus, Sarah and her Santa’s little helper, DJ Gee Cee on the turntables.

6.30pm Jingle Bell Zumba

Deck the halls, it’s time to rock around the Christmas tree with your favourite little elves Jeni and Emma.

7.30pm Silent Night Relaxation

After a long winters day its time to relax and stretch the night away… with your ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ Jeni.

Booking information for fitness classes:

Free for Premium Plus and Premium members. Normal class rates apply for Plus and Pay to Play members (£4.50 for students, £5.50 for staff).Not a member? Visit www.kent.ac.uk/sports/membership

Students trying TV production with KMTV

Free TV production course over winter break

Sign up for a Study Plus course! Courses are free and give you the chance to learn new skills.

If you are staying in Canterbury or Medway during the winter break, why not have a go at TV Production (KE200) which runs from 16-19 December?

You can still sign up for KE194 Business Start-Up Journey, which is  series of standalone workshops continuing in the spring term and which allows you to choose the sessions that interest you the most.

Next term you can choose from KE122 Digital Photography or KE197 Advanced Photography, KE155 Introduction to Sustainability, KE178 IELTS English Exam Preparation, KE198 Career Toolkit and more.

For further details, see the Study Plus website and search for Study Plus workshops in SDS.

University of Kent's Canterbury campus

Findings from accessibility tour of Canterbury campus

The latest accessibility tour of the Canterbury campus took place on 20 November.

The accessibility tour is an initiative resulting from the Disability Staff Network’s aim to better understand the campus experience for disabled members of staff or students.

For the latest tour, Network members met at the student entrance of the registry and walked around the campus viewing main external access routes. · ​

Findings from the tour were that the University is making good provision for disabled students and staff. Much has been done to improve the built environment over the last few years – and since the last external Canterbury tour – and previously reported issues have been actioned.

The full summary of the latest accessibility tour highlights a number of these improvements and areas where further work is required.

hp laserjet printer

Printer retirements from Monday 2 December

If you use the new print copy scan service, you don’t need to read this!

We’ll be retiring some of our older print servers from next week which will mean that any printers that rely on them will stop working.

Check whether it will affect you
To check whether a printer you use will be affected, please follow the steps below.

  1. Using your University computer, click Start and type Printers
  2. Open Printers & scanners
  3. Review the name of your printer to check whether its printer name includes the words Staffprinting, Valient or Printserver2 – for example, a printer named Jimi would show as jimi on staffprinting

There are around 150 printers that still use these older servers (Staffprinting, Valient and Printserver2), which need to be retired for security reasons.

The ‘switch off’ timetable
-Monday 2 December – any printers that haven’t been active for a month will be disabled
-Monday 9 December – the remaining printers will be disabled

If your printer is affected and you want to keep it
Please contact James Thompson explaining why it’s needed, the full name of the printer, its location (building and room), and your contact details.

Your request will be reviewed and a decision made about whether to move the printer onto a new print server, replace it with a new printer or remove it from service, as appropriate.

Entrance to the Drill Hall Library in the sunshine

The Knights Templar and Strood – Drill Hall Dialogue 10 December

The Knights Templar and Strood is the theme of the next Drill Hall Dialogue on Tuesday 10 December from 10.00. The talk, in room DA002, will focus on fascinating local detail rather than the spurious international myth, examining the working of this military order through its remarkable and little-visited 13th century building in Strood.

The presentation will be given by Dr Jeremy Clarke, Education Officer at the Guildhall Museum, Rochester, since 1998. He is responsible for all formal education and learning programmes supported by the museum collection or its listed buildings. Most of this is work with or in local schools, but he also runs courses, lectures and illustrated talks for adults.

Drill Hall Dialogues is a monthly series of talks held at the Drill Hall Library, the learning resource centre for the Universities at Medway collaborative project. A wide variety of topics has been covered including prison libraries, NHS libraries, Dickens and Christmas, Medway regeneration, the Medway Floods of 1953 and Fort Amherst. We have also received talks from academics based on the campus including the Centre for Journalism (UKM) and the Faculty of Education (CCCU).

The talks take place on the first or second Tuesday of the month and usually last no longer than 45 minutes with 15 minutes allotted for any questions and answers.  All staff are welcome to attend.