Monthly Archives: August 2020

Student Services update: Changes to colleges and new appointments

I am writing to give you an update to changes in Student Services that have been designed to ensure the continued success of the college system at the University of Kent and to support the delivery of an outstanding student experience. This has involved a review and restructure of the colleges including a clear separation of responsibility for college life and student conduct and complaints.

Continuing the excellent work of College Masters, assistants and colleagues since the University began, the new college structure ensures the University is aligned with the very latest regulatory requirements and sector best practice particularly in the separation of responsibility for student wellbeing from student conduct and complaints. The new structure helps facilitate a consistent approach to both of those areas for all our students.

You can see the new structure on the Organising for Success staff webpages.

In essence, the College Master function is now undertaken by the Head of Colleges and Community Life supported by a team of College Life Officers and a Community Life Officer. They will provide strategic leadership and management on all aspects of enhancement and innovation in the area of college and community life, ensuring that student life and the University’s engagement with the community is sector-leading, inclusive, evidence-based and contributes to successful student outcomes.

In addition, the Head of Student Conduct and Complaints will provide strategic leadership and management on all aspects of student conduct and complaints, supported by a team of specialist Student Conduct and Complaints Officers. The Office will be responsible for the management and investigation of all non-academic student discipline cases and complaints.

They will work closely with Campus Security and external bodies such as Kent Police, and address community concerns through local Resident Associations as well as liaising with and responding to regulatory bodies such as the Office for the Independent Adjudicator.

Following the appointment of Dr Lucy Foley as Director of Student Services, I am delighted to announce that we have appointed Jacqui Double as our new Head of Colleges and Community Life and Alison Mansell as Head of Student Conduct and Complaints.

To further strengthen the college system on the Canterbury campus, a new college for Park Wood students will be in operation from this September.

Providing additional support will be several teams of students in both Canterbury and Medway providing on- and off-campus support, helping to build community through a series of engagement activities and events. These include Residential Life Officers recruited from this year’s 2020/21 taught postgraduate cohort.

The new structure has also allowed us to invest further in mental health support, and out-of-hours provision.

We believe that these changes will enable the University to better meet the needs of students in the 21^st Century, build stronger communities within the colleges, and strengthen the wider student communities throughout Canterbury and Medway.

Further appointments to the team are in the process of being made and more information will be available soon including online Q and A sessions for staff led by Lucy, Jacqui and Alison.

Until the teams are fully in place, please do get in touch with any queries:

Student welfare and college and community life
Jacqui Double, headofcollegeandcommunitylife@kent.ac.uk
Student conduct and complaints
Alison Mansell, sccoffice@kent.ac.uk

Should you have any other queries please contact Dr Lucy Foley’s office, directorstudentservices@kent.ac.uk.

Professor Christina Hughes | Interim Director of Student Services

Courses in Tonbridge come to a close

After 36 years delivering courses and programmes to the local community, the University’s services in Tonbridge will come to an end next week, bringing to a close a unique chapter in our history.

The University has been operating from its Avebury Avenue site in Tonbridge since 1983 and was the first UK building to be specially constructed as a regional satellite University Centre. From its humble origins in mobile classrooms, it developed to support hundreds of students through its dedicated programmes for adult learners, which ranged from accredited study options to short courses. Staff at the Centre were also able to form valuable links with the West Kent community, through events like the Tonbridge Arts Festival, the annual Pint of Science Festival and networking events for local businesses.

To encourage access to the Centre, short courses at Tonbridge were always competitively priced with costs supported by the University. This approach is sadly no longer viable in the current financial context, and with the Centre having been closed to the public for a number of months due to Covid-19, it will now not reopen for further courses from 31 August 2020. Students and local stakeholders have been informed of plans, including options for alternative study opportunities such as the U3A.

The University remains fully committed to delivering wider services for people in Kent and will continue to look into how people can best study and engage with us across the county as part of our ongoing regional engagement plans. Kent-franchised programmes in the creative arts will also continue unaffected at West Kent University Centre (part of West Kent College).

Vice-Chancellor Professor Karen Cox said: “I’d like to thank both staff and tutors at the Tonbridge Centre for all their work to deliver a fantastic range of courses over the years to their committed students, and wish everyone associated with the Centre all the best for the future.”

Latest food donations to Catching Lives

Last week Kent Hospitality’s Housekeeping Team visited local homeless charity Catching Lives to donate remaining food items that been left by students.

Following the early departure of students from their on-campus accommodation earlier this year, Kent Hospitality’s Housekeeping Team had been making weekly donations of food items left behind to Kent Union’s campus Food Bank. As the need for new items at the Union’s Food Bank decreased question remained over where remaining items could be donated.

‘We didn’t want to throw anything away that could still be used, so we didn’t hesitate to look locally and donate the food items to Catching Lives in Canterbury, who we had raised money for before. We knew it would be put to good use and they were delighted to have this bought to them’ said Becky Verlin, Housekeeping Manager.

In addition to sharing the news about the recipients of the food donations Becky also wished to express thanks, continuing ‘It’s meant a great deal to all the housekeeping team that we have been able to support others during this time and so we also just want to take a moment to thank all the staff and students. Without their co-operation, understanding and support we wouldn’t have been able to help so many people.’

Care first webinars w/c 24 August 2020

As our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support.

Their weekly webinars continue this week (Monday 24 – Friday 28 August) and are as follows:

Monday 24 August 2020 – ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 14.00-14.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Tuesday 25 August 2020 – ‘Preparing for Schools reopening’
Time: 11.00-11.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 26 August 2020 – ‘How to Promote the Care first Services effectively’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 27 August 2020 – ‘Post-lockdown Anxiety’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 28 August 2020 – ‘COVID-19: Where are we now?’
Time: 12.30-13.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Student wins global coding challenge

BSc Computer Science student Mihail Munteanu took first place in the American Express global intern coding challenge while on an internship at Amex. In total, 278 interns attended the challenge from the UK, the US and India.

Mihail said ‘We were given 3 algorithmic problems and were asked to solve them using the most efficient way. In order to solve these problems we had to be familiar with data structures, algorithms and time complexity, luckily enough all of these were taught at Kent. By having a great day, I was able to solve the three problems and be the only contestant with a 100% score. I was awarded an Apple watch for being the first in the UK and a Nintendo switch for being first globally.’

Mihail found out about the six-week American Express summer internship through the School of Computing Employability newsletter. Mihail explained ‘The internship made this summer one of the best experiences ever. Amex is the gold standard for how a company should treat their employees. I got to work with another team of interns on a project which aimed to solve a real life problem using some of the most modern concepts and technologies. We successfully implemented it, and from speaking with other engineers they mentioned that what we did will be in place for 30-40 years. It’s crazy how a company trusts interns with such important problems, but at the end of the day we weren’t just interns, we were a part of the Amex family. I got to work with engineers with over 20 years of experience who always treated me like a fellow senior developer.’

This year’s internship was obviously a bit different as everyone was working virtually. Mihail said of the virtual experience ‘It’s quite hard to work with people you have never actually met, to counter this, our team had a lot of informal meetings were we got to know each other, played games and in the end we got quite close and we were able to trust each other with the work we did. Another big challenge is the environment we work in, I was living in Tyler Court and I had my own space which was work friendly.’

Congratulations to Mihail.

August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month

This blog is from Minna Janhonen | Athena SWAN Adviser, Learning & Organisational Development

As we are in the midst of August, which is the Breastfeeding Awareness Month, it is a perfect time to draw attention to the pregnancy and maternity support facilities at Canterbury and Medway Campuses.

At Kent you are welcome to breastfeed your baby where ever YOU feel comfortable. There are dedicated rooms available for those needing to express or breastfeed at both the Canterbury and Medway campuses. These can also be used by expectant colleagues to take a rest and put their feet up!

How to use ‘Parenting Rooms’

The room at Canterbury is Rutherford E3-W8 and an access card can be obtained from Tyler Court reception. At Medway, the room is M0-04 in the Medway Building and can be unlocked by Estates and Campus Security. The rooms are used first come first served basis, calling the Tyler Court Reception (Canterbury) or Estates and Campus Security (Medway) is a good idea if you want to make sure no one isn’t using the room when you’re planning to. There is currently no booking method in place.

Both rooms contain fridges, chairs and beds.

Personal Experiences:

“When returning to work from Maternity Leave earlier this year I found using these facilities (at Canterbury Campus) very simple and easy. I was still breastfeeding so it was important to me to be able to express milk in quiet and calm environment during the working day.”

President of Ice Hockey Club paves way for student athletes

Former President of Kent’s ice hockey club, Charles Dabbs, has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to sports development at Kent with a win at the Kent Student Awards 2020.

Charles (23), who is now a Kent graduate in Politics and International Relations with Year in Continental Europe, helped to reorganise the structure of Kent Knights ice hockey club and worked with Greenwich & Kent Student’s Union (GKSU) to formally open a base at Kent’s Medway campus. This allowed Kent to make ice hockey as accessible as possible to many students and better reflected the club’s regional catchment.

For the first time, a dedicated B-team was formed in 2019/2020, with a series of friendly matches building their development throughout the season. Furthermore, due to the club’s continued growth, the A-team managed to make a return to the competitive BUIHA Southern Checking Division.

Born in Torfaen, Wales, Charles played ice hockey for Cardiff’s under 10’s team and undertook training camps in Finland. The appeal that Kent has an ice hockey team, was a key factor in his decision to study at the University.

Charles Dabbs said: ‘Winning the award felt brilliant. Receiving recognition for the many hours of hard work made it completely worthwhile. My tenure as President has granted me with an invaluable set of skills and experience that can partner my degree and enhance my employability. At the conclusion of my last tenure, I was able to use my experience to gain a summer internship with Rolls-Royce PLC. Now I have graduated, I am using the same experience to gain interviews for career positions. There is plenty to do, to see, and to experience as a student at Kent. It has been a huge factor in shaping and defining the person I am today.’

Learn more about ice hockey at Kent.

Volunteering opportunity for PGT students offering subsidised rent on campus!

The University of Kent is looking for highly motivated PGT students interested in assisting the Head of Colleges and Community Life to build a sense of community and belonging for students residing in on-campus accommodation on the Canterbury campus, or in accommodation run by nominated partners in Medway.

This opportunity is specifically designed for those with a strong familiarity with the University. This is to enable you to share your experiences with other students.

As well as contributing to the student experience, Residential Life Assistants will have the opportunity to develop skills which will enhance their own future personal and professional development, complementing the academic achievements of study at the University.

You will live in residence, and it is essential that you are a part of the community of College residents. A key part of the role is to build positive relationships across the resident communities in order to create a sense of belonging, and to provide support to the College Life Officers who provide a reassuring presence within accommodation and initial welfare support to students encountering difficulties.

Remuneration: These roles are voluntary, unpaid positions. Residential Life Assistants are required to live in University halls of residence and pay rental at 25% of the normal rental charges.

To see further details and to apply, please see the Residential Life Assistants vacancy.

Student recruitment

The change in the government’s approach to grading of A-levels has had a considerable impact on university admissions across the country, as has the lifting of the cap on student numbers. The Vice-Chancellor will send an all-staff email later this week which will give an update on the University’s response to the situation.

This includes intensive work by admissions officers in schools and centres, relaunching our Clearing campaign and a series of interviews with Simone Davies, our Director of Marketing, Outreach, Recruitment and Admissions, on regional media including ITV Meridian, Heart FM, BBC Radio Kent , KMFM and KMTV.

These interviews build on last week’s activity, which also saw Simone being interviewed about our Clearing offer on LBC, BBC Radio Kent, Heart FM, KMFM and KMTV. She also took part in a day-long BBC SE News Facebook live event.

Earlier in the week, Professor Richard Reece, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience, spoke with BBC Radio Kent about how the University is preparing for the next academic year.

Journalism student raises profile of Kent’s student television station in Medway

Ayomikun Adekaiyero, a Journalism student at Kent’s Centre for Journalism, successfully raised the profile of the University’s Medway student television station in the 2019/2020 academic year to secure bookings to cover major student events.

Ayomikun, the Head of KTV (Kent Television) Medway who becomes a third-year student in the 2020/2021 academic year, led KTV Medway to cover the campus’ Black History Month showcase, Medway Music Society’s annual Battle of the Bands and This Medway Girl Can.

The Journalism student had strived to inform more students on campus about KTV Medway and encouraged event organisers to call upon them to cover events, from video production and carrying out interviews to editing footage for future use. This commitment secured the bookings of popular student events on campus.

Ayomikun’s main role for the society in the 2019/2020 academic year was to organise production shoots and support the main society in Canterbury. In Medway, his focus has been to shoot, direct and edit event content. He has spent between 45 and 50 hours volunteering for KTV Medway so far.

Ayomikun said: ‘It is so rewarding to look back on a successful year for KTV Medway. I have developed both effective leadership and communication skills as a result of this role, and my additional role as a student rep. The Centre for Journalism has supported KTV Medway a lot. We have interviewed staff for some of our videos and used their equipment. Members of staff have been happy to give advice or provide opportunities for KTV Medway to promote ourselves to other students.’