International Partnerships will be hosting a Go Abroad Talk this Friday 16 October from 14.00 – 15.00 on Zoom. This session will outline the application process to study abroad, the support available to you and any other important information including finances. There will also be a Q&A section at the end of the meeting.

If you are required to undertake a period of study abroad as part of your degree, or if you are interested in exploring your options, please come along and find out more about the opportunities available to you.

We will also be running two Virtual Drop-in Sessions on Tuesday 27 October and Thursday 5 November from 14.00 – 15.00.

For details of how to join any of the above sessions, please email internationalevents@kent.ac.uk.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

The Go Abroad Team

The next Webchat takes place on Thursday 15 October at 15:30 and it is aimed at our commuting students and online learners.

The talks will cover topics such as how to access resources and support for online learning, plus how to maximise your education and experience as a commuting student.

We will have some brilliant students taking part in the talk, who are studying online internationally and/or commuting. They will be sharing their real experiences of what it’s like to commute, or study online/remotely.

Sign up for your chat session and we will send you the Zoom link.

You can book place here.

If you’d like a WebChat on another theme, then just let us know and we’ll set one up. Suggestions can be mailed to directorstudentservices@kent.ac.uk.

Saturday 10 October was World Mental Health Day.

It’s an extremely important time to acknowledge the difficulties many people have faced over the past 6 months especially, and talk about ways we can support one another in our University community and beyond. Whether you have previously struggled with a mental health condition and require specialist support from our Student Support and Wellbeing Team, or simply want to meet other students to share experiences at peer support groups and wellbeing events, the University of Kent has a wealth of resources to help students and staff enhance their wellbeing and safeguard their mental health.

On World Mental Health Day, we launched a campaign called #UoKMomentsAway so the student community at Kent can inspire and encourage one another, even in these times when gathering together is difficult. What gives you a moment of hope on an otherwise challenging day? How have you adapted to find new ways to connect, to be calm, and have fun? Check out what’s providing joy and solace to others, and add your ideas to the mix, following @UniKentSSW and using the hashtag #UoKMomentsAway.

Although the current conditions can feel very isolating, remember that you are not alone in your experience – have a look at our Wellbeing Ideas for Uncertain Times webpage – with guided meditations, ideas for comfort books or inspirational reads, and wisdom from your fellow students on surviving and thriving in this unprecedented time.

In celebration of Black History Month, the Student Success team are inviting students from the Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences to a screening of Hidden Figures. The screening will take place on Monday 19 October at 18:00 at The Gulbenkian.

This inspiring film shares the untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three African-American women working at NASA as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history, the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. It went on to receive numerous awards.

Please head to the Kent Union website for more information.

Kent Innovation i-Teams links the most innovative and creative students to industry, facilitating solutions to real world business challenges. i-Teams originated at MIT and was brought over to the UK by the University of Cambridge in 2006. Several other UK Universities have since adopted the model and implemented their own programmes. Following a very successful Kent programme in 2020, we are excited to present our second year of i-Teams in 2021, which is supported by EIRA.

i-Teams is an 8 week programme where three student teams, who are selected from across all academic disciplines, work on their business challenge with the support of i-Teams mentor, Tudor Price, Deputy CEO at the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce.

The programme commences 27th January 2021; sessions take place Wednesday evenings from 5:30 – 8pm culminating in a Grand Final on 17th March where each team will present their findings and conclusions to their business challenge sponsor, along with an audience of business and academic experts.  We will deliver the programme in a Covid-19 secure environment meeting all requirements current at the point of delivery.

Open to all current University of Kent students.

Deadline for applying is 23.59 on 29 November 2020

Successful applicants are expected to attend all sessions and to complete a 2 hour online training module ‘Enterprise Design Thinking’.  Each session and training module attracts 15 Employability Points.

Details of our 2020 I-Teams programme can be found on the Hub for Innovation and Enterprise.

For all the details, and application link see our i-Teams 2021 webpage.

If you have any questions please email: eirakent@kent.ac.uk

[Picture showing was taken in February 2020 prior to lockdown in March 2020].

Do you want to increase your knowledge of different cultures, further develop your intercultural communication skills and have the opportunity to meet students online from various cultural backgrounds?

If the answer is yes, the International Programmes Department is delivering a series of individual workshops this term called ‘Talking Cultures’ (EW334). These engaging and interactive workshops are open to all University of Kent students and have been in existence for the past six years due to popular student demand. There will be four two-hour workshops this term which will focus on the following themes:

– Week 3: Cultural Knowledge and Identity

– Week 5: Considerations of Intercultural Communication

– Week 6: Barriers to Intercultural Communication; Useful Tools and Strategies

– Week 9: Enhancing Cultural Awareness

To sign up for the workshops, go to the Student Data System (SDS), click on ‘Workshops’, then click on ‘Study Skills’. All workshops are free, non-credit bearing and will be delivered online. Students can receive 5 Employability Points for each workshop attended.

We look forward to ‘Talking Cultures’ with you.

On Tuesday 27 October at 12:00 we are hosting an event about Black Women in STEM. This event is part of Black History Month and will feature a talk from exceptional Black women and students in STEM aka Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It will also address young Black women in academia, who want to pursue a career in the field.

Black women in the UK are among the most underrepresented groups in STEM, but according to research, they are more likely to feel like they belong in the field if they have access to black female role models.

There has been various initiatives set up to encourage Black women to get into this area, such as STEM Learning which is the largest provider of education and careers support. They are dedicated to raising young people’s engagement and achievement in STEM subjects and careers.

For more information, please head to GKSU’s website.