Are you interested to find out how you can bring experiential learning into your modules through virtual exchange?

Virtual exchange (VE) or Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) uses technology to allow students to engage in meaningful, cross-cultural experiences as part of their education.  It can broaden access to international learning for every student, regardless of their circumstances, background or ability.  With recent events preventing traditional study abroad, these projects provide the framework for students to develop their cross-cultural attitudes, skills, and communication in addition to improving their digital literacy skills valued by employers.

International Partnerships and the Dean for Internationalisation would like to invite you along to an introductory workshop on Virtual Exchange.  During this 2-hour workshop, we will outline the key elements of VE; share examples of past projects; identify how we can we work with our existing university partners and present research on the impact of VE on student’s learning.  There will be opportunities for discussion and sharing possible ideas on how to adopt VE into your teaching.

Workshop Details

Introduction to Virtual Exchange

Monday 30th November, 10.00 -12.00

Register to join the workshop

Kent has devised a co-curricular virtual exchange initiative, Global Learning Online (GLO) to introduce students to cross-cultural academic learning experiences online to compliment their existing studies.  We are delighted to see GLO, firmly established within our Japanese provision and many students this academic year take up the opportunities on offer. 

Any questions, please contact e.l.marku@kent.ac.uk or deaninternational@kent.ac.uk

This term has seen Kent’s students embracing the various online, virtual exchange opportunities that have been on offer so far this year.

As the Covid-19 pandemic has prevented many traditional in-person study opportunities, many students have had to adapt to studying online with our partner institutions as part of their Year Abroad.  However, over 60 students have also opted to take opportunities provided by our partner universities and organisations as an extra-curricular activity, alongside their existing studies at Kent.

Exciting virtual exchange courses include exploring climate change, identity and communication in the digital world, Japanese common reading experiences and more.

My first impression was that it was a safe space to be very open and discuss all sorts of topics. I found it remarkable how honest everybody was about their own experiences and accepting they were of individual and cultural differences…I look forward to the other weekly sessions, it was a refreshing and eye-opening discussion.

Samantha Archer, English & French Law, Connect Express

All students that engage in these activities earn a certificate and transcript where applicable, awarded Employability Points and have recognition on their Higher Education Achievement Report.

Virtual exchange allows students to engage in meaningful, cross-cultural experiences as part of their education.  It can broaden access to international learning for every student, regardless of their circumstances, background or ability.  These projects provide the framework for students to develop their cross-cultural attitudes, skills, and communication in addition to improving their digital literacy skills valued by employers.

If you are a staff member and would like to find out how you could incorporate virtual exchange into your curriculum, register for our introductory workshop on Monday 30th November.

For more information, please contact internationalpartnerships@kent.ac.uk

‘Resilience in EU and International Institutions’ is the title of a new book co-edited by Elena Korosteleva, Professor of International Politics at Kent, and Trine Flockhart, Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern Denmark.

The book, to be published by Routledge on 30 November, explores the concept and practice of resilience. It proposes a new understanding of resilience, both as a quality and a way of thinking, to argue that a more sustainable way to govern the world today is bottom-up and inside-out.

While carrying a seemingly unifying message of self-reliance, adaptation and survival in the face of adversity, resilience curiously continues to appear ‘all things to all people’, making it hard for the EU and international institutions to make full use of its potential.

Engendering resilience today, in the highly volatile and uncertain world hit by crises, pandemic, and diminishing control, becomes a priority like never before. This book develops a more comprehensive view of resilience by looking at it both as a quality of the system, and a way of thinking inherent to ‘the local’ that cannot be engineered from the outside.

About the editors

Elena Korosteleva is Professor of International Politics and Jean Monnet Chair of European Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at Kent. She is Co-founder and Director of the Global Europe Centre and Principal Investigator for the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) COMPASS project (ES/P010849/1), focusing on resilience and governance in (Eastern) Europe and Central Asia. She has published widely in the journals Contemporary Security Policy, Journal of International Relations and Development, Cooperation and Conflict, Democratization and International Relations.

Trine Flockhart is Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of the Centre for War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, and Founder and President of Women in International Security–Denmark (WIIS–DK), Copenhagen, Denmark. Her research focuses on international order and transformational change, NATO and transatlantic relations. Her article ‘The Coming Multi-Order World’ published in Contemporary Security Policy (2016) was awarded the Bernard Brodie Prize that same year.

Further information about the new book is available on the Routledge website. You can use the discount code SSM20 to save 20% on purchase.

The University was very sorry to hear of the death of Anne Seller, one of the first members of our academic staff, on Wednesday 11 November.

Anne Seller was appointed to a Lectureship in Philosophy in 1966, and helped to shape the profile of philosophy at Kent. Her speciality was political philosophy.

She was a member of Keynes and played an active part in the life of the college. She also played a central role in setting up the Women’s Studies graduate course at Kent.

Outside the University, Anne Seller also made an enormous contribution. Locally, she taught philosophy for children, working at the Orchard School, and served as Lady Mayoress of Canterbury in 2001-2.

On the national stage, she played a lead role in the Society for Women in Philosophy and took an active part in campaigning against siting Cruise missiles in the UK.

She spent a year teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, where she continued to be a frequent visitor, and held a visiting appointment at Mother Teresa Women’s University in south India

A fuller tribute to Anne Seller, by Professor Richard Norman, Professor Sean Sayers and former student Professor Miranda Fricker FBA, is available on the Department of Philosophy webpages.

The University’s Warp-it recycling scheme has proved its green credentials. Over the past four years, the scheme has resulted in 134 tonnes of used furniture and other equipment being donated to charities and local schools.

This has led to an estimated saving of £768,919 – based on the cost of recycling these items, and the time and money spent on buying new furniture.

Within the University, we have been able to completely furnish areas such as School of Psychology’s Woodlands Building at a saving of around £40,000. Other areas benefiting from a “Warp-it makeover” have included the School of European and World Languages’ staff room, using a mixture of Warp-it items and reupholstered old seats, and seating in the Rutherford Dining Room.

Furniture and other items have also been donated to local schools such as St Edmund’s, Dane Court Grammar School, Sandwich Technology College, Archbishop’s School, DaVinci Dance School and Animal Care Specialist School, and to charities such as Canterbury Scouts and the Necessary Furniture Group.

Warp-it furniture at Dane Court Grammar School

Warp-it furniture has even reached as far as Sierra Leonne! A previous Vice-Chancellor’s meeting table and chairs is being used in a school there, following a donation to the Kori Women Development Project.

Most commonly reused items have included desks, chairs, coffee tables, filing cabinets, tambour units and whiteboards, but sofas, modular furniture units, magazine racks, a water cooler dispenser and a safe have also featured!

The Warp-it team

The University of Kent Warp-it team comprises Jenny Martine, Interior Services & Signage Manager; Peter Hayes, Interior Services & Signage Administrator; Emma Dimond, Facilities Management Coordinator, Recycling & Waste; and the Estates Support Services Team managed by Calvin Froud, Support Services Supervisor.

Peter Hayes and Jenny Martine

Emma Dimond commented: ‘The team started using Warp-it in 2016 for several reasons; we were seeing how much good quality, pre-used, furniture the team were collecting and recycling and we knew that these items could have a second, third or even fourth home depending on their condition.

‘Over the years, Support Services had informally collected, stored and donated pre-used furniture to departments right across the University and we decided that we needed a more organised approach in order to document the types of items being reused, the cost savings and the improved environmental impact of these actions.’

Emma Dimond

Why Warp-it?

As part of the University of Kent Waste Strategy, the Waste and Recycling team within Estates targets different waste streams and how to sustainably improve the disposal method. In addition to reducing the amount of waste the University produces, there is an agreed target to increase our reuse by 36% in 2020-2021.

Warp-it is one of the ways that we are working towards this target. Changing the disposal method from recycling to reuse allows us to reduce our CO2 emissions, moving up the waste hierarchy (prevention, reuse, recycling, other recovery, responsible disposal).

Emma comments: ‘The Waste and Recycling team are focused on goal 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – these are designed to form a blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for all. With Warp-it on our team, that bright future becomes more achievable every day.’

Find out more

You can find out more about accessing Warp-it for our free on-site service via the Estates webpages. Or you can email the Warp-it team at warpit@kent.ac.uk

More information on recycling and waste disposal on campus is available on our recycling webpages.

Further details of our Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainability team can be found on our sustainability webpages.