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

Due to the stabilising situation of Covid, they’ll be doing a side-range of webinar topics. Here’s the schedule for two weeks:

Week commencing 30 May 2022

Monday 30 May – ‘‘Practical information and advice through Care first’ – The webinar provides detail about our Information Specialists and their role as part of your EAP service
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

Wednesday 1 June  – ‘How Care first can support you’ – A webinar for awareness and how to access the EAP service provided by Care first.
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

Friday 3 May – BANK HOLIDAY QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE

Week commencing 6 June 2022

Monday 6 June –‘Care first manager and MHFA support’ – This webinar provides an overview of the support available for managers and also the mental health first aiders of organisations through the EAP.
Time: 13.00-13.30 – click on this link to sign up

Wednesday 8 June – ‘How Care first can support you’ – A webinar for awareness and how to access the EAP service provided by Care first.
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

Friday 10 June – ‘Supporting each other’s differences’ – A webinar to help us understand we are all different but how we can be supportive to each other with the choices we make and lives we have.
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

Dr Edd Pitt and Professor Kathleen M. Quinlan, academics in the University of Kent’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education, authored the latest in a series of high-profile literature reviews from Advance HE.

Their review, focused on enhancing assessment and feedback practices in higher education, launched on 19 May.  Based on 481 empirical studies published from 2016-2021, it is a timely and comprehensive resource for higher education practitioners and policy makers.

The review concludes with a series of evidence-based recommendations for educators, policymakers, and researchers in the field.

According to Stuart Norton, Senior Adviser Learning and Teaching, Advance HE, “the authors have done an excellent job of providing details and explanations of each [recommendation], ultimately with a view to rethinking and repositioning assessment strategies, processes, and practices across the sector.”

In an accompanying blog, Quinlan and Pitt reflect on the process of completing the review.  In two companion podcasts, they discuss high level messages from the review, explaining key principles and offering examples of practices that illustrate those principles.  They will present webinars on 9 June.

Professor Richard Reece, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Education and Student Experience at the University of Kent welcomed the report, “it offers valuable and insightful guidance on the steps we need to take as a University and a sector to ensure assessment and feedback best serve our students’ learning. It will guide our own review of assessment and feedback policy and practices at the University of Kent in the coming year. We hope colleagues will begin that process at this year’s Learning and Teaching Conference on 20 June, which Dr Pitt and Professor Quinlan have organised around these themes.”

Sign up to the conference on the 20 June.

Advance HE is a charity that works with institutions and higher education across the world to improve higher education for staff, students, and society. A membership organisation, it enrols more than 500 higher education and research institutions around the world, including most UK higher education providers.

This literature review is being showcased as a member benefit, ensuring wide dissemination among key stakeholders. To retrieve these resources, simply login using an email address from a member institution.

As we approach the end of the financial year at Kent, we have opened a short-life Voluntary Severance scheme to specific cohorts of staff across the University. While we continue to make good progress in delivering our Financial Improvement Plan, we still have work to do to be sustainable and we have an opportunity with funds available this year to explore potential savings in areas that could make a difference. 

The scheme is open to all academic staff in the Division of Arts & Humanities, along with all staff at Grade 10 and above across the University. All eligible staff will be contacted directly to let them know they can apply, with the email including a link to full details about the scheme itself. 

As many will be aware, the Division of Arts & Humanities has recently been reviewing its different academic areas to respond to the national decline in prospective students looking to study humanities courses. This scheme is predominantly being launched to support any academic staff in the Division who may wish to leave the University, with any savings helping to inform the future direction it takes. 

However, given the external environment remains uncertain with both ‘frozen’ home fees and new challenges linked to the cost of living crisis, we have also opened the scheme up more widely across senior staff in case there are any other opportunities to make savings. This is part of helping us get ahead of any future financial constraints while we can, making sure we manage their impact in a way that minimises the effect on overall staffing levels. 

Directors of Division will also be communicating with colleagues in their respective areas to provide local context on the scheme, with all applications considered on a case-by-case basis. If you have any further questions about voluntary severance, please contact your HR Manager, or the central Employee Relations team at VSscheme@kent.ac.uk. 

The University also has a number of existing options available to staff across the organisation who are looking to move on at a time that is right for both them and their division/directorate. These include efficiency retirement, flexible/phased retirement, ill health retirement as well as our existing voluntary redundancy package. If you would like an informal, confidential conversation about any of these schemes please contact your local HR Manager.

Our Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JSNCC) held its latest regular meeting on 11 May. The JSNCC is the main forum in which staff and trade union representatives meet with management representatives to discuss key developments across the University, particularly those that will impact staff. Find out more about JSNCC and how the reps can help you have your voice heard. 

Updates from the May meeting 

People and Culture Strategy 

Deputy Director of HR Nikki Hyde gave an update on the development of our People and Culture Strategy, which is being finalised following a series of focus groups with colleagues across the University. The Strategy is about how staff can be best supported to get the most out of their time at Kent, wherever they work and whatever they do. JSNCC discussed how we can ensure this becomes fully embedded with tangible positive impact for staff, including the importance of engaging staff in the strategy in ways appropriate to where they work. It will also dovetail with a wider programme of staff engagement activities throughout the year, making sure we make the most of being largely back on campus again. 

Wellbeing and Workload 

This continues to be a key priority, both for the JSNCC reps and for the University’s Executive Group. Concerns were raised about the need for join up across projects to ensure that additional pressure doesn’t get put on staff by multiple change initiatives happening at the same time. The Project Management Office has recently put in place a new Project and Programme Portfolio Board which should help with prioritisation of projects and avoiding such conflicts in future. The Committee also discussed the recent workload and wellbeing survey, with a wider update for staff on the outcomes of this due shortly. 

KentVision 

A regular update on KentVision was provided, with the latest project update available on the Staff News pages. This remains a key area of concern for the Committee, with reps reporting pressures around the aspects of the project expected for delivering by August. However, there has also been progress in some areas, with all recognising the need for more regular comms on areas where things are improving. 

Covid-19 and Health and Safety 

Following recent Government announcements on ‘Living with Covid’, our current Covid-19 Pay Policy will be removed from 31 May.  

JSNCC were advised that the Safety, Health and Environment Executive Committee (SHEEC), a sub-committee of Council, is being replaced by a new management committee, with Audit Committee taking over the monitoring role for Council.  JSNCC discussed the arrangements for staff consultation on health and safety, with reps stating a preference for retaining dedicated consultation meetings rather than health and safety being absorbed into main JSNCC meetings. 

Staff Development Policy 

The Committee discussed the challenges with evenly implementing the Staff Development Policy, with a sense that due to disparities in budget allocation not all areas are in a position to fully deliver on the policy commitments.  While it was generally agreed that Kent values the development and career progression of its staff, the Talent & Organisational Development team was asked to look further into the way staff development budgets are allocated and spent across different areas.  

Next meeting is 22 June 2022.

Find our more about JSNCC.