Monthly Archives: June 2022

How students see our future ambitions

At the heart of the developing brand work is the need for us to embrace a bolder, more confident approach in how we present ourself to the world. Building out from the themes of Connection, Collaboration and Community is the sense that, since the University’s origins, we have all been united in the pursuit of progress.  

We have a student-focused approach which is supportive, challenging and rewarding. Our research is driven by collaboration to create positive impact. All of this is underpinned by connections the enable new ideas across areas and a community spirit embodied by our alumni that last a lifetime. 

Hearing from our students 

This positive, outward-focused view of the world also reflects our growing global ambitions – and also resonates really closely with what our research shows us that younger generations of students in particular are looking for.  

As part of this work we looked through the answers applicants gave as to why they applied for University so we could pick out common themes: 

“To achieve aspirations which wouldn’t be possible without university” 

“To enhance my education, giving me a platform to strive towards achieving my goals” 

“I see it as my golden ticket to get closer to the future I have dreamed about since I was young” 

“Dreaming big about my future – I need to bring my ideas and imagination to life” 

“I want to reach my goals and change the situation at home so education is the key” 

“I don’t just want to study to generate an income, but to make a change” 

“To complete my dream to be a professor” 

A diverse brand project group 

We also gathered more in-depth feedback from students embedded in the brand project itself: 

“The ideal University encourages ambition as it is an essential element for making change, especially when faced with change. It encourages students to find their own path to a future of positive change – ultimately if Kent is recognised for this encouragement, it can create an exciting atmosphere for students striving to make an impact in their chosen field” – Sabrina, Undergrad Student 

“When my Masters course moved online due to Covid-19, I struggled to see how I could success ane became willing to settle for less in fear of failure. However, through the support my Division and Student Support, my confidence grew along with my skills and I am now on my first year of my PHD. Ambition has become a core descriptor when I characterise myself as without the determination and support of my teachers, member of staff, family and friends – and my own – I would not be where I am today. Without that ambition I would not be on my dream course, a work-study member of staff, a mentor to other PhD students through Kent Union’s Buddy scheme and so much more” – Caroline, PhD Student 

Taken together this gives us a really strong base from which to develop our brand work – rooted in a positive, outward looking identity that brings together so many strands of that we do at Kent. 

Have your say on our University brand

How we communicate and present ourselves to the outside world is more and more important in the increasingly competitive environment we work in. More than ever, we need to make sure the University stands out, creates impact, and that we way we talk about what we do really shows who we are and what we stand for. 

The imagery we use, the colours and fonts we employ and the design of our marketing materials are all part of how we convey who we are. However, this is also about the identity that’s shared by so many across the University – from student societies to research communications, student recruitment to staff engagement. With it being almost a decade since Kent last refreshed its look and feel, this is time to consolidate our identity with something that all audiences can feel proud of and that brings us all together as one University. 

Your feedback is key! 

Throughout the work to refresh our brand, we have been seeking views from different stakeholders on what most resonates with them – including current and prospective students. The cross-University working group steering this has drawn upon the in-depth research last year into the themes of Connection, Collaboration and Community that run through our work , while also carefully thinking through how our new position fits with our evolving global perspective. 

Now we need to hear from all of you about how our new direction is coming together to help shape things further before we launch our updated look and feel in September.  

We want as many staff and students as possible to come along to our Brand Roadshow, with events in Canterbury and Medway. There is also an online-only version for those who can’t attend in person. 

We want our new direction to work for everyone and celebrate the best of who we are – getting your feedback is key to that so we hope to see as many of you as possible this week! 

Share your views at our Brand Roadshow events 

Canterbury: Templeman Library Foyer between 10:00-15:00 on Thursday 16 June and Friday 17 June. 

Medway: Student Hub social space between 11:00-14:00 on Thursday 16 June.  

Brussels and Paris: Simone Davies, Director of Marketing, Outreach, Recruitment and Admissions will be holding a drop-in on our Brussels campus on Wednesday 15 June and a drop-in on our Paris campus on Thursday 16 June. If you have any questions please visit Simone on these dates. 

 

Registry closure

From Tuesday 31 May, the old part of Registry building has become temporarily closed due to rewiring works.

The Registry extension remains open, including the visitor’s reception, which is staffed by Jenny Overy on Tuesdays, Thursday and Friday. You can contact Jenny at Regreception@kent.ac.uk.  The Registry is expected to fully reopen in the new year.

Departments who have moved out of the Registry are now based in the following buildings:

Darwin

  • Finance

Rutherford

  • Central Student Administration
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity
  • Governance and Assurance
  • Human Resources
  • Office of the Vice-Chancellor
  • University Operations

There are two receptions in Rutherford. The main reception is staffed by the University Operations team and is open 8.30 – 17.00, Monday – Friday.  Staff radios can be collected from this reception. You can communicate with the main reception at Rutherford_reception@kent.ac.uk

The Central Student Administration reception is open from Monday to Friday, 9.00 – 17.00. Students can continue to visit this reception for replacement ID card collection, stamps for official documents, student record queries, (supplementary) status letter collection and to collect their Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs).

Student Lewis Powell smiling with poker chips on table in front of him

Kent Star: Meet Activities Advocate Lewis

This month’s Kent Star is Lewis Powell, who has been involved in a wide range of activities during his time at Kent. From football to esports, President of the Poker Society to Peace Ambassador. Hear from our Activities Advocate Lewis about what he’s been up to:

“I’m Lewis Powell and I’m a final year student studying Economics with Econometrics. I have many hobbies which take up most of my free time. I love football (playing and watching), although Southampton’s end of season form have been testing that love. My other interests include esports and poker as well as travelling. Last September I was a Peace Ambassador for an organisation called Peaceline where we travelled through Germany, Latvia. Lithuania and Poland. A fun fact is that I qualified and played in the €1150 Irish Open Main Event poker tournament in 2019 in Dublin when I was 19.”

Tell us about some of the activities you have been involved with during your time at Kent.

“I have played 6-a-side football with my team every week at Football Frenzy which has been great fun and fuelled my competitive spirit. I had always loved supporting my football team but hadn’t played much during secondary school. Getting involved, improving as a player and having my own team is one of the best things I’ve done during university and it is an activity I look forward to every week.

During the various lookdowns, I decided to fuel my competitive spirit by joining one of the university Counter Strike Global Offensive online teams in my third year at Kent. I hadn’t played hardly at all in the two years prior but soon got super invested in my team and loved competing against other universities twice a week in NUEL and NSE (Esports platforms). As our team evolved through various changes to the roster I decided to step up by becoming the captain and in-game leader. We had a team who were willing to practice, on the same page and whom we had good synergy. Shoutout to Ethan, Max, Tommy and especially Jamie (who I’ve teamed with for 2 years) for all the hard work they put in.

I have also been President of Kent Poker the last two years. I am extremely proud of building back the society after the pandemic to build a loyal community of poker lovers. I am sure the community will continue to thrive going into next academic year.”

What advice would you give to other students?

“Your input is your output. Get involved! There really is a society for everyone at Kent and I would encourage anyone to pursue their hobbies in your spare time. You don’t want to look back on a university experience where you only studied and partied. Some the best time I’ve had at university have been within my various teams and societies and meeting many different people. I would also encourage students to do things over summer; whether that is working, spending time on a side project or participating in programs abroad. This will give you lots of stuff to talk about with potential employers.”

Student Lewis sat at table with playing cards and poker chips

What are your plans for the next year?

“As soon as I finish my exams I am off to Las Vegas for 7 weeks. I will be working as a tournament reporter at the 53rd World Series of Poker from 31 May-19 July for PokerNews. There I will be covering the action from the most popular poker tournament series in the world. I am also hoping I will have some time to relax after a really intense academic year. When I return to the UK I will evaluate my options and see what direction I want to go in next.”

Learn more about the Kent Stars campaign.

Latest Development from the KentVision Project

We have continued to listen to feedback, engage with colleagues, and design system improvements to ensure that KentVision improves a variety of processes as its implementation continues.

We have confirmed the immediate and future SITS features and functionality required with diverse stakeholder groups. The KentVision Delivery team has continued delivering the agreed enhancements, features, and functionality to meet the short-term academic calendar timelines.

Functional Area Working Groups

To ensure colleagues views and recommendations are fully considered, the KentVision Board established six Functional Area Working Groups to enable and track feedback from a variety of teams across the University. This has enabled the team to best prioritise future improvements to the system.

Functional Group members represent a mixture of colleagues from Divisions, professional services and central teams and are split across the following operational areas:

  • Statutory and Core student record
  • Admissions, Clearing and Recruitment
  • Assessment
  • Finance
  • PGR
  • Student Activity and Experience

The work of the Functional Groups, with the support of an independent SITS consultant, has enabled us to fully assess and prioritise the requirements of future improvements to help move forward key areas of work, reprioritising our plan where required in response to our changing circumstances. We will be updating colleagues on this delivery schedule for 2022 during June.

Our technology teams have been very busy in the background working to enhance various pieces of functionality, via a series of technology improvements, throughout the last year and we would like to share an update on our most recent deployment:

Assessments – Board of Examiners Meetings

The KV delivery team have worked hard with colleagues to gather as much feedback as possible to improve the Board of Examiners Meetings functionality – we have taken this feedback and held extensive discussions with staff through a series of workshops facilitated by our business analysts and developers.

The improvements that were recently deployed to live functionality have been widely praised by staff – with positive feedback received from our Show and Tell sessions. The improvements will help enhance processes – and deliver a better experience for our staff and our students. This year, we will gather live feedback during Boards so we can make fixes and enhance the functionality to prepare for future improvements in this area.

  • Significant development across all aspects of the board process following detailed user feedback. Functionality deployed to the live environment with a read-only version of board to be released.
  • Reconfigured board screens to ensure faster processing times for Divisions – enabling a smoother user experience.
  • A detailed results letter review was conducted with divisions and central teams; new templates created for agreed progression outcomes.
  • Significant changes to post-board processing functionality for central teams enabling a defined process and wider use by team members.
  • New end-to-end process in KentVision from mitigation committee through to internal, main, and post-board changes. All note recordings (module actions and outcome recommendations) are now recorded within the system.

These improvements are the culmination of months of hard work behind the scenes, and we commend everyone involved for their work -especially the users of the system dedicating time to ensure improvements are realised.

Next Steps?

  • Technology and process improvements are to continue with deployments scheduled through June and July.
  • A staged approach and timeline for delivery during 2022, of the far-ranging and numerous improvements, will be shared in June.
  • Detailed business readiness activities, including transition plans and training and communication.
  • Continuous updates on how our improvements, plans and communications are informed by feedback from our students and staff.

Events roundup: 13-19 June

It’s the final week of term (and the undergraduate academic year!) Here’s a roundup of our top events this week, with plenty of opportunities to get outside and celebrate with friends.

Complete the Race Equality Charter Student Survey by 17 June

Make sure you complete the survey by Friday 17 June to help shape the University’s anti-racism strategy. Plus, you’ll be in with the chance of winning one of three £50 shopping vouchers.

Monday: Community litter pick and reducing waste

Give back to your local community by joining the College and Community Life Team and other students for litter picking, 12.00-15.00. Meet new people, help the environment and earn Employability Points.

And while we’re on the topic of waste… if you’re moving out and don’t want to take everything with you, you can donate it on campus. See the StuFF and BHF donation points.  Find out more information about moving out of accommodation or your student house.

Tuesday: Get outdoors with mindfulness and live music

Learn about the basics of mindfulness practice and how it can help us to deal with stress, while relaxing in the Rutherford Commemorative Garden from 11.00-12.00 on Tuesday.

It’s the final week of the Gulbenkian Summer Festival. Chill out listening to live music from Pearl Hannaford outside the Gulbenkian. Plus, you can purchase food and drink to enjoy while you listen and catch up with friends.

Wednesday: Explore Kent Community Oasis Garden

Explore the Kent Community Oasis Garden (Kent COG) in Park Wood College with an introduction to mindfulness practice. Meet up outside Woody’s at 13.45 to walk over to the garden. Emily Mason and Debi Adams from the Kent COG will tell you about different activities you can join in and how you can use the space for relaxation and wellbeing, followed by a guided outdoor meditation by Miriam Zapp from the College and Community Life Team.

Thursday: Outdoor cinema sing along and see Kent’s new brand

We’re developing a new look and feel for how we talk about Kent. Come along to the brand roadshow in Templeman Library Foyer on Thursday and Friday, 10.00-15.00 or the Medway Student Hub social space between 11.00-14.00 on Thursday. See the thinking behind the updated brand, alongside mock-ups that you can feedback on. There’ll be an online version too so watch out for the link later this week.

The final outdoor cinema showing for the Gulbenkian Summer Festival is Rocketman sing along, an epic musical fantasy about the fantastical human story of Elton John’s breakthrough years. The film starts at 21.00 but you’re welcome to join earlier to get comfortable and order some snacks.

Saturday: Pride Picnic

Join the Kent and Medway Network of LGBT+ Networks for their Pride Picnic in Coleridge Gardens (at Canterbury Christ Church University) and Rochester Building Lawns (Medway campus). Friends, families and allies welcome. Bring your own picnic and blankets and any Pride flags and decorations.

Sunday: Aqua Park Trip (Medway)

Enjoy this great summer day out at Kent’s Aqua Park on Sunday, 11.00-14.00. Have fun slipping and sliding around all the obstacles and slides. Tickets cost £10 per person. Transport will be provided from Pembroke building.

Browse all student events

Access skills development training and quizzes for free

Over the years, The MTD Training Group have provided several courses as part of the Employability Points programmes.

These have included Management Training CoursesSales Training Courses and also access to an Online Learning Platform.

They are now giving all Kent students access to several FREE resources to help them with their studies and to also help prepare them for the working world.

Leadership Test

Benchmarks your management and leadership skills against 12 competencies and 96 key skills. Learners receive a personalised report with the findings and tips on how to improve.

Coaching Skills Assessment

Just how good are you at coaching? Answer 36 questions and receive a personalised report of the results and areas to work on.

EQ Test

How emotional intelligent are you? We’re talking EQ not IQ here. How good are you are recognising and then managing your emotions? This 50-question diagnostic will reveal all.

Sales Skills Test

Answer 64 questions and receive a personalised report on your sales and influencing skills.

Management Apprenticeships

Further information on management and leadership apprenticeships.

Management Blog

Over 1,000 quality articles and blogs on leadership and management theories and models.

Sales Blog

Over 1,000 tips and techniques on how to improve your sales and marketing.

Sales Techniques & Free Sales Training Material

Videos, audios, and cheat sheets to help you improve your sales and sales management skills.

Pride Picnic – 18 June 2022

You’re all welcome to come along to our Pride Picnic on Saturday 18 June 2022.

Organised by the Kent and Medway Network of LGBT+ Networks, the picnics will take place in Canterbury and Chatham,  from 12.30 – 15.00. Any people wishing to help can go along at 12.00 to help set up.

Bring your own picnic and blankets, along with Pride flags, bunting and other decorations.

This a wonderful event to celebrate LGBTQ+ communities around the world, so we hope to see you there!

Where the events are:

Canterbury:

Coleridge Gardens
Canterbury Christ Church University, CT1 1QU
Contact: cccq.quality@canterbury.ac.uk 

Chatham:

Rochester Building Lawns
University of Kent at Medway, ME4 4AG
Contact: LGBTstaffnetwork@kent.ac.uk 

4 different coloured dustbins

Moving out campaign

Article from Josh Turner, Community Life Officer:

This year we are working to communicate with our students early to ensure when they leave their privately rented homes, they have as little negative impact on the local community as possible.

We are working with local charitable partners including British Heart Foundation, to encourage our students to donate and avoid unnecessary waste.

Furthermore, Kent Union provide fantastic services including Freecycle and Student Food Bank, supporting the current and future students studying at Kent.

Canterbury City Council is also running a two week Bin Amnesty, where additional black bags of general waste will be collected with the usual collections. To communicate this we will be holding two Neighbourhood Days where we door-knock in areas which are highly populated by students to ensure students and residents are ready, as well as communicating through blogs and social media.

We appreciate that when moving out, extra rubbish can be generated but we want to work to reduce any impact on the local community.

Working in partnerships, we are helping making it easy to get rid of unwanted items through:

  • Bin Amnesty: In central Canterbury, thanks to the Canterbury City Council and Canenco, there will be a bin amnesty from Monday the 20 June to Friday 1 July where all rubbish left out in key areas will be picked up as part of a weekly collection.
  • We are teaming up with the British Heart Foundation to make it easy for students to donate unwanted possessions to this fantastic cause.
  • Promoting the central donation services provided by Kent Union, including the Foodbank and Freecycle service.
  • Promoting local removal and disposal services in Kent.
  • Planning local litter picking volunteering opportunities for students on Monday 6 June and Monday 13 June.

If you have any concerns throughout this busy move-out period, you can get in touch with our Community Life Officer for support.

For more information email Josh on communityliaison@kent.ac.uk

Brand Roadshow (16-17 June)

Work is continuing to develop on the new look and feel for how we talk about Kent. As this progresses, we would like to invite you to a roadshow next week to understand your views on the work so far!

This is open for everyone to drop in and will include an introduction to the thinking behind the updated brand work alongside mock-ups of different options we have been exploring. You will get a chance to feedback via an online form about what you like and how you feel about the new branding. Join us at either the Canterbury or Medway campus:

Canterbury: Templeman Library Foyer between 10:00-15:00 on Thursday 16 June and Friday 17 June.

Medway: Student Hub social space between 11:00-14:00 on Thursday 16 June.

For those who are unable to attend in person, the roadshow will be supported by an online version.

Watch out for an invite next week with more details, plus more information on the journey so far!

You can read Simone Davies blog on our new brand identity here.