Before the Christmas break, Professor Richard Reece, KentVision Executive Sponsor met with the six KentVision Functional Groups (KVFG) and communicated the decision by the KV Project Board, to move the KV work from a separate project to an IS business-as-usual delivery model by the summer of 2023 and the decision to re-focus delivery priorities.

By way of reminder, between now and summer of 2023, the project has been re-focused to deliver features, functionality, and data improvements in the following areas:

• Compliance (e.g., features relating to UKVI reporting)
• Statutory obligations (e.g., features relating to HESA Data Futures ensuring we maintain our link to UCAS)

Throughout January, each of the six KV Functional Groups (KVFG) have been conducting a thorough assessment of the feature requests which are not related to compliance or statutory obligations. In addition, an assessment of all existing operational workarounds is also being completed to understand the scale of time and effort required to manage these, and all associated risks ­– engaging with colleagues across divisional and central teams.

The KVFGs are making significant progress to confirm the workaround assessment of the KV specific features to be delivered in the future. By March we expect to have completed the assessments – ensuring that a revised KV Product Backlog can be confirmed.

The possible options we will consider for addressing the remaining KV feature requests include:

• Further technical development work to KentVision
• An alternative existing software solution (e.g., Office 365)
• A process and or policy change.

Our revised plan will prioritise areas where we will get maximum benefit for professional service, academic staff, and our students. We are developing plans with Senior Leadership and the KV Functional Group Chairs to move forward these key areas of work, reprioritising the plan.

In addition, we have two delivery teams focused on delivery of KV features and we’ve established a dedicated KV Operational Support Team who are providing technical support during intensive operational processes, that require manual workarounds, throughout the academic year (e.g., online module registration and academic roll-over activities). They are also focused on improving the efficiency of the service desk, and they are progressing KV related tickets daily.

In the coming months, we will continue to communicate with you about our progress and updates.

KentVision Technical Upgrade

Work took place from the 20-23 January to upgrade KentVision to keep us in support with the system supplier (Tribal) and to ensure that we continue to receive essential updates. On Monday 23 January, after careful testing, the upgraded system was switched back to live at 11:00 – 3 hours earlier than scheduled.

Thank you to everyone for their hard work and dedication to make this a success. Your contributions are invaluable and greatly appreciated.

KentVision Online Open Meeting

Colleagues are invited to attend an online open meeting with Professor Richard Reece KentVision Executive Sponsor.

This is an opportunity to hear from Richard and get an update on the future direction of KentVision and for colleagues to ask questions of him.

• 1 March 2023 – 1PM-1:45PM

Please register your attendance via Microsoft Forms for a diary invitation.

Upcoming Drop-In Sessions

The friendly CSAO training team are running monthly KentVision drop-in sessions, the aim of which is to answer your KentVision related questions and demonstrate the system in-person.

• 2 March 2-4pm in Darwin Board room.

With best wishes,

The KentVision Project

This week saw the fourth VC Cup event take place, with The Cube. This was an event based on the original TV show, in which contestants completed a series of challenges without losing all their lives.

For this event, teams met for a social evening at the Pavilion Café Bar, where they took on five different challenges. Following a tense first round, teams headed off to Woody’s common room for the second half of the evening, where teams were able to grab a refreshment before playing three additional challenges, this time earning lives when victorious.

By the final there were two teams standing strong, DoNATS and Kent Union. To determine the evening’s victor and winner of the prestigious Cube trophy, teams competed in the final event, a series of ‘Ball flick’ challenges, which saw team members tasked with flicking balls from their stands in order, by colour and in the fastest time. After a tough and close three rounds, DoNATS finally took the win, leaving Kent Union relegated to 2nd place.

Despite failing to reach the semi-finals, teams Liquorice All Sports, Campus Sporting Exploits and Living La Vida Mocha remain at the top of the leaderboard, with just two points separating them. The heroes of this event though must be Kent Union, who had yet to reach the top five in any of the VC Cup tournaments to date! They clearly found their calling here, working well as a team and using their individual strengths to reach an epic final. This had propelled the team to 9th position overall, with several events still to come!

If you’re curious about the upcoming VC Cup events, check out the information webpage!

Come along and attend the Canterbury for Ukraine fundraising dinner on Thursday 16 March 2023 at Darwin College.

The evening will include welcome drinks, a three-course meal, live music, a bar and auction. All proceeds will go to Canterbury for Ukraine.

The evening will begin with welcome drinks at 6.30pm and tickets will include a three-course meal, a glass of wine at the table, live music, a bar and a live auction will be held in aid of Canterbury for Ukraine’s (C4U) extraordinary and vital work.

Through the enormous generosity and dedication of the local community, including local businesses,C4U provides a wide range of much-needed services to support the growing number of Ukrainians coming to Canterbury and surrounding areas as a result of the devastating and illegal war in Ukraine.

Please do join us in support of this invaluable and inspiring work.

Tickets cost £50 each or £450 for a table for ten

To book please go to: C4Udinner.eventbrite.co.uk

We are looking for volunteers to make the event as welcoming and accessible as possible on both nights. If you’d like to volunteer, contact info@eea.org.uk for more information.

We are delighted to invite Kent staff to the annual online ‘Kent Global Showcase’ event which will be held on Wednesday 22 Feb from 10.00 – 12.00. The Global Showcase will be opened by Professor Richard Reece, DVC Education and Student Experience who holds EG responsibility for Internationalisation. 

This year’s Showcase Event will focus on the cross-institutional development of our Global Engagement Strategy and its vision, values and objectives. The event will be co-hosted by Dr Anthony Manning, Dean for Global and Lifelong Learning and Professor Jeremy Carrette, Dean for Europe.  

During the event you’ll be introduced to key colleagues across the institution, so that you can learn more about how to gain support and draw on good practice from relevant professional services and divisional colleagues. This will include focus on International Recruitment, International Partnerships and examples of engagement with education and research activities. We will also be joined at the event by student representatives from our Global Officers Leadership Development Programme and members of our new International Student Advisory Board. 

The event will end in a Q&A session, giving you a chance to ask how we can support you in your work more specifically or provide a channel for the sharing of your own insights and expertise. 

Sign up now for the Kent Global Showcase event.

Later this term, we will extend the Global Showcase to include an in-person ‘round table’ event, which will be held on Wednesday 8 March from 10.00 – 11.30 in Sibson SR2. This event will give Kent staff an opportunity for a deeper dive into the main objectives of Global Engagement Strategy and the opportunities and challenges in your context. 

Please sign up for the Round Table event.

Help us choose our next Honorary Graduates by nominating someone by 20 February 2023!

Honorary Degrees recognise the exceptional contributions made by individuals and is one of Higher Education’s most significant accolades. We particularly welcome nominations that reflect our key values and demonstrate our commitment to knowledge.

All staff and students can submit a nomination for Honorary Doctorates. When nominating someone, it’s important to think about the relation they have to the University. Maybe they are from Kent, have achieved academic distinction or have been an inspirational figure who has made an exceptional contribution to society.

To see the full criteria, take a look at the Honorary Degree Kent Community page.

Over the years, we have had a range of incredible Honorary Graduates. Just in 2022, we had Afrobeats star Tiwa Savage, Britain’s fastest woman Dina Asher-Smith and Nobel Laureate for Literature and Kent emeritus professor Abdulrazak Gurnah just to name a few.

To nominate someone, fill out this form by 20 February 2023.