International Development has organised a special programme of events for you during the week 22 – 26 September, to welcome you to the University.

These events are free of charge. If you have not already booked a ticket for these events, please turn up on the day and we will do our best to accommodate you, although we cannot guarantee a place.

Canterbury students

Welcome Talks – Tuesday 23 September 10.00 – 11.00 and 11.30 – 12.30 in Woolf Lecture Theatre 1

Welcome Dinner – Tuesday 23 September and Thursday 25 September 19.00 in Rutherford and Darwin Colleges

Erasmus Welcome Buffet (Erasmus Students Only) – Friday 26 September 12.30 – 14.00 in Darwin Conference Suite

Trip to Leeds Castle – Sunday 28 September 11.00 departing from Darwin Bus Stop

Medway students

Welcome Talk – Friday 26 September 11.30 – 12.30 in Medway Building Room M0-05

Welcome Buffet – Friday 26 September 12.30 – 14.00 in Rochester Building Room R2 -09

Trip to Leeds Castle – Sunday 28 September 11.00 departing from Gillingham Building

For live updates during your welcome week, follow our live international Twitter channel @UniKentIntLive.

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

This year the University is funding a trial night bus service.

The service will mean that there will be buses operating to and from the campus 24 hours a day for 6 days a week (excluding Christmas holiday).

Prices

• Uniday ticket is valid from 5am to 5am – £2.80
• Uniweek ticket – £8.00
• Single ticket – £1.70

Unirider ticket is valid on all Stagecoach buses in Kent and East Sussex.

Buy early and purchase your Unirider for £170. After 5 October the ticket will be £240.

Routes

The usual route will continue to operate until midnight. All buses which has the title ‘Nite’ on the front of the bus will operate using the following route:

From the campus

Canterbury campus – St Stephens Hill – Forty Acres Road – St Dunstans – Sainsburys – Bus Station

To the campus

Bus Station – Canterbury East – St Dunstans – Forty Acres Road – St Stephens Hill – Canterbury campus

View bus route map

Timetable

The ‘nite’ bus service will operate from 18:55hrs.

View the timetable.

This service is provided in partnership with Stagecoach to provide travel between Canterbury City Centre and the University campus.

Juliet Thomas, Assistant Director Estates: Facilities Management, said:

‘We are delighted to be working with Stagecoach in providing the new 24 hour bus service. This service will be an invaluable to students and staff who need to use facilities on the Campus or in Canterbury at all times of the day and night.’

For more information: email transport@kent.ac.uk

Have you got a great idea that you think would improve your community through technology?

Want to win the chance to get your idea turned into reality?

Take part in this autumn’s community ‘Transformed by You’ challenge in East Kent to help find solutions together.

From beaches, markets, restaurants, bus stops and skate parks to urban games, accessibility, learning zones, outdoor spaces, busking or street art – if you’ve got an idea, share it and work with others to help it become reality.

Embrace Your Space aims to bring people, communities and technology developers together to come up with innovative ways of using technology to improve their area.

The challenge is now open and you can post your ideas or solutions to local issues through the ‘Transformed by You’ website.

You can make suggestions, comment on others, form project groups and vote on ideas.

A final winning solution will be chosen by a panel of judges at the Innovation Day on 29 November at the University of Kent. All are welcome to attend, in particular if you’ve got skills that can help people develop solutions.

The best entry will win support they need to take forward their solution.

There are already some ideas posted for you to take a look at and comment on.

How can you get involved?

• Register and post your ideas on the website
• Pass the email and flyer on to all your friends, family and colleagues and start to come up with ideas
• If you’re a developer and a designer, post your ideas or link with others to help develop the technology for theirs.
• Follow us on Twitter

Thank you and we look forward to you being part of the challenge.

I can’t believe it’s September already, summer, for me has flown past in a hazy mist of interning, decision making, fab ice lollies, sun and cider. But as ever it has been ripped out of my clutches and I am back; back looking at reading lists, terrified of third year, but most importantly writing my welcome blog. So, urm welcome or indeed welcome back…

Read UKC Student’s full welcome message on her blog.

Essentials has been ranked as one of the Top 100 Independent Retailers in the UK.

The student shop run by Kent Union, the Students’ Union at the University of Kent, has been placed in the Top 100 Independent Retailers 2014 list for four consecutive years.

This follows an assessment by the Independent Achievers Academy. The Academy celebrates excellence and the diversity of independent retailing across the UK.

The on-campus store is the only students’ union shop in the country to achieve such recognition. At present, the team are awaiting the results which will confirm whether they will progress to the awards night.

Stores placed in the Top 100 Independent Retailers list have gone through a rigorous evaluation process, including a comprehensive entry and mystery shop assessment, and have been found to consistently deliver across 12 key retail categories.

Essentials Retailer Manager Trevor Higgs says:

‘We are very excited to have been placed in the top 100 stores in the UK; it’s a huge achievement. Our overall scores were better than the previous year’s too.

‘We would like to thank all of our staff and customers for their continued hard work and feedback.’

Kent Union President Tammy Naidoo says;

‘It’s great that our Union shop has been recognised as one of the best in the UK! We’re excited to see whether we make it into the final, and will continue to improve the Essentials service that we provide for our students.’

The shortlist for the finalists of the Independent Achievers Academy 2014 will be announced on 6 October at betterRetailing.

For further information:

• Visit the betterRetailing website
• Email C.Campbell@kent.ac.uk

The University has been shortlisted for ‘Most Improved Student Experience’ in the Times Higher Education Awards (THE) 2014.

For this particular THE Awards category, student market research specialists Youthsight asked 20,000 students across the UK to rate the academic reputation, teaching, social life and facilities of their institutions.

This latest endorsement of the University by its students is a further reflection of Kent’s long-standing reputation for ongoing investment in these areas.

This includes:

• an increase of 12% in academic and research staff, including a 30% increase in professors, in the past three years;
• an investment of £12.6m over the past three years for new and improved learning and teaching spaces;
• a new £27m Templeman Library development which will create one of the leading university libraries in the UK, with over 500 new study spaces;
• an investment of more than £120m in its student residences over the last 5 years.

It also comes less than a month after the most recent National Student Survey (NSS) revealed that Kent’s students are again amongst the UK’s most satisfied with their academic experience.

The Awards winners will be announced at a THE event on Thursday 27 November.

For more information, please contact Gary Hughes.