We’re committed to cultivating and strengthening a culture of consent in our community.

You’re invited to our sex-positive Celebrating Consent Day on Wednesday 9 February. Everyone is welcome to attend, learn, and participate.

Join us in Darwin Conference Suite from 13.00 for an afternoon of interactive and engaging sessions. Get your free tickets via Eventbrite where you can book tickets for as many or as few sessions as you would like!

13.00-14.00 The World of Online Dating: find your perfect partner and stay safe

We are starting our afternoon with a workshop on online dating. METRO and Protection Against Stalking (PAS) will be telling us about how to stay safe in the online dating world, and how to create a profile and enjoy getting know people. This is for everyone! Whatever your gender, sexuality, age or current dating status, there will be intel for you to reflect on navigating digital spaces and your online identity.

14.15-15.15 Sex & Empowerment with Ruby Rare

For the second session we will be joined by Ruby Rare, a sex-educator, artist, and body-positive champion. She’s on a mission to engage people of all ages in positive conversations about sex and pleasure. Her work is influenced by her experiences as a queer, non-monogamous, dual-heritage person. She has recently launched the podcast In Touch and is the author of ‘Sex Ed: A Guide for Adults’. You can expect a talk that moves away from the typical heteronormative sex-ed and addresses the ways in which we can tackle the stigmas around consent education and put pleasure first.

Ruby is a proud ambassador for Brook, the UK’s leading sexual health charity for young people, co-founder of life drawing collective Body Love Sketch Club, and has spoken at TedXLondon, Women of the World Festival, and on BBC Woman’s Hour. She is listed as one of 24 figures making a positive change to social media in Cosmopolitan’s 2021 Positivity Index.

15.30-17.00 Crafting Consent: a collaborative artwork

Our final session invites all participants to reflect on sex-positivity, empowerment, and consent by making a contribution to our community artwork. We will be providing all the materials you need and food to fuel your inner artist! Stick around for a chat with our speakers and each other, have time to discuss your ideas and responses while we create a lasting memento of this snapshot in time of Kent’s journey to a more inclusive sex-positive culture.

Register for events. We hope to see you there!

Will you help us put a full stop to sexual assault and misconduct? Consent. Get it. Full Stop

Are you looking to further enhance your intercultural awareness and an opportunity to meet students from various cultural backgrounds? If so, you might be interested in these stand-alone cultural workshops which are free and open to all Kent students.

Workshops will be delivered in-person at the Canterbury Campus. If you need assistance, please email internationalprogrammes@kent.ac.uk. 

Workshop 1: Cultural Knowledge and Identity – EWLA3340

Wednesday 2 Feb, 14.00-15.30.

Workshop 2: Considerations of Intercultural Communication – EWLA3350

Wednesday 9 Feb, 14.00-15.30.

Workshop 3: Barriers to Intercultural Communication; Tools & Strategies – EWLA3360

Wednesday 16 Feb, 14.00-15.30.

Workshop 4: Enhancing cultural awareness – EWLA3370

Wednesday 23 Feb, 14.00-15.30.

Feedback from students who have previously attended a Talking Cultures workshops

Laura Prats Cardona: “Personally, my favourite one [workshop] was the culture workshop, where we were put in groups of more or less ten people and each of us discussed the prejudices on our cultures, what we believed to be culture (which is so much more than just food music or clothes) and what culture we identified ourselves with. It was interesting to see how people who had travelled or moved countries during their childhood (myself included) identified with two or more cultures”.

Bilal Hussain: “Internationalisation and global engagement programmes exemplified by GOLD, such as the talking cultures workshops, have helped fuel this new emerging environment of cultural pride and expression for us all. Going back to the previous point about travelling through the people you meet; internationalisation programmes have become even more important in keeping this momentum going in the current COVID climate where we can’t travel. This only amplifies just how important it is in forging global and diverse relationships so that we can see the world through people. Most importantly however, it improves our respect and awareness of different perspectives from different parts of the world which helps us to build a respectful and tolerant society where we can celebrate each other and forge togetherness rather than divisions”.

Are you and your friends thinking about where to live next year? Take the hassle out of house hunting and worrying about deposits or bill payments by returning to with us again next year.

We’ve set aside a limited number of rooms across the Canterbury campus and Pier Quays exclusively for returning students, so whether you are in your second, third or fourth year you can take advantage of the great benefits of living with us once again when you apply online!

• Live with your friends – tell us in your applications and as look as you meet our guidelines we’ll house you together. (Check out our FAQs for more info).
• No deposit needed to secure your room – pay nothing until September 2022 for Canterbury campus accommodation and only an advanced rent payment for Pier Quays.
• Guaranteed offer– for the first 1,000 Canterbury returning student applications and all Medway applications. You’ll also get quick confirmation with early applicants finding out if their application is successful at the end of January with their room allocation information following from March.
• Pay no bills – all utilities are included (gas, water, electricity, heating and Wi-Fi) plus you get to keep your Kent Sport Premium Plus membership for free for another year.

If you are applying for Canterbury accommodation you can apply for any accommodation area except Turing College (which is reserved for new students). In Medway we also have phase 2 rooms available in Pier Quays which returning student applications are given priority for. Rooms are allocated on a first come first served basis so apply early to maximise your chances.

Check your emails from the Accommodation Team or visit our returning student accommodation page for more information including our handy FAQ Guide.

So, remove the worry of finding a new place to live, and instead apply online now and relax knowing you can live with friends and have the great facilities available on campus to return to next year.

Recent data and analysis from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows that in autumn 2021 there was an increase in the number of cases of meningococcal disease in teenagers and young adults, mainly caused by group B meningococcal disease (MenB) – with the majority among university students.

Meningococcal disease is a life-threatening infection caused by bacteria that can go on to cause meningitis and septicaemia (blood poisoning). There are 5 main meningococcal strains that cause disease in the UK. Men B is the most common strain in the UK and other strains include MenA, MenC, MenW and MenY.

Signs and symptoms of Men B

The disease can progress rapidly so it is important to be aware of the signs and symptoms so that you can get medical help as soon as possible. Commons signs and symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia:

• fever with cold hands and feet
• vomiting
• drowsy or difficult to wake
• confusion and irritability
• severe muscle pain
• pale blotchy skin, spots or rash
• severe headache
• stiff neck
• dislike bright lights
• convulsions or seizures

If you have any of these symptoms, seek medical help immediately.

Have you had your vaccines?

It’s important to keep up to date with your vaccines.

It is recommended that you get the MenACWY vaccine (protecting against 4 types of meningococcal disease) and MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine before starting university. If that is not possible, you should have the vaccines as soon as you can after you arrive.

If you are unsure which vaccines you have had, contact your GP.

Students can be registered to vote at a term-time address and a home address

How do I register?

Registering to vote is quick, easy and secure.

1. Go to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
2. Fill in your name, address, date of birth and a few other details. You will be asked for your National Insurance number, which can be found on your National Insurance card, or in official paperwork such as payslips, or letters about benefits or tax credits. If you do not know or do not have a National Insurance number, please select ‘I cannot supply a National insurance Number’ and enter ‘student’ for the reason.
3. Students from the UK, EU, Commonwealth, British Overseas Territories and British Crown Dependencies are all eligible to register to vote.

Why should I register?

To vote: You need to register in order to be able to vote. If you are not registered to vote, you won’t have the chance to have a say on who represents you or how things are run. Some people also register to vote because they want to apply for credit. This is because credit reference agencies use the register to confirm where someone lives when they apply for credit in order to counteract fraud.

As a student, you can register at both your term time address and at the address you live at outside of term time. At local elections, you can vote in both areas if they are in different council districts. You can only vote once in a national election such as a UK Parliamentary General Election, it is a criminal offence to vote twice in these elections. If you are unsure which elections you can vote in, check with our Electoral Service team.

But I thought I was already registered to vote?

If you are unsure whether you are registered please contact Electoral Services, Canterbury City Council . Students need to register at their term-time address each academic year.

What if I don’t wish to register in the Canterbury area?

If you do not wish to register in the Canterbury area as you only wish to register at your home address, please email electoral.services@canterbury.gov.uk informing Electoral Services of your wish not to register, together with your term time address and full name.

Electoral Services, Canterbury City Council Contact details

Phone: 01227 862 007
Email: electoral.services@canterbury.gov.uk

If you have any problems or queries with your registration, please contact Electoral Services. 

All students are welcome to join this fun and informal, Global WebHangout with a focus on international New Year celebrations. We will also be looking ahead and suggesting ways to keep yourself happy and healthy in 2022. This WebHangout will be taking place on Friday 21 January from 14.00-15.00 (UK time).

Meet new students, take part in fun activities and share what the New Year means to you. This event will be opened by Dr Anthony Manning, Director and Dean for Global and Lifelong Learning at Kent and we will have guest speakers to share helpful information with you.

We will focus on positivity and wellbeing for the year ahead so we hope this will be a great start to your year!

All students are very welcome, from the UK or overseas. 

We look forward to seeing you there! Sign up for the Global WebHangout.