Following recent meetings of the KentVision (KV) Project Board, I wanted to share with you some of the decisions that we have made regarding the future direction of the project, as well as some other significant updates.

It is important for me to stress that the University remains committed to delivering the KV project and to realising its benefits. Since we went live in April 2021, a number of very significant features and improvements have been developed and delivered (e.g., new functionality for students to view and maintain assessment deadlines and features for the processing of mitigating circumstance requests, board of examiner and post-board amendments), but there remains a large backlog of features and functionality requests yet to be confirmed for delivery.

The KV Project Board, in close cooperation with university central governance groups, has made the decision to move the KV work from a separate project to an IS business-as-usual delivery model by the summer of 2023.

As a consequence, between now and summer of 2023, we must re-focus the project on delivering 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)

When the compliance and statutory features and functionality in the backlog are assessed, the risk to the institution of not delivering these is extremely large. We must deliver changes on these areas by summer 2023 as a result to changes to regulations and a delay will present real risk in meeting our compliance obligations.

We know there are challenges for teams who are experiencing workload pressures. To try and address these, from January 2023 we are establishing a dedicated KV Operational Support Team to provide technical support during intensive operational processes, that require manual workarounds, throughout the academic year (e.g., online module registration and academic roll-over activities). We will work with local managers to make sure the impact is understood, and the right support and mitigations are in place so teams can continue delivering high-quality services with existing systems and tools.

A significant amount of work had already been completed across the six KV Functional Area Groups which has enabled delivery of new features and a greater understanding of our activities and operations; along with insights as to how we may best organise these activities within KV and across Central and Divisional Teams. The project is now reviewing the original planned activities and we are developing plans with Senior Leadership and the KV Functional Group Chairs to move forward these key areas of work, reprioritising the plan.

The possible options we will consider for addressing the remaining features in the backlog include:

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

The revised plan will prioritise areas where we will get maximum benefit for professional service, academic staff, and our students. I will update colleagues in January 2023 on how we intend to address the remaining features within the backlog.

KV has already delivered key features and functionality – this is down to the hard work and achievements of the many colleagues who have contributed to the project thus far. I thank them for that, and for their excellent work.

Our commitment to supporting our staff is unwavering, and as we are now moving towards the end of the KV project phase, we have to make changes to both our plan and our approach that take this into consideration. The KV Project Board is meeting frequently to monitor the impact of this decision and the mitigations being put in place, and we will provide regular updates to you moving forward.

This year’s NSS results were published yesterday and, while we are still looking into the subject level data for the complete picture, it is clear they present a challenging set of results for Kent, with our overall satisfaction score for Full-Time First Degree being 73%. Our students’ views and – more fundamentally – the experience they have with us is of huge importance, so I wanted to update you on the work we are doing to ensure we see steady improvement in this area.

A challenging year for many  

As many have acknowledged across the sector, last year was yet again unusual for a number of reasons as we all adapted to the relaxation of Covid restrictions and the return of face-to-face teaching. Both student behaviour and the campus experience itself have undoubtedly changed through the move to more hybrid models of both work and delivery. Our own student surveys present a mixed picture of what aspects of this students have and haven’t liked, and it will take time to work out which shifts are permanent and which are unique to this cohort.

We also cannot avoid the fact that the NSS survey itself ran during a period of industrial action at Kent with an inevitable impact on student sentiment at the time. Notions of student satisfaction are complex, relying on a wide array of individual factors and interactions with staff from across the University and with our facilities and services. However, what is clear is that we have more to do to ensure the effort we put in to support students is felt by them and comes through in what they report back to us.

Improving students’ experience of Kent  

There are a number of initiatives already underway to make sure students have the best possible time with us, all of which will be a key priority throughout next year:

• Student Voice and Student Participation will be major areas of focus, with our Head of Student Experience Mica Rose leading work to better embed them in our work. This will include developing our Your Uni, Your Say campaign to ensure we give students quicker feedback on how their views shape our work and exploring the use of Listening Rooms so we get a deeper understanding of what they are looking for
• Our Assessment and Feedback Steering Group will work to put in place a more systemic approach to ensuring all students get timely and supportive feedback from their lecturers – this will be done in conjunction with ongoing work to review the shape of the Academic Year so that we can bring teaching and assessment closer together
• After a very difficult initial rollout, enhanced KentVision functionality is now being added at pace which will help address the initial issues many faced
• We have a number of EDI initiatives with a focus on student experience, including our work on both the Race Equality Charter and the University Mental Health Charter  
• We will also focus on building a better sense of belonging for students through a more joined up approach to our communications, following an extensive university-wide review

This work will need to be backed up by robust action plans in specific areas highlighted through the NSS and I will be working with Divisions to ensure these are in place going into next year. We will also set up an NSS Working Group in the Autumn Term led by Mica Rose, our Head of Student Experience and Louise Naylor, our Director of Education, to make sure we get positive engagement from students in the 2023 survey from the start.

Student Experience is a key strand of our University strategy and it is critical that we continually evolve what we do to meet the needs of those who study with us. While yesterday’s results make for difficult reading, I know just how much this matters to all of us across the University and look forward to working with many of you to build on activity underway to get things moving in the right direction.

With all good wishes,

Richard

Professor Richard Reece | DVC Education & Student Experience

From Richard Reece| Deputy Vice-Chancellor | Education and Student Experience

At Kent, it is important we continually reflect on our provision and the experience we offer our students. Back in 2016/17, the University began a consultation with staff and students concerning the shape of our academic year. This was delayed by other organisational priorities and, of course, the covid pandemic. However, we are now in a position to continue this important work.

Kent is unusual in the HE sector in not holding a Winter assessment period after Autumn modules. This means our students can have a long period of time between teaching and being assessed on what they have learnt. We have received feedback from both students and Kent Union that this causing significant levels of anxiety. Many staff have also highlighted the challenge of the six-week turnaround of exams in the Summer, which is becoming increasingly difficult to manage with the complexity of our portfolio.

During the last consultation, we received significant feedback from staff and students. This insight has been used to shape the proposals presented to you. We are now asking for staff input in shaping these proposals, to ensure the one we choose provides the best structure for our whole University community.

Please get involved and share your views. Information about the proposed changes can be found on this dedicated SharePoint site. Here you will find further context to the changes as well as the three potential academic year structures. You will find a feedback form online, so you may leave comments and ask questions.

I will be holding a series of webinars, one for each division, during early April. These will be an opportunity for you to find out more about the proposed changes and ask questions relevant to your division and role.

Each Division has already been invited separately to their own dedicated webinar. To attend the Professional Services webinar on Thursday 7 April 13.00 – 14.00, please use this Teams link.

Here’s a schedule of each Divisional webinar:

5 April – 10.00 – 11.00 – Law, Society & Social Justice

5 April – 12.30 – 13.30 – Natural Science

5 April – 16.00 – 17.00 – KBS

6 April – 15.30 – 16.30 – Arts & Humanities

7 April – 9.00 – 10.00 – Computer, Engineering & Mathematical Sciences

7 April – 11.30 – 12.30 – Human & Social Sciences

7 April – 13.00 – 14.00 – Professional Services

It is important we also understand the views of our students and these help shape our decisions. Information on the potential changes will be provided to students through our Your Uni Your Say campaign, allowing them to find out more and ask questions.

Whether to change the structure of our academic year is an important decision that we must take together. I hope you will participate in this consultation and help shape our future at Kent.