At Kent, we’re committed to ensuring you have the best possible experience while you study with us. Universities across the UK are facing significant financial challenges, and we’re taking steps to address these at Kent in a way that prioritises your education and wellbeing.
As we updated previously, we recently ran a Voluntary Severance Scheme to make savings by supporting staff who are looking to leave the University. Alongside this, we are making some higher-level changes to how support and administration teams work together. There is no change to the support teams you currently work with at this stage – we’ll let you know if anything student-facing does change if and when this is confirmed.
The proposed changes don’t affect our new Academic Schools and are intended to improve alignment with the new structure. The changes will enable back-office functions to be more student-focused, helping us meet students’ needs now and in the future.
Under the proposal being discussed with staff now, we would bring existing teams together into nine new directorates:
- Finance
- Information Technology Services
- Marketing, Recruitment and External Engagement
- Research, Innovation and Business Development
- Student Life
- Campus Services
- Planning, Insights and Improvement
- Human Resources and Organisational Development
- Governance, Assurance and Legal Services
Several of the current student-facing teams would come together within Student Life, ensuring better cohesion between key teams who support you throughout your time with us. This includes postgraduate support, with dedicated PG activity delivered through the Student Life directorate along with your academic support via your School.
Your Support at Kent
We understand how important it is to have consistent and reliable support throughout your time here. Our teams remain focused on ensuring continuity of support in all areas of university life, from your academic studies to wellbeing, accommodation, and campus services. No matter what changes happen behind the scenes, you can rely on dedicated teams to provide a consistent experience through the changes. This includes:
- Student support services for wellbeing, accessibility, and guidance.
- Academic advisors and programme teams to help with your studies.
- Careers and employability teams to prepare you for life beyond university.
- Ongoing supervision for your research if you are a postgraduate student.
From September 2025 we are also making broader changes to support your studies, following the changes to our course portfolio last year. This includes new modules with more industry and employability links, along with a revised academic year structure which means your assessments will happen much closer to when you study your course content. Keep an eye out for further updates on this throughout the term.
