Category Archives: Student Guide

Students smiling

Year In information event- add a year to your degree

We are holding the Year In Information Event on Tuesday 22 January in Keynes (KLT6).  If you would like to increase your skillset and expand your horizons then Year In might be for you.

The University provides exciting opportunities for students to broaden their degree experience by adding an additional year to their degree in a different subject.

Regardless of which courses you are studying, you could do an additional year in Computing, Data Analytics or Journalism.

Your additional year can be taken between stage 2 and 3, or after you have completed stage 3. The programme will be added to your degree title, letting employers know about your increased employability.

The Year In information event takes place between 16.00-17.00 where you will hear short introductions to each of the options from the academic staff who deliver these programmes. There will also be practical advice on tuition fees, visas and application processes to get onto the programmes.

Book your ticket or find out more information.

If you are coming from Medway, book a seat for the free Campus Shuttle service.

Red Flowers and champagne glasses

Commercial Services Showcase 2020

You are warmly invited to attend the Commercial Services Showcase 2020 on Friday 6 March. Come meet our fantastic teams, all under one roof, to see what we can do for you.

Book your place via the hospitality website and drop in to Darwin Conference Suite between 12.00 and 18.00 to discover our wide range of services and facilities, including:

  • Accommodation – not just for students, our campus offers en-suite, B&B and self-catering accommodation for visitors, rated 4* – 5* by VisitEngland
  • Bespoke Event Management Service – flexible for your needs, this can include delegate registration assistance for your next conference or event
  • Catering – we’re talking everything foody, from our 11 outlets across campus, catering delivered directly to your meeting, bespoke event menus, formal gala dinners and BBQs in the sunshine
  • Group facilities – from summer schools, leisure groups and venue hire for smaller events to international conferences
  • Kent Sport – gym memberships to sports massages, they do it all
  • Gulbenkian and Colyer-Fergusson – plan your next night at the movies and discover the latest line-up on stage and screen
  • KentOne – not just a staff ID card, this can be topped up online to become a cashless payment card, which provides a 10% discount in all Kent Hospitality catering outlets.

So, why wait? Book your free place online now  to hear all about us and what’s going on around campus during this busy conference year; enter our competitions; whizz around campus on our virtual reality headsets; grab some yummy snacks and more!

Further information on the Showcase is available on the Kent conferences website 

Or contact the Conference Office at conferences@kent.ac.uk or ext. 8000 for more information.

Registration closes on Tuesday 3 March 2020.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Portafina Ltd

Funding for project with Portafina Ltd

The University of Kent are celebrating securing funding to work with Rochester based Fintech company, Portafina Investment Management Ltd, on a two year Knowledge Transfer Partnership project.

The two year project will enable Portafina, a specialist pension advice firm targeting the “advice gap” mass market, to apply state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to improve workflow and data processing. This will enable Portafina to increase their efficiency, reduce timescales and enable rapid scalability.

The partnership are looking forward to recruiting a recently qualified postgraduate, known as the Associate, to deliver the strategic project. The Associate will be based at Portafina’s offices in Rochester and work under the guidance and support of a team of  academics from the University’s School of Computing. The academics will be bringing a wealth of expertise in a number of areas including developing algorithms for machine learning and text mining tasks, and techniques in natural language processing.

Jamie Smith-Thompson, MD of Portafina, said:

”We are very excited to be working with the University of Kent on a number of innovative projects that will have a real impact on our efficiency. Our intention is to make it possible to provide much-needed financial advice to a wider mass-market client base by reducing our back-office costs. We are confident these projects will also enable us to increase service quality at the same time.

We can’t wait to get started.”

Carole Barron, Director of Kent Innovation and Enterprise believes that Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are one of a range of ways in which the University’s academic experts link up with national and local businesses to offer practical advice based on their research. Carole said:

“We are delighted to be entering into this exciting collaboration with Portafina in the area of state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. We look forward to developing a long relationship with Portafina beyond the two year partnership.”

If you are interested in hearing more or to engage with Kent Innovation and Enterprise as your business & innovation gateway into the University please get in touch with the team on 01227 827376 or at enterprise@kent.ac.uk

Dr. Cecilia Sayad

Dr. Cecilia Sayad’s article in Esquire

Dr Cecilia Sayad, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Film, was interviewed for an article in Esquire magazine at the end of last month, on the horror film genre.

Esquire is a men’s lifestyle magazine, which is published in over 20 countries.

The article, entitled ‘The 2010s Were The Decade When Horror Got Smart’ by Thom Nicholson, explores the spate of cerebral horror films from the last ten years, including The Babadook (2014, dir. Jennifer Kent), The Witch (2016, dir. Rober Eggers), Get Out (2017, dir. Jordan Peele) and Midsommar (2019, dir. Ari Aster). Such films were presented as the work of ‘auteur’ directors, giving the them a respectability usually reserved for literary works.

‘We like to think about works of art as somebody talking to us or somebody telling us a story,’ explains Cecilia in the article, ‘I think it’s very appealing to think that there is like a human mind behind this, no matter how many other professionals help or contribute to that.’

To read the full article, please click onto the Esquire’s webpage

Tonbridge Short Courses

Tonbridge short courses

Tonbridge Centre have launched their new programme of inspiring non-accredited short courses for the Spring and Summer terms.

The programme mainly focuses on Art History, Creative Writing, History and Literature as well as Classics and Self-development. Read the full programme on the Tonbridge Centre website,

If you’re new to the programme, and would like to be included in email alerts regarding Tonbridge short courses, please email tonbridgeadmin@kent.ac.uk .

Kent Student Awards

Kent Student Awards- nominations are open

Nominations are open for the Kent Student Awards which recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution students make to the Kent student experience.

There are 9 categories such as Outstanding Contribution to Student Voice, Outstanding Contribution to Media and the Arts and Outstanding Contribution to the Community.

Do you know an inspirational Kent student? Well why don’t you show your appreciation by nominating them for a Kent Student Award?

You can nominate a student or group of students – the deadline is officially 22nd March but if you submit a valid nomination by Valentine’s Day you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher.

The Kent Student Awards 2020 garden party awards ceremony takes place on Friday 29th May 2020.

Winners will receive a trophy, a brick in the ‘Footsteps Path’ and recognition of the achievement on their Higher Education Achievement Report.

The awards launched in 2014 and since 2018 has been co-led by Kent Union and the University of Kent.

Man standing in the middle of a field at the University of Kent facing towards the landscape of Canterbury

Global Research Opportunities Workshop 2020

Looking to get a better understanding on the university’s many and varied international funding streams? Then this event is just for you!

Date: 21 January 2020

Time: 09.00 – 12.30

Location: Darwin Conference Suite

The session will include an overview of the opportunities which can support research, education and training. In this session, we will focus on GCRF, Research Councils, Erasmus+ and case studies from across the University.

Guest Speaker: Rachael Sara-Kennedy – Head of Strategic Partnerships, UUKi.

To register your attendance, please click here to fill out the following form:

For further information please contact:

T: 01227 82 3908

E:deaninternational@kent.ac.uk

or visit the website

Students in a lab

School of Biosciences excels with industry accreditation

The School of Biosciences has been formally accredited across its full portfolio of undergraduate programmes. These accreditations were awarded from both the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) and the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS).

The RSB, the leading professional body for biological sciences in the UK, re-accredited all of the School’s undergraduate courses1 for a further five-year period. Furthermore, the School  achieved Advanced Accreditation for its Sandwich year programmes from the RSB2. These awards were given after the assessment panel identified areas of good practice and evidence that Kent’s programmes are preparing students with the knowledge and skills sought by sector employers.

Graduates of accredited courses receive one year of free membership from the RSB at Associate level, creating opportunities to build networks when applying for jobs and gaining enhanced recognition for their skills and experience. Together with the School’s outstanding graduate employability record, this is a huge benefit to those entering the working world of biology and life sciences.

In addition to the RSB accreditations, all of the School’s Biomedical Science degree programmes3 also achieved re-accreditation by the IBMS, the leading professional body for biomedical scientists for a further five-year period. IBMS accreditation certifies that the degrees meet the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) standards of proficiency for biomedical scientists and allows Kent graduates to enter further training on the path towards registration. IBMS degree accreditation is also of value for students heading towards other careers, such as medicine, industry and academia. The curriculum review process involved in IBMS accreditation ensures that all Kent Biomedical Science graduates receive high quality, research focused scientific education and practical skills training.

Professor Dan Lloyd, Deputy Head of the School of Biosciences, said: ‘We are grateful to all staff, clinical colleagues and students who have contributed to this success. The professional oversight and scrutiny of accreditation is a measure of confidence that our degrees prepare our students for graduate-level opportunities. This undoubtedly underpins students’ future employability, and the ability for them to reach their full potential.’

Footnotes:

[1] Accredited courses by the Royal Society of Biology: BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, BSc (Hons) Biochemistry with a Professional Year, BSc (Hons) Biochemistry with a Year Abroad, BSc (Hons) Biology, BSc (Hons) Biology with a Professional Year, BSc (Hons) Biology with a Year Abroad, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science with a Professional Year, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science with a Year Abroad.

[2] Course with Advanced Accreditation from the Royal Society of Biology: BSc (Hons) Biochemistry with a Sandwich Year, BSc (Hons) Biology with a Sandwich Year, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science with a Sandwich Year.

[3] Accredited courses by the IBMS: BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science with a Professional Year, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science with a Year Abroad, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science with a Sandwich Year.

Multicoloured pencils joined to make a circle

Free Study Plus courses

This term you can choose from a wide range of courses, including: KE024 Talking Cultures, KE122 Digital Photography or KE197 Advanced Photography, KE155 Introduction to Sustainability, KE178 IELTS English Exam Preparation and KE198 Career Toolkit.

We are  introducing a new course on Vampires (KE201) and two new Art courses: Art and Politics (KE202), and Art and Society (KE202) – these will be available to sign up to soon.

King Arthur at the Movies (KE195) will return for the spring term, as will Screen Writing (KE087) and Dirty History (KE004).

You can still sign up for KE194 Business Start-Up Journey, which is  series of standalone workshops continuing in the spring term and which allows you to choose the sessions that interest you the most.

You will earn Employability Points for any courses that you do (subject to satisfactory attendance).

To see the full range of courses running this term , see the Study Plus website. If you want to be the first to know about new courses as they are released, join our mailing list.