Category Archives: Student Guide

Brexit updates and events

The 31 January will see the UK leaving the European Union. This is a historically significant moment and it will change the political relationship between the UK and our European partners. It will shape a future new relationship with Europe.

The University recognises this moment and its impact on colleagues and students. We understand this day will create many different emotions and will mean different things for each individual.

As a university community, we will continue to strive for international co-operation in Europe and around the globe for the enhancement of knowledge and the enrichment of the student experience. We are proud of our European links and our internationally diverse student and staff community from Europe and around the world.

Events on the day

In recognition of this moment, there are two events on Friday 31 January on the Canterbury campus that are open to both students and staff:

10.00-11.00 European solidarity march
Join Kent Union starting at University Plaza (next to campus shops). The march will finish at Woolf College. More details about the march are on Facebook.
11.00-12.00 University Brexit Information event, Woolf Lecture Theatre 1
Hosted by the Dean for Europe, this event will include information on our post-Brexit strategy, practical information on Brexit-related issues including settlement status and Erasmus, a Q&A session and an opportunity to come together and share thoughts as a University community. The event will be live-streamed to Medway and our European centres in Brussels, Paris and Rome. If you wish to come to join the Canterbury event or the Medway live-stream, please book ahead via Eventbrite.
- Book now for Canterbury
- Book now for Medway

Further information and support

For updates, information and advice on what support and assistance is available, see our Brexit information pages for students and staff.

Examination and assessment SDS check now open

The Examination and Assessment Check for 2020 exams is now open.

Please check your details are correct for the 2020 exam period and ensure you are:

Registered for the correct modules
Assessed as expected (ie coursework and/or exam)

To do this log on to SDS, and select Registration.

Then select Examination and Assessment Check and check through your details.

You will then need to confirm if your modules are correct.

If there is a problem you will be taken to a new screen, please let us know what the issues are by submitting your changes. (Note: assessed refers to coursework and examined refers to exams).

Closing: Wednesday 26 February, 16.00.

If you have any questions please contact us exams@kent.ac.uk

www.kent.ac.uk/exams

SECL Inspirational Speaker events

You are warmly invited to attend our Inspirational Speaker events this term! Here are all the details for the talks we have coming up:

Jade Bentil, a black feminist historian and researcher at Oxford University, will be presenting her talk: ‘Be a thief to the university: black feminist politics and navigating the Ivory Tower’
on Wednesday 29 January at 17.00 in SIBSON sr 6.

As a Black feminist historian who seeks to centre the lives of Black women within her work, the historical tension between theorising Black liberation whilst in the colonial university has been one that Jade has continually meditated on. Using her own experiences in academia and contextualising them within the politics of Black feminism, Jade will explore the irreconcilable nature of this tension and what it means to ‘be in but not of the university’

To book tickets for this event please visit this Eventbrite website

Next up is Dr Kate Fox, the Yorkshire stand-up poet, author and comedian, will be talking about class and autism in: ‘Neurodiversions: or why I won’t be dressing up in a unicorn onesie to talk about autism, class, being a stand-up, fitting in & standing out!’
on Wednesday 5 February at 17.00 in Templeman Lecture Theatre.

Dr Kate Fox has worked extensively in radio as well as live performance and is currently touring with her show ‘Where there’s muck, there’s bras’ about northern women through history. She’s also a gentle activist and campaigner for the voices of Northerners, the working class, women and the neurodiverse.

To book please visit this Eventbrite website

On Wednesday 11 March Professor Heidi Mirza will be returning to Kent and will be speaking as part of the Decolonise UKC Conference. Dr Mirza is Professor of Race, Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths College and co-author (with Dr Jason Arday) of the recently published ‘Dismantling race in HE’. Time and venue TBA.

And finally, Dr Francesca Sobande from Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture, will present her talk: ‘Reframing the “Attainment Gap” and its implications: How institutions undermine the learning experiences of Black students’ on Monday 16 March at 17.00.

To book please visit this Eventbrite website

Dr Sobande’s research explores how issues related to racism, sexism and intersecting structural inequalities manifest in media and the marketplace.

New volunteering scheme launched for students

The Kent Volunteering Scheme has now launched through the Careers and Employability Service (CES). It has been designed to recognise and support the hard-work University of Kent students do when volunteering, and to help them to understand and articulate their skills development from their volunteering activity.

The Scheme runs this year from 1 May 2019 to 15 May 2020, so students can log hours previously volunteered. Hours are kept track of so students have the opportunity to progress through the different levels of the Scheme, starting at just 10 hours and increasing to 1,000+ hours.

After 50 hours are logged, students will receive support in benchmarking the skills they have acquired, ensuring their experience is positively reflected to potential future employers. To utilise the Kent Volunteering Scheme, simply go online and fill out the short form. CES will keep track of your progress and contact you at the relevant stages of the scheme. If you have any queries, please email studentvolunteering@kent.ac.uk.

Medway welcome back fair, 29 Jan

Come to the Medway Welcome Back Fair Wednesday 29 January 2020 11.00-14.00.

Meet and learn about student groups and all the services and events available for students at Medway. GK Unions has a great range of sports clubs and societies on offer that you can join. It’s not too late to sign up!

As well as our student groups, there will also be various companies such as Dominos and Arriva who will be giving away freebies and vouchers for use all year round!

The Welcome Back Fair begins at 11.00 though it will be open from 10.30 for anyone with accessibility worries. If you have any other accessibility needs for the fair, please contact activities@gkunions.co.uk by Monday 27 January.

Dentistry in a Contemporary Context.

This short CPD course is suitable for the whole dental team – Dental Care Professionals and Dentists. During this course, participants are encouraged to address contemporary dental practice within the wider context of social policy and cultural influence.

Dr Sam Shah will address the inequalities effecting health and well-being and the incorporation of health into historical and contemporary political and sociological agendas. Professor Ken Eaton will discuss oral health systems in Europe and beyond. John Darby will deliver an update on the national Advancing Dental Care Project. Plus, Mike Wheeler will discuss the potential of dental care professionals roles related to the future of dental services and how their training may be funded.

This course takes place over two weekends at the University of Kent Medway campus. The dates are 7-9 February and 6 March 2020.

For more information and to book your place, please click on this link.

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.

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!

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’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