Category Archives: Student Guide

Winter at Kent

If you are staying over in Kent during the winter break you will be delighted to know that there are many activities for you take part in.

From our campuses at Canterbury and Medway to the town centres, there is everything from visiting Christmas markets, sightseeing, attending the theatre, going Christmas sale shopping or even sledging.

While our campuses have a limited opening hours you will still be able to access the library, IT services, restaurants, bars and sports centre.

With regards to Medway and Canterbury the festive period will be a great chance for you to explore the local area and take part in the many activities.

You can find out about the campus Christmas hours here.

Travel regarding Brexit

If you are a UK National travelling abroad during the Christmas period you will need to head to the UK Government Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) for information where they have a dedicated website with up-to-date travel advice after Brexit.

You can get latest updates from the FCO Travel Advice Twitter feed (@FCOTravel) and via the hashtag #PrepareforEUExit.

The University’s Estates team has information on travel disruption around campus. Many travel providers also have specific Brexit advice relevant to their services on their website, including Eurotunnel and National Express.

If you are not a UK National there will be no change to the rights and status of EU/EEA citizens currently living in the UK until 31 December 2020. This means that if you travel outside of the UK during your studies, you should be able to return as normal.

Students who are non-EU/EEA nationals but are a dependant of an EU/EEA national should ensure that they hold a valid family permit.

For those coming to the UK from outside the EU, you will still be able to travel provided your Tier 4 visa is valid.

There is more information on the potential impact of Brexit on students on the Brexit pages of our website.

If you are staying over in Kent during the winter break you will be delighted to know that there are many activities for you take part in.

Carols Around the Tree – 4 December

We would like to invite you to join us for Carols Around the Tree on 4 December 2019.

Staff, students and alumni will be coming together on campus to sing carols. Accompanied by a student brass ensemble, the carols will take place around the University of Kent Campus Christmas Tree beside the Registry from 16.30 on Wednesday 4 December.

We hope you can make it!

For more information please contact a.r.perkins@kent.ac.uk

Development Office team

Financial support available

Kent Financial Support Package

The Kent Financial Support Package (KFSP) 2019/20 is a financial support package of £4,500 for eligible undergraduate students across three stages of full-time study. Eligible students studying a full time four year undergraduate programme with a sandwich year or an integrated Masters year will receive a further cash bursary of £1,500.

All new full-time students should now have been automatically assessed for the KFSP. Students who have not received a letter confirming eligibility for the KFSP should contact the Financial Aid Office. Some students may need to make a separate application.

New part-time students starting in the academic year 2019/20 may be eligible for a pro rata cash bursary in each year of study as part of the KFSP. Part-time students will need to make an application.

Further information on KFSP

Access to Learning Fund

The Access to Learning Fund (ALF) provides financial assistance to UK students so they can access and remain in higher education, particularly those students who need financial help to meet extra costs that cannot be met from other sources of support.

The amount will depend on your circumstances and how many applications the fund receives.

Further information on ALF

Kent Emergency Student Loan

The University can lend students who are in financial difficulty up to £240 to help with their immediate essential living costs, such as food and essential travel.

Kent Emergency Student Loans (KESL) are available to all undergraduate and postgraduate, Home, EU or International, full-time or part-time students, who find themselves in temporary financial difficulties. Any loan would need to be repaid within 3 months.

Further information on KESL

Learn more about the other financial support packages available. If you need more help on your funding and financial support options, email financialaid@kent.ac.uk or call 01227 823851/824876/823488.

THE Award win for Kent’s Outstanding Library Team

The University has won the Outstanding Library Team category of the Times Higher Education (THE) Awards 2019.

This award ‘recognises outstanding work in library and information-services departments, in particular with regards to collaboration with other administrative and academic departments to enhance the team’s delivery, and the effective use of leading-edge practices from other sectors’.

The Library Team is part of part of Information Services and its collaboration with colleagues from a range of Schools and departments on the University’s accessibility project OPERA and its Student Success Project contributed significantly towards its success. Its Collection Engagement Strategy, through which it connects with local communities, alumni and other libraries, and the Kent Book Club – created alongside Kent Union for students who want to discover new books and resources outside of their academic studies – also played an important part.

The judges remarked on the team’s ‘inventive collaboration’ and its ‘particularly noteworthy’ innovation in fostering co-created reading lists. They said the work was an example of ‘collaborative working in the digital and physical environment’ that sought to ‘transform’ the student experience by building inclusivity and diversity into learning and research.

Kent’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Karen Cox said: ‘On behalf of all our students and staffI would like to congratulate the team on winning this award. The work of Library colleagues is inspiring and the team should be rightly proud of this tremendous achievement.’

John Sotillo, Director of Information Services, added: ‘I am absolutely delighted that the professionalism, dedication and enthusiasm of our staff has been recognised with this prestigious award. I would like to thank everyone who has helped make our Library services one of the best in the UK. Many congratulations to all.’

Information Services was also a recent finalist at the Society of College, National and University Libraries – Library Design Awards for its work to create the outstanding Templeman Library.

Kent has previously won THE awards in the category Outstanding Support for Students; once for the Student Success Project and once for OPERA.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Get in the festive spirit with our Christmas activities

Come one, come all! ‘Tis the season to be…active! Get those seasonal clothes and jolly ol’ cheer ready for our fun Christmas activities on Wednesday 4 December. Jump-start your festive spirit with our Christmas-themed fun-run and fitness classes. Santa outfits encouraged!

Santa Run

A free 3km charity fun run in support of Kent Team Uni Boob with a suggested donation of £2. Meet the Kent Sport team at 12:30pm for registration and the run will start at 1pm at The Plaza, finishing at The Pavilion. Christmas-themed costumes encouraged! We also promise to fill you up with hot chocolate and mince pies afterwards for ALL participants. This event is open to all and you do not need to be a Kent Sport member to participate.

Those who email sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk will receive a Santa hat prior to the run.

Christmas-themed fitness and dance classes

We also have Christmas-themed fitness and dance classes in the Sports Centre to give you that extra special feeling later in the day.

5.30pm Santa’s Freestyle Cycle

Don’t be left home alone! Come and join us for a super festive spin session hosted by Mrs Claus, Sarah and her Santa’s little helper, DJ Gee Cee on the turntables.

6.30pm Jingle Bell Zumba

Deck the halls, it’s time to rock around the Christmas tree with your favourite little elves Jeni and Emma.

7.30pm Silent Night Relaxation

After a long winters day its time to relax and stretch the night away… with your ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ Jeni.

Booking information for fitness classes:

Free for Premium Plus and Premium members. Normal class rates apply for Plus and Pay to Play members (£4.50 for students, £5.50 for staff).Not a member? Visit www.kent.ac.uk/sports/membership

Free TV production course over winter break

If you are staying in Canterbury or Medway during the winter break, why not have a go at TV Production (KE200) which runs from 16-19 December?

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.

Next term you can choose from KE122 Digital Photography or KE197 Advanced Photography, KE155 Introduction to Sustainability, KE178 IELTS English Exam Preparation, KE198 Career Toolkit and more.

For further details, see the Study Plus website and search for Study Plus workshops in SDS.

Christmas in Colyer-Fergusson – and beyond!

The festive season is nearly at hand, heralding the advent of plenty of music-making with the University Music department.

We usher in the Advent season with a meditative combination of carols and antiphons with the University Cecilian Choir this week, on Friday 29 November. The choir visits St Michael’s and All Angels, near Faversham, for an atmospheric sequence of music and silence by candlelight in a fifteenth-century church as part of the church’s Breathing Space series. Admission is free, and the hour-long event promises to be a wonderfully contemplative way to begin the festive period.

The last of this term’s Lunchtime Concerts welcomes the choristers of Canterbury Cathedral to Colyer-Fergusson Hall, for a wide-ranging concert including seasonal works, on Wednesday 4 December at 1.10pm; admission free, with a suggested donation of £3.

The combined forces of the University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra trace the musical legacy of Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms in Passing the Baton on Saturday 7 December, ranging from Haydn’s boisterous Te Deum to Brahms’ profound Song of Destiny.

The season comes to a lively culmination on Wednesday 11 December with two events; the 1940’s dance orchestra, General Harding’s Tomfoolery, takes to the foyer-stage at 1.10pm for a mix of period classics and festive swing with guests vocalists Robbie Frederick and Elle Soo; and then the University Big Band’s annual Christmas Swingalong brings the term to its usual festive conclusion at 5.15pm with some of the cheesiest Christmas classics and star turns, followed by mulled wine and mince pies.

From medieval antiphons to Dean Martin, the Music department is getting ready for a seasonal finale to the term ranging across the centuries; come and join us to celebrate the festive season!

View all these events and more on the Music What’s On webpages.

Art, Aesthetics and the Medical and Health Humanities Conference

Registration is now open for the British Society of Aesthetics Conference: Art, Aesthetics and the Medical and Health Humanities, which will be hosted by the School of Arts at the University of Kent from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 February 2020.

Sponsored by the British Society of Aesthetics and hosted by the Aesthetics Research Centre, the conference will bring together Analytic Aesthetics and the Medical and Health Humanities. The conference aims to stimulate conversations about the connections art and aesthetics have with medicine, medical education, healthcare and the advancement of health and wellbeing. The conference has been organised by Dr Dieter Declercq, Lecturer in Film and Media, Dr Michael Newall, Senior Lecturer in History of Art, and Professor Nicola Shaughnessy, Professor of Performance in the Department of Drama and Theatre.

Keynote talks will be delivered by Professor Rita Charon (Columbia University), Professor Paul Crawford (University of Nottingham), Professor Sheila Lintott (Bucknell University), and Professor Jenefer Robinson (University of Cincinnati), alongside confirmed responses from Dr Julie Anderson (University of Kent), Dr Stella Bolaki (University of Kent), Dr Eileen John (University of Warwick) and Professor Matthew Kieran (University of Leeds).

Panel sessions will feature presentations by more than 50 scholars, artists and health professionals from across the world.

Have you registered to vote yet? A general election is coming! Don’t miss the chance to register and have your say in the future of our country.

For Canterbury students, Canterbury city council have provided a letter to students about registering to vote, but no matter what campus you are on, the instructions below will provide some information about your opportunity to register to vote.

When do I need to register by?

Midnight Tuesday 26 November.

Am I eligible to vote?

You can register to vote in the General Election if you will be aged 18 or over on the day of the election, and you are a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen.

How do I register to vote?

You can register online to vote. It only takes a few minutes.

As part of the registration process, you will be asked to provide your National Insurance number. If you do not have one, you can select ‘I can’t provide a National Insurance number’ and enter ‘student’ for the reason.

Can I register to vote at my term-time and home address?

You may be able to register to vote at both your term-time and home address, however you can only vote once. It is illegal to vote more than once in a general election.

When is the General Election?

Thursday 12 December 2019. Term ends the following day, Friday 13 December 2019.

What should I do if I will not be around on the day of the General Election?

If you will not be around to vote on Thursday 12 December, you can apply for a postal vote.

Who can I contact for more information?

You can contact your local Electoral Registration Office to find out if you’re already registered to vote, or for more information.

Employability Points in exchange for research participation

Are you an international student looking to top up your Employability Points and receive free academic language and writing support?

You are warmly invited to take part in my research study which will explore student reactions to written academic assignment feedback in credit-bearing modules. My study aims to explore what students think about written assignment feedback from tutors and what you think about the quality of the marking.

Your participation in the study will involve you looking at and reading feedback for a written assignment and then answering a series of short questions via Survey Monkey (open, closed and multiple choice questions) about the tutor feedback you have read. Completing the tasks in the study will take you 45 minutes to an hour and you may be contacted after the study to discuss the tutor feedback in a little more detail (up to 30 minutes). Any of your data in the study will, of course, be anonymised. If you are interested in taking part, further details about participation will be sent to you before you commit.

If you would like to take part in the study, you will receive 5 Employability Points and if you would like academic writing support and some help with your coming written assignments, you are more than welcome to book in for a free 30 minute Individual Writing Tutorial at a convenient time with me after completing the study to talk one-to-one about your writing.

Please email Sophia Vänttinen-Newton if you would like to take part in the study and I will send you the short tasks or if you have any questions.

Thank you!