As the spring term is underway, the University of Kent Success Accelerator Programme is also in motion.

Success Accelerator is an alumni mentoring programme for students looking to enter a City career; particularly for those with an interest in Fintech. Set up by Kent Law School Alumnus, Nithin Bopanna; the programme aims to tackle the imbalance of work opportunities, offering those without connections the chance to gain exposure, advice and experiences from alumni mentors in City careers.

Working in collaboration with the Careers and Employability Service, the project piloted last year with one mentor and six students from Kent Law School. The programme has now expanded, to include the School of Economics and the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science.

In November 2018, over 70 first-year students attended the launch event, which brought them together with alumni and previous mentees. After the successful launch here at Kent, a mentor event took place in London. Mentors from across the city gathered to share their professional experiences and gain further insight into this valuable initiative. Attendees came from a range of backgrounds, including representatives from Allen and Overy, London Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange and HSBC.

After a fantastic launch, the programme has 13 mentors and a network of ‘Champions’ to offer guidance and work experiences for first year undergraduates.

A competitive interview process recently took place, which successfully matched 17 mentees to alumni. Mentees will now have the opportunity to connect with their mentors, participate in workshops and take part in a Hackathon.

We would like to thank the Kent Opportunity Fund for contributing towards the funding of this programme, which will enable valuable career development opportunities for students at Kent. We look forward to seeing what will be achieved in the near future for our Success Accelerator Mentees!

Find out more about the programme by emailing Liz Foden or Gemma Witts.

At the start of this year our University of Kent in America Washington DC organised and took part in a Kent Gives Back project. 

Kent Gives Back is a community outreach project which gives alumni around the world the chance to come together by encouraging them to take part in a local community project such as volunteering at a homeless shelter or a food bank or helping tend to a garden (and much more). 

The DC chapter volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House on 9 February and made chicken tinga tacos for the residents earlier this month! The house helps keep families together, by providing accommodation near specialist children’s hospitals. It gives them a ‘home away from home’ where they can rest, cook and take time out.

We would like to say a BIG thank you to our alumni volunteers in Washington DC and would encourage others to take part where they are!

Find out more about other projects we have taken part in.

If you would like to bring alumni in your area (wherever that may be!) to take part in a Kent Gives Back volunteer project together please email alumni@kent.ac.uk or direct message us!

#KentGivesBack #UniKentAlumni

Do you commute to Canterbury Campus and have an exam you don’t want to be late for? Then why not consider staying on campus in Eliot College. Reduce stress and have more time to concentrate on studying with no need to worry about driving home late at night or missing an exam because of traffic, train strikes or other travel delays outside your control.

Living in a corridor of up to eight other short stay students, all rooms are self-catered singles with bedding and towels provided. Rooms are £20 a night with a minimum of a two night stay required to book.

You can find out more or book online.

While short-stay accommodation in Eliot College is only available for Kent students, don’t forget that we also have year-round visitor accommodation available in Wedgewood Court in Darwin Houses and Beverley Farmhouse next to Canterbury Innovation Centre. Ideal for when you have friends or family visiting who want to stay on campus for the duration of their visit.

If you have any questions please email: holidays@kent.ac.uk

Would you like to join Kent Hospitality’s Bed & Breakfast reservations team from April to mid-September 2019?

Applicants must be able to demonstrate exceptional levels of administration, customer service, confident telephone manner, computing skills and the ability to work calmly and accurately under pressure, both alone and as part of a team.

You will be required to work:

• 1 April – 17 May, 9am-2pm, Monday to Friday

• Sunday 14 and 28 April, 8am-4pm

• 20 May – 14 June, 8.30am-1.30pm, Monday to Friday

• 17 June – 8 September, 8am-1.30pm, Monday to Friday

• Alternative Saturday or Sunday, 8am-4pm

If you think this summer vacancy is for you, please apply by emailing your CV and a cover letter to Louisa Harvey, Senior Events Coordinator: L.M.Harvey@kent.ac.uk

Closing date for applications: 8 March 2019.

(Please note, this may close early if we receive a large number of applications.)
www.kent.ac.uk/holidays

Update 10.30 Mon 25 Feb 2019 – We believe that student timetables should now be working again through the Student Guide. Students may need to exit the student guide and log in again to it to see their timetable.

Post at 9.30 on Mon 25 Feb 2019 – Classes are happening as usual, however we’re urgently investigating why you may not currently be able to access your timetable.

We’ll update Service Status with progress, so please check there for the latest.

Information Services
helpdesk@kent.ac.uk
01227 82 4999

The Community Scholarships programme, previously known as Medway Community Scholarships, was opened to all students registered at both the Canterbury and Medway campuses in 2018-19, from all stages, disciplines and modes of study. Thus far we have received 100 application pack requests this academic year with the following breakdowns:

Campus
Medway = 16
Canterbury = 77
Not currently registered = 7

Degree level
UG = 60
PG = 33
Not currently registered = 7

Twenty one percent of students who requested the pack submitted an application form for consideration; two of which were successful in the autumn term at obtaining the full reward and two in the spring term, with all four students being based at Canterbury.

The two scholarships awarded in the autumn term were Art at Heart and Music for Change.

Grace Lau, a first year Psychology student manages the project, Art at Heart, a series of ten art and craft workshops for year 3 and 4 pupils at Pilgrim’s Way Primary School with learning difficulties and/or low confidence. The workshop objectives are to improve emotional well being and self-confidence of the pupils through art making, introducing alternative ways for them to express themselves.

Aida Sharaf, a second year Drama and Film student is organising a concert called Music for Change that aims to raise awareness of mental health, domestic abuse, drug abuse and social inequality/discrimination through the lyrics. The hope is the ‘concert will give a platform of expression to people who are struggling with issues that are not discussed as much as they should be. Many students and young adults struggle with mental health, abuse and social inequality/discrimination but sometimes can feel like they are trapped. I have found that art allows people to be expressive which can be an outlet for a lot of these suppressed issues.’ Music for Change is looking for a new venue due to emergency maintenance being carried out at the Gulbenkian Theatre in March 2019.

Our successful scholars in the spring term, thus far, include the projects From the Cubby and the Keynes Sustainability Scholar.

Joe Spence, a postgraduate in his second year studying for a PhD in Social Anthropology, will be using current footage to create an ethnographic film, From the Cubby, that will be screened later this year, to raise awareness of homelessness and resettlement in Canterbury. The film ‘will explore some of the problems people experience when they become housed, and are faced with the prospect of untangling themselves from social networks associated with homelessness and addiction”, with the aim being to “foster dialogue across organisations, bringing stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds together to discuss the policies and practises associated with homeless resettlement programmes.’

Jane Zhuk, a first year Biochemistry student was awarded the Keynes College Sustainability Scholarship project, the first of its kind, which was initiated by the Master of Keynes College, Chloe Gallien and Emily Mason, with the objective of ​initiating, engaging and supporting sustainability actions at Keynes College.

The Community Scholarships is closed for applications for 2018-19 and will re-open in September 2019 for the academic year 2019-20. Special circumstances may be given for small-scale projects. Please contact Debbie Worthington, Student Activities and Scholarships Officer, communityscholarships@kent.ac.uk for further information.

Read more about Community Scholarships online.

The University Chaplaincy is running a day-trip by coach to Chartwell, home of Sir Winston Churchill, which is located in the West Kent countryside. This will be followed by an afternoon in the attractive town of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The day-trip leaves from the Canterbury campus and there are still some seats available to students. The £18 ticket price includes coach travel and full admission inside the house and grounds at Chartwell.

For more details and information and to book your place visit the University of Kent’s Online Store.

From 11- 22 March 2019, if you are a stage one or two student, you must choose the modules you want to study in 2019/20.

You will need to log into your SDS during this time to submit your choices.

Further information and instructions will be sent to you via email – please read this and be prepared!

Guidance on how to complete OMR

OMR is not first come first served, but you must ensure that you have submitted your selections by Friday 22 March in order to give you the best opportunity to register for your preferred choice of module.

Note if you are going abroad or to a year in industry next year you do not need to select modules.

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

Follow us: @UniKent_CSAO

The Tonbridge Centre has launched another successful programme of short courses this term. The courses are designed to be studied for personal interest or self-development, among like-minded people from all walks of life and without formal assessment.

Courses for the Spring term continue in topics as diverse as French Painting and Culture: Realism to Impressionism; Travellers in the Greek and Roman Worlds; The Music of Spain; Modern Canadian Literature; Van Dyck and the Court of Charles l; Writing for self-care​. Additionally, a free short talk presenting the survey findings from Kent research ‘Prejudice in the Age of Brexit’ is also available at the Tonbridge Centre.

See full details of the whole programme and book your place online.

As part of the Student Success Project’s Inspirational Speaker series, director of the charity Arts Emergency, activist and University of Kent alumnus Neil Griffiths held a talk last Wednesday entitled ‘Why the cultural and creative industries are the worst for social mobility (and what can we do about it?)’.

This talk was based on the representation in art and media and how generally ‘the unrepresented go unseen, and the over represented assume their experiences are universal… We feel it’s urgent that people with different voices, different opinions and different experiences tell our stories as much as the small segment of society that currently do.’

Dr Laura Bailey, Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics and SECL Student Success Lecturer, said of the talk: ‘This week’s speaker was fascinating and what he said was quite shocking. The extent and the implications were really alarming, and based in a lot of thorough research. And following it, students had a really productive ‘practice networking’ session.’

The talk itself can be found on Moodle.

The next Student Success Project talk in the series, featuring Professor Meena Dhanda will be speaking on ‘Circumventing emergent vulnerabilities: the necessity of internal critique‘ will be taking place on Wednesday 6 March at 16.00.