Category Archives: Student Guide

Dr Arvind Madan to give Distinguished Visitor Lecture on the future of primary care

Dr Arvind Madan, Director of Primary Care and Deputy National Medical Director for NHS England, will give a Distinguished Visitor Lecture on our Canterbury campus on Wednesday 18 April.

With more than 20 years of experience as a General Practitioner (GP) and having provided clinical leadership for the transformation of healthcare in the county of Kent, Dr Madan will speak on the topic: General Practice Forward View and a Vision for the Future of Primary Care.

Dr Madan will address questions including why healthcare in the UK is a contentious issue, what challenges the NHS faces, and how we can improve primary care in the future. His lecture will conclude with a Q&A session. Get involved in the discussion via Twitter using #CHSSopen18

The event takes place from 18.30 to 19.30 in Grimond Lecture Theatre 1. Entry is free and open to students, staff and visitors. For more information or to book visit the event page.

Dr Madan is part of the Hurley Group, a large multi-site general practice and urgent care provider, and also the Kings Fund Advisory Board. He also works on his own Community Interest Company, Healthy Minds, which is a peer-mediation service for children, operating in 30 schools in London.

His lecture is brought to you by the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS) at the University of Kent.

Pop-Up library study spaces for revision and exam period

From 9 April until the end of the Summer Term, we are excited to bring you over 280 pop-up study spaces on the ground floor of the Templeman Library.

We are also making some spaces on Floor 2 Silent during the same period. This will give you over 200 more silent spaces.

For full details of where the study spaces are please see the Library and IT News blog post.

K-Bar Supervisor Wins ‘Best Signature Cocktail’ at TUCO Competitions

It was with great excitement that K-Bar supervisor, David Cooper (pictured third from left), was announced as winner of the ‘Best Signature Cocktail’ award at the TUCO (The University Caterers Organisation) Competitions in Warwick last week.

David, who took part in the Bar Skills Competition, won the judges over with his signature coffee-based cocktail, the Café Noisette. Inspired by the French hazelnut coloured coffee, the drink featured whiskey, coffee liqueur and hazelnut syrup. In addition, David also had to create a sharing drink, a beer or cider based cocktail, and as many gin and tonics as he could in one minute.

However, David was not the only competitor representing Kent at the Competitions this year. Katy Webb from Dolche Vita wowed the judges with her coffee expertise in the Barista Skills Challenge. Sam Ranger from The Street Kitchen showed off his talent for fast food in the Campus Speed Cook Challenge. And Chefs de Cuisine Ben Elsbury and Rob Grimer plated up a delicate three course meal in the Chefs’ Challenge.

The TUCO Competitions is an annual contest which sees over 150 delegates from 50 universities compete against each other in a wide range of culinary and aristological activities.

Postgraduate Heritage Walks Series – registration is now open!

The Graduate School is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the Postgraduate Heritage Walks Series, a postgraduate-run event funded by the Postgraduate Experience Awards.

Wandering and Wellbeing: revitalise mind and body and increase productivity through heritage walks in the Kentish Countryside

This exciting programme of walks will be led by postgraduate students throughout May and June 2018 and will focus on the connection between engagement with heritage and wellbeing. The walks will include visits to some of Kent’s remarkable historic villages and monuments, archaeological sites and places of natural beauty.

Registration is open to all postgraduate students, and a limited number of bursaries are offered to cover the cost of transportation and admission fees. For more information and to see the full programme, visit the webpage.

Are you a postgraduate student who has a great idea for a postgraduate event? Applications for the second round of Postgraduate Experience Awards are being accepted until Friday 27 April! Apply today.

Graduate School Prizes – nominations now open!

The Graduate School is delighted to be introducing a series of prizes to recognise the excellence of its postgraduate researchers and the outstanding work carried out by our academic and administrative staff members in support of postgraduate research and education.

The Graduate School Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

Research Degree Supervisor (one per Faculty)
School Director of Graduate Studies
Administrator working in support of postgraduate education and/or research
Postgraduate Research Prize (one per Faculty)

Each prize will be in the sum of £500 and will take the form of a transfer to the winner’s school, centre or departmental budget for the 2018/19 financial year. The funds can be used for:

Travel and subsistence in relation to research including conference fees, books, consumables, survey costs or any other cost that can be shown to relate to their research
Staff development courses and related travel and subsistence costs

The prizes will be announced and presented at the Postgraduate Research Festival Launch Event on 18 June 2018 followed by a celebratory dinner, and the deadline for applications is 30 April 2018.

Please visit the webpage for full criteria and application information, and do not hesitate to contact the Graduate School with any queries: graduateschool@kent.ac.uk.

Free English classes

You can join CEWL’s Free English language classes if your first language is not English. They are taught every weekday from 18 June to 19 July by students on the CELTA teacher training course. You can also earn employability points for attending the classes

What do the classes cover?

They cover the four skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking, as well as grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. You will have the chance to meet new people and practice speaking English.

For more information, click here

Or to book your place, please email: cewlcelta@kent.ac.uk

Research survey

You are invited to take part in a short 5 minute survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MAReseach2018 and subsequent focus group (if you wish) to contribute to some research currently being undertaken on why some students breach non-academic discipline regulations and establish if UK Universities go too far or not far enough in attempting to control student behaviour on and off of campus. The survey will be open until 6 April 2018.

The Main focus of the study is to establish what are the reasons are for growing numbers of student misconduct on and off campus in the UK, how Universities currently manage student misconduct and how UK institutions collect and synthesis data to inform policies, procedures and Regulations designed to address student misconduct.

Why have I been chosen?

You have been chosen as University records identify you as a current student at the University of Kent.

Do I have to take part?

No, participation is entirely voluntary.

What will happen to me if I take part?

You are invited to a) complete a survey, and b) confirm whether you wish to volunteer to participate in a one-hour focus group. Focus groups will be arranged to minimise inconvenience to participants.

Benefits of taking part

Your participation in this research can result in a number of benefits, including

Feeding into University non-academic discipline regulations for current and future students.
Feeding into further research in the areas of student discipline

You need to be aware that

Data from this study will inform the development of policy and practice within the University. All participant contributions will be anonymised and used only to illustrate broad themes and findings. Your confidentiality and anonymity will be maintained.
There will be consultation between the researcher and participants regarding the data.
Data from this study may also be used for publication and disseminated at conferences. Information about or from participants used for external purposes will be anonymised. The University will not be identified by name but given a pseudonym and identified only by key characteristics and mission, enabling other researchers to consider the implications of the research for their own contexts.
You will have access to the report and findings if you so wish.

Contact for further information

Alison Mansell, Student Conduct and Complaints Manager, M1.02 Keynes College, University of Kent, a.mansell@kent.ac.uk

Go Abroad Photo and Video Competition – £200 worth of Amazon Vouchers to be won!

International Partnerships is reaching out to students who are currently on their term/year abroad 2017-18, either at Kent, or at one of our partner universities across the globe. Send your best photos and videos capturing those special moments for a chance to win an amazon voucher.

For more information see: https://www.kent.ac.uk/goabroad/photo-video-competition.html

Campus Shuttle running times

The Campus Shuttle will continue to run to the usual timetable over the Easter weekend including the bank holidays- Friday 30 March 2018 and Monday 2 April 2018.

The shuttle runs during term-time only. This means the last day the shuttle will be running this term will be Friday 6 April 2018.

The shuttle will start running again at the start of the summer term on Tuesday 8 May 2018. Booking will be available a week or so before this date.

For more information, visit www.kent.ac.uk/campus-shuttle or follow @CampusShuttle on twitter.

Book now for KM Big Quiz on campus

Join in the KM Big Quiz at the University on Friday 20 April.

The quiz, from 19.00, will take place in the Sports Centre on our Canterbury campus.

Kent staff and students can save £15 off the advertised price of £65 for a table of eight, by using the code UKC18.

Each table will have a ploughman’s supper andbottle of wine on it. A bar will also be available.

Prizes including Eurostar tickets plus a fun raffle and other games.

Book your table here.