When: 4 and 6 December for one hour

Where: Location TBC

Why: We’re doing some work around how we can get more of you involved in cocurricular activities at university and what we need to do to better your student experience while you’re with us.

All out participants will get a £10 Amazon voucher. If you are already engaged with the union and bring along a friend who isn’t, you’ll also get a portion of chips from Canvas on us!

If possible it would be useful if you could think through the following things / questions in advance of our interview.  We may not discuss these directly, but they will help you to reflect on the overall structure and culture of student groups within Kent Union.  There will also be a number of other questions that we discuss, but you won’t need to prepare for these (other than thinking through the below).

A.   What is your experience of student groups in Kent Union?  When have you had positive or negative experiences in relation to student activities / groups?

B.   Thinking about student groups overall, what do you think currently works well?  Why?

C.   Thinking about student groups overall, what do you think could be improved?  Why?

D.  If you could make one change to student groups in Kent Union what would it be and why?

Sign up now 

[Picture: Gold Medal – Network Infrastructure Technician by WorldSkills UK. CC BY 2.0.]

Neelan Thuraisingham, a second year student in the School of Computing, has won a gold medal at the WorldSkills UK competition.

Neelan, who studies Computer Science (Networks) with a Year in Industry, was selected for the Network Infrastructure Technician national final after winning a national qualifier in Surrey.

Neelan said ‘When they were announcing the prizes I was hoping for bronze and then silver and then when those prizes went to other people I thought I’d missed out. So it was a huge shock when they announced my name as the gold medal winner. I’m really pleased and would like to pass on my thanks to everyone who supported me’.

WorldSkills UK Competitions bring together apprentices and young people from across the country to compete to be the best in their chosen skill. The national finals were held at The Skills Show, the nation’s largest skills, apprenticeships and careers event, which took place at the NEC Birmingham.

The Network Infrastructure Technician competition focused on all the essential requirements for a successful career as a Network Technician. It consisted of a series of tasks that included the installation, configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting of ICT networks using predominantly CISCO devices. The competition tested the knowledge and skills learned in the Cisco CCNA Network Academy Program.

At Kent Union we value your opinion and we’re always looking for ways to make you more employable.

The Graduate Attributes are a set of qualities or features regarded as characteristic of the Kent Graduate which has been developed and embedded during their time at Kent. We need your help to gain insight into what you’d like to see on the Graduate Attributes website. Your contributions will make a real impact.

The discussion group will last no longer than an hour and you’ll receive a voucher to be redeemed at the Library Cafe and some free pizza!

Come along and have your say!

All you have to do is fill out this form to let us know when you are available.

UK Disability History Month (22 November – 22 December) is an annual event creating a platform to focus on the history of the struggle for equality and human rights. This year marks the eighth anniversary of this event, with a focus on the Arts.

Student Support and Wellbeing have organised a programme of events for UK Disability History Month at Kent. Events include art exhibitions, musical performances, talks, workshops, performance art, film screenings, a comedy night, as well as an exploration of gaming accessibility and design.

The full programme of events is available on the website.

Through celebrating Disability History Month at the University of Kent, we aim to:

• Raise disability awareness on campus
• Raise the profile of disabled students and staff, as well as the social, cultural and psychological challenges they may face
• Counter prejudice
• Offer inspiration for current and future students and staff with disabilities
• Explore disability history in the context of the Arts

We hope that you will join us in celebrating UK Disability History Month this year.

If you have any queries regarding the programme or a particular event, please email us.

Postgraduate researchers, academics and staff from across the faculties gathered for the launch on 15 November of the new POP placement scheme.

POP (Professional Opportunities for Postgraduates) is a collaborative scheme led by Kent Innovation & Enterprise and the Graduate School. POP will provide opportunities for Kent postgraduates to work with local businesses and organisations on a short-term basis to support the transfer of knowledge and business growth in the area.

Professor Paul Allain, Dean of the Graduate School, hosted the event and, after a welcome address from Professor Philippe De Wilde, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, the launch provided an overview of what postgraduates, staff and local businesses and organisations can expect from the scheme.

The launch also included reflection and advice from individuals who undertook similar placements during their postgraduate studies. Dr Hannah Swift (Eastern ARC Research Fellow) conveyed the benefits of her work placement, particularly the opportunities it provided for the dissemination of her research to a wider audience. Hannah Huxley (PhD candidate, Centre for American Studies) and Emily Bartlett (PhD candidate, School of History) praised the practical skills gained from their work placements with Bloomsbury Publishing, and Brian Gutierrez (Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate) provided pragmatic advice for postgraduates pursuing a work placement. Claire Martin (Careers and Employability Service) followed the reflections with an overview of the services CES provides students who are searching for placements, preparing applications or looking for general career advice.

Placements are arranged for a maximum of three months full-time (longer if part-time) and function in a similar way to the delivery of a piece of consultancy. The cost of placements is shared equally between the university (through government funding that supports the Industrial Strategy) and the companies/organisations.

For more information please visit the POP website

Applications are now open for the University of Kent’s Summer School programme for 2018.

The University of Kent’s high-quality summer schools for university students and professionals with academic credit are designed for anyone who would like to study one or more of the inspiring courses taught at the University’s locations in three of Europe’s most important cities.

Building on our reputation for interdisciplinary study, you will spend time with fellow students and academics studying your chosen subject in specially chosen locations with state-of-the-art facilities.

If you are considering postgraduate study at Kent or would just like to learn more about a chosen subject, either in the UK or at one of our specialist postgraduate centres across Europe a summer school is a great opportunity to discover more about your subject and the University.

The Summer Schools are two weeks long and run in June and July 2018 with accommodation and a social programme included. Come and discover what it is like to be a student at our Canterbury, Brussels or Paris locations.

Brussels:

• Europe and the World

Paris:

• Revolutions
• Urban Ethnography

Canterbury:

• European Security and Foreign Policy
• Molecular Biology and IVF
• Quantitative Methods
• Sustainable Architecture and Landscape Design
• From Plantagenet to Tudor  –  Kingship, Society and Political Culture in Late Medieval England
• Global Business in a Dynamic Environment
• Investigating the Social Mind
• Hidden Histories of the Second World War

Scholarships and discounts

We have a limited number of full and part scholarships to award.

Discounts of £100 if you book and pay in full by 16 April 2018 – students who then study at our Paris or Brussels centres on full year MAs after undertaking one of our summer schools will be entitled to a 10% discount on tuition fees.

Find out more: www.kent.ac.uk/summerschools Contact us: summerschools@kent.ac.uk

Kent Union are holding a session with Vice-Chancellor Karen Cox and Deputy Vice-Chancellor April McMahon where you will have a chance to tell them what you think will make a great student experience at Kent!

The event will take place on Tuesday 21 November in The Gulbenkian, from 18.00-20.00.

Find out more on Facebook.

As the evenings get darker and Christmas festivities begin, we just want to remind you of our safety advice and services.

Safety advice and services:

You don’t need to walk in the dark or late at night, why not:

• Take the Nite bus, the Uni2. Stagecoach provides a night bus until 04.35 and the route includes campus colleges and the local area.
• Call a registered taxi– save some money for the end of the night, so you can be brought straight home – it’s much safer and easier.
• Sign-up with the Safe Taxi Scheme so if you find yourself on your own or in a vulnerable situation you can still get a taxi home, even if you don’t have the money on the night.

However, if you do need to walk, here are some tips:

• Don’t walk home alone. Stick with your friends and look out for one another.
• Stick to well-lit and busy areas. Avoid shortcuts through parks, car parks, underpasses, woodlands and unlit areas. View Canterbury’s lit walking routes.
• Keep your valuables hidden – mobiles, keys, cash, cards and jewelry.
• Stay alert – don’t walk home on the phone or listening to music.
• We also have Street Marshals looking after students and local residents when they’re out and about at night. They patrol a number of areas in Canterbury on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
• Get a free personal safety alarm from Campus Security.

On-campus only services:

• If you find yourself on your own, on-campus, you can call our night-time Walking Taxi Service – 01227 823300.
• Download the SafeZone app for quick access to emergency services, first aid and the University.

Read more on our safety webpages.

This year’s Employability Festival saw 26 alumni return to the Canterbury campus to offer current students advice and guidance about their graduate prospects and employability. Graduates from a range of disciplines participated in panels, gave talks and networked with students to share their experience and expertise, and to offer mentoring and insights at events organised by Kent Union, the Development Office, the School of Economics, the School of Anthropology and Conservation, the School of History and the School of Arts.

Kasia Senyszyn, Volunteer Management Officer for the Development Office, said “it is brilliant to see so many members of our talented and diverse alumni community coming back to share their stories and support Kent. They are such a fantastic resource for current students and new graduates and we are so grateful for their time and expertise.”

Kent has over 171,000 alumni worldwide and nearly 300 of them are currently volunteering to support Kent through our international alumni groups, on-campus talks and events, and our online mentoring platform, KEW-NET. Kent alumni also helped to raise over £880,000 last year for the Kent Opportunity Fund, which supports our students through scholarships, hardship bursaries and student project grants.

Find out more about our alumni community and how to get involved on our website.