If you get an email about your student loan, with this subject line (or similar):

• Important loan information from SFE

It is likely to be fraudulent. Do not click links or reply to it.

The Student Finance England logo may be included to make it look convincing.

If you think an email about your loan is genuine and need to take action:

• Go to the student loan company’s website yourself instead of clicking on email links (if you know the web address, type it in manually – or find their website using a search engine). From their homepage you should be able to find what you need.
• Why is this necessary? Because even if links look genuine, they may go somewhere else when clicked.

Fake emails are regularly received by staff and students from malicious sources (who want your username and password, financial/personal data, or want to plant virusues). We take action to block them, but some still get through.

The University will never ask for your password by email.

Fakes can look very convincing, with a ‘from’ address looks genuine and official: if you have entered your Kent password into a website that may be fraudulent, change your Kent password immediately and contact us.

Tips on staying safe:

• never send passwords by email
• if you’re worried your password may have been compromised, contact us and change your password immediately
• don’t click on links: manually type the web address into a web browser instead, or search for the main website and navigate from there.
• don’t open attachments unless you’re sure they are from a trusted source.

If you are suspicious at all about a message, but feel it may be genuine, please contact us for advice.

Fake email sent to students at York recently:

From: Student Finance England

Date: 14 October 2014 17:00
Subject: Important loan information from SFE
To: studentloan.listserve@york.ac.uk

Dear student,

We have noticed that your account has not completed the required update necessary for future payments by the Student Loan Company. To ensure that your payment is not delayed, please kindly update your account to the newest version standard by submitting your details we have on record via the secure webpage below.

Link to: ‘Secure update page’ (which was a fraudulent link and NOT to the Studentfinanceengland).

We apologise for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Student Loan Company

A new Research Assistantship Scheme enabling undergraduate and postgraduate students to gain valuable research-related work experience has been successfully piloted by Kent Law School.

The scheme ran over the course of three weeks in September, with 18 students selected from a large pool of applicants to work on 12 short-term research projects. Research assistants (RAs) were paid and received training before conducting desk based legal and socio-legal research under the close supervision of academic staff from the School.

Students were also tasked with producing a final report summarising their research findings, which they shared with staff and students on a day of presentations at the culmination of the scheme.

Law Lecturer Dr Sinead Ring said:’The presentation day was an excellent opportunity for RAs to share their research journeys, ideas and enthusiasm and for all of us to celebrate our strong research community.’

Dr Ring led the Research Assistantship team in collaboration with Scheme Coordinator Serena Natile and the Law School’s Employability and Career Development Officer, Jayne Instone.

Dr Ring said: ‘The pilot RA Scheme brought students and academics together to work on staff research projects. Staff were delighted to have such motivated students and students learned lots about what exactly is involved in doing legal research. We hope to expand the Scheme next year.’

Research Assistant Oliver Hartland said: ‘The project is something that I have been delighted to be involved in and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to have taken part. I feel that personally, academically and professionally I have benefited enormously from this scheme and, hopefully it is one that will continue next year.’

This year’s Careers Fair is taking place on Tuesday 4 November in the Sports Centre.

It is set to be the biggest campus has ever seen, with over 100 companies attending, offering graduate opportunities, internships and placements, information and advice, and volunteering opportunities.

Top tips for standing out from the crowd

1. Get ready for the Careers Fair by watching our video guide.
2. Research the employers you want to speak to – the logos on our webpage go straight to the companies’ websites.
3. Dress to impress, and bring a copy of your CV.
4. Write a 30-second pitch about yourself, to really grab the employers’ attention

Come and celebrate the Festival of Lights with Kent’s Indian and Mauritian Societies!

Learn about the festival and enjoy free food and drink.

The event is FREE – no need to book, just turn up!

Saturday 25 October, 19.00

Celebration in Eliot Dining Hall

The Student Projects Grant Scheme has been given a boost this year and £65,000 will be awarded for projects that will enhance the student experience and employability of Kent students.

Individual grants can be up to a maximum of £5,000 and applications are welcome from student groups in Kent Union, departments, faculties and schools across all our campuses.

Application forms and guidelines can be downloaded from the Kent Opportunity Fund webpage.

The closing date for applications is 19 December 2014.

Email W.K.E.Chow@kent.ac.uk if you have any questions.

Kent Extra courses are non-credit bearing courses which you can take alongside your studies.

This is your chance to learn something new, or find out more about a subject you’re interested in.

The first Kent Extra courses available for 2014/15 are now open for registration:

• KE018: Classics Research in Practice
• KE048: Most Children Hated School
• KE049: Great Expectations? Life and Landscape on the north Kent coast
• KE050: Ise: Japan’s Sacred City
• KE043: Employability Skills

More courses will be available throughout the year, so keep an eye on the Kent Extra webpages.

Book and find out more.

Vote for Kent student Hollie Mackenzie’s sculpture ‘Obscurant’ in the National Sculpture Prize Exhibition.

Hollie’s sculpture ‘Obscurant’, is three melting wooden lit lampposts, currently exhibited at Broomhill’s Sculpture Park in Barnstaple, Devon until the end of October. She is in the running for NSP ‘Public Speaks’ award and needs as many votes as she can get.

Hollie recently started her PhD at Kent and her art has been featured in the school’s newsletter. All her sculptures are hand-crafted and made of wood. They are carved to look as though they are melting – an illusion which requires lots of patience, skill and sand paper!

Help Kent’s American Football team, the Kent Falcons, by tweeting using ‘#KFalconsNFLuk @nfl_uk’ to give them a vote towards a once in a lifetime prize.

The NFL competition pitches University teams against each other for the chance to win an exclusive day with the Jacksonville Jaguars; a professional American Football team. The day includes training with the team and their coaches as well as providing a unique opportunity to maximise their potential in the upcoming season.

To win the incredible prize, the University teams must get the most retweets of their team hashtag (in the Falcons case, #KFalconsNFLuk @nfl_uk) by midday on Friday 31 October.

As part of this year’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the Music department is delighted to welcome Trevor Pinnock to Colyer-Fergusson this Friday (17 October).

Acclaimed as a pioneer of period-instrument performance and founder of the English Concert, Trevor Pinnock was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music by the University in 1995. His recital this Friday evening explores the keyboard music of JS Bach.

Further details and tickets are available on the Music webpages.

Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852) is often referred to as the world’s first computer programmer. She collaborated with mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage, and was the first to see the potential of his Analytical Engine.

Ada Lovelace Day (14 October) is not simply about celebrating this inspirational woman, but is an international celebration of all inspirational women working in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

As the Finding Ada website says:

‘Ada Lovelace Day is about sharing stories of women – whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians – who have inspired you to become who you are today. The aim is to create new role models for girls and women in these male-dominated fields by raising the profile of other women in STEM.

You can find out about some of the inspiring women who work in Science at Kent on the Athena SWAN webpages. These women work in Finance, Pharmacy, Engineering and Mathematics.

Find out about the paths that brought them to their current positions, the professional and personal challenges they’ve faced, and how Kent has supported them on their journeys.

Many offer advice to those who might want to follow in their footsteps and, as well as well as listening to their advice, remember – these women have made a career in Science-you can too.

Find out more about Ada Lovelace and how Kent is supporting women working in STEMM.