Category Archives: Student Guide

Bluebells at Canterbury campus

Enhancing your mental health during the Summer Term

The start of the Summer Term coincides with Mental Health Awareness Week. We appreciate the Summer Term can be stressful as you manage your exams and other deadlines and commitments. 

Here are some ideas for boosting your mental health this term: 

  1. Connect with others – reach out to friends and family. Plan when you can next meet up, so you have something to look forward to. You can also check out the Student Support and Wellbeing events calendar for ways to meet new people such as the Walking Buddy and Just Coffee initiatives.   
  2. Get out in nature – spending time in nature can have huge benefits for our mental health. If you’re at Medway, the Rochester Lawn has benches, a covered area and a trail gym for you to explore. Based at Canterbury? Check out the new Canterbury Wellbeing Map and discover more places to relax and unwind. We’re super lucky to have the Kent Community Oasis Garden at our Canterbury campus (located at the end of Park Wood). Join students, staff and members of the community on Wednesdays and Fridays 10.00-14.00 for a relaxed gardening session.   
  3. Exercise regularly– exercise is a great way to let go of frustrations and improve your mood as well as increase your fitness. Kent Sport’s ALL Active programme is back this term with plenty of non-competitive, turn-up-and-play sessions. No experience or equipment needed. You could also join a community bike ride with other Kent students. 
  4. Get enough sleep – sleep is vital to allow both your body and mind to recharge. If you struggle with your sleep, check out this free online Togetherall course: How to Improve Your Sleep. 
  5. Eat well and stay hydrated – we all know that eating well and drinking plenty of water is good for us, but we often forget just much it can affect our mood. Check out the Blurt foundation’s blogpost about foods that boost mood and energy.  

Mental Health Team at Student Support and Wellbeing

The Mental Health Team consists of Mental Health Advisers, Counsellors and Student Mentors. Mental Health Advisers are specialist practitioners who can offer mental health advice and support. They can provide short term focused interventions to promote wellbeing and support students to develop coping strategies and help put in place an ILP or ‘inclusive learning plan’ if required. We also have a free confidential Counselling service for all Kent students, offering a safe space to those experiencing problems such as anxiety, depressed feelings, and emotional difficulties that may or may not be connected to student life. 

Togetherall – 24/7 support

Togetherall offers 24/7 online mental health support by peers, with free courses, message boards, self-assessments and articles on many topics. It’s overseen by qualified therapists and free for Kent students. 

Mental Health Partner organisation: Spectrum Life – out of office hours support

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or need emergency in the moment crisis support outside of Student Support and Wellbeing working hours, our external partners Spectrum Life can offer you online, text and telephone support from qualified counsellors and mental health professionals.   

Student Support and Wellbeing Services Survey

Have you used Student Support and Wellbeing Services at Kent this academic year? If you’d like to give your feedback and be in with a chance of winning £50, complete this online survey.

Learn more about mental health support at Kent. 

Paid role: Curriculum Auditors for Sustainability Team

Our Sustainability Team are seeking student auditors to assess the extent of sustainability knowledge and skills in our undergraduate curriculum. The project will take place from the end of May through to the summer. Full training will be provided.

What is the pay?

The pay for this role is £10.29/hour.

What are the hours?

  • 3 hours training (paid) – Wednesday 25 May 14.00-17.00. Attendance and participation in the full 3 hours of training is mandatory. We will be unable to provide catch-up sessions or recordings of the training.
  • Training will take place on Zoom
  • There will then be a minimum of 6 hours per student of additional work to be completed remotely at a time to suit you. Depending on the number of students who attend the training there may be up to 20 additional hours available.

What will the role involve?

  • Students will be mapping the Sustainable Develop Goals (SDGs) and some other key sustainability elements against modules from course and modules at the University of Kent
  • We will be using the online course and modules list that gives an overview of each Module
  • Students will read the overview of the module, and then fill in our online form with your scores mapping them to the SDGs and ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) framework
  • Once students have completed the mapping, we will collate the answers to get a picture of the University’s inclusion of the SDGs.

Application closing date is 8 May 2022.

Find out more and apply.

 

Destination success bootcamp

Destination Success Bootcamp – free 3 day programme

Our Careers and Employability Service are running an exciting 3-day programme – ‘Destination Success Bootcamp’. This is a 3-day intensive training programme with the purpose of helping you map out your journey to success and build confidence in your abilities. This programme is suitable to those across all years, including recent graduates.

This programme will be delivered face to face on the Canterbury Campus (Tuesday 24 May – Thursday 26 May). Each day will start at 10.00 allowing time for those traveling from Medway. You need to attend every day in order to gain a plan on the programme.

The programme will focus on:

Understanding you – This module aids self-reflection so you can better understand how you work, this will include completing a personality profile, exploring your personal values, your strengths and development areas, imposter syndrome and the power of positivity, finishing with looking at what you want to get out of life.

Navigating you – This module with focus on how to nurture and build good relationships, focusing on team dynamics, exploring learning styles and rules of teamwork, having challenging conversations and how to communicate in the workplace.

Universal Life Hacks – This final module will give you a toolbox of ideas to hit the ground running, including decision making, planning, prioritising and delegating, mapping your skills and looking at whether you would employ yourself.

See the website for more information, including the joining instructions and to how to book your place.

If you have any queries, please email studyplus@kent.ac.uk

People walking in woodlands

Summer Term Ecotherapy sessions

Launching this term, join the Circle of Trees Group for seasonal sessions that aim to support good health and wellbeing by connecting you with nature. These sessions are run by East Kent Mind as part of the Kent Community Oasis Garden Partnership.

Benefits of Ecotherapy

Ecotherapy improves mental wellbeing and helps people to become more physically active. It gives people the skills to get back into work, training and education, and it helps people who are lonely or socially isolated to broaden their networks. These are all important factors that can prevent people developing a mental health problem to start with.

Summer Term Sessions

  • Session 1 – Thursday 12 May – 12.00-14.00 – Finding comfort in Nature at times of pressure
  • Session 2 – Thursday 19 May – 12.00-14.00 – Overcoming obstacles
  • Session 3 – Thursday 26 May – 12.00-14.00 – Honouring strengths and feelings
  • Session 4 – Monday 30 May – 14.00-16.00 – Finding power from within
  • Session 5 – Thursday 9 June 12.00-14.00 – ‘Old me, New me’
  • Session 6 – Monday 13 June – 12.00-14.00 – Shining our light

You are encouraged to sign up to all 6 to get the full benefits of the course but please do get in touch with us if you can only attend a few.

What does a session look like?

Each session will include a sensory awareness practice, a team-building nature based ice-breaker (30 mins) and a main task encapsulating the month’s energy (1 hour). All things we create will involve simple materials found in nature.  The Group concludes with sharing and tea and biscuits!

How to book

You can book onto the sessions and ask any questions you may have by emailing kentcog@kent.ac.uk where the KentCOG Coordinator Debi will be able to sign you up and answer any queries. You can also visit the Ecotherapy KentCOG website to learn more.

Email kentcog@kent.ac.uk to book your place

Residential Life Programme, college and community

Residential Life Assistant (plus accommodation discount)

Do you want to make an amazing student experience for students on-campus at Kent? Join the Residential Life Programme, gain invaluable work experience and get a huge discount on your on-campus accommodation for the 2022/23 academic year! Our Residential Life Assistants (RLAs) are at the heart of our College Communities.

You will build relationships both on and off campus, to develop the sense of belonging and community, whilst working together to create exciting events for your peers. This is an great opportunity to get flexible work experience alongside your studies, whilst actively contributing to a fantastic student experience at Kent.

Please read the Job Description, this provides a more in-depth description of the position available and requirements for applicants. To apply for the position, please provide us with a written statement, no longer than 500 words, expressing why you’d like to be considered for an RLA post and how your experience makes you the best candidate for the role. If you are successful, you will be invited to a short interview with the College and Community Life Team.

Please note, you will need to commit 12 hours a week and be in attendance at a training week on campus, to be arranged after the successful candidates have been selected.

Please send your application to hccl@kent.ac.uk  by Friday 6 May 2022.

We look forward to receiving your application, and hearing about how you would like to make living on campus a fun and memorable time for all!

Leadership elections, Kent Union

Nominations open: Kent Union VP Postgrad full-time officer

Kent Union have elected four of the full-time officers for the upcoming academic year and are looking for the fifth member of the team. They are running a by-election and asking students to vote for your representation once again.The Postgraduate Experience role is responsible for providing the postgraduate perspective on issues which impact their student experience. This role will be the lead officer on issues that may include postgraduate funding, training and support; academic issues such as supervision and GTA (Graduate Teaching Assistants) concerns; employment issues; welfare concerns such as finance and housing; and community development including events and activities out of term time alongside the Postgraduate Network.Election dates are as follows:

  • 25 April 12.00: Nominations open
  • 3 May 12.00: Nominations close
  • 12 May 7.00: Voting opens
  • 12 May 22.00: Voting closes
  • 13 May: Winner announcement

A full job description can be found in the resources section on the Kent Union elections webpage. If you, or someone you know, is interested in running for the role, you can recommend a friend (or yourself, we won’t judge!)Important dates for the successful candidate:

  • Wednesday 18 May: Officer team induction day on Canterbury campus
  • Sunday 26 June – Saturday 2nd July: Residential training in Faversham, Kent.

If you have any questions please email elections@kent.ac.uk and a member of the elections team will get back to you as soon as possible.Good luck!

Challenging Racism project update

Update from Leroy | Race Equality Charter Co-ordinator

Since our last update the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) Team has been working on our Race Equality Charter (REC) and at the end of 2021, introduced our Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment (RECSAT) Team to analyse its data.

Here’s more information about the Race Equality Charter and the work being done by the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team:

What is the REC?

The Race Equality Charter (REC) is an AdvanceHE charter mark focussed at Higher Education (HE) institutions reflecting and tackling race inequality. It follows fairly similar principles to AthenaSWAN with the exception that its focus is ethnicity rather than gender. It asks us as an institution to set up a Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team (RECSAT).

What is RECSAT?

The Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team (RECSAT), is the committee involved in analysing our application, commenting and critiquing on data.

We established the RECSAT in December 2021 and since then it has had two full meetings and they have been discussing topics such as the University’s wider EDI work alongside how we go about fulfilling REC requirements.

Outcome from the RECSAT meetings

The RECSAT decided to continue to use the term racially minoritised in Kent. While we know that the term racially minoritised isn’t perfect, we all acknowledge the problems the term Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) brings, especially how it excludes some minoritised communities and homogenises others.

As set out in the Antiracism Strategy; racially minoritised is a term increasingly used in EDI work as an alternative to BAME as it highlights the social construction of racial categorisation. However, the term racially minoritised also has limitations:

  • it could be perceived as passive and limiting in terms of individual agency
  • it also risks homogenising the experience of individuals and communities who experience racism in different ways.

The term is used here fully aware of these limitations but in acknowledgement that there is no consensus on a new national preferred terminology as of yet.

Where we classify racially minoritised and we as an institution support racially minoritised individuals, there may be a mismatch in support from external providers and we are looking to see how we can do that effectively.

We would encourage staff and students to talk to RECSAT members so that thoughts and opinions can enhance meetings. We would ask however to respect that the individuals are students and full time staff and may also have a lot of things on their plate alongside the vital work they are doing in the REC.

One of the other key things that our RECSAT emphasised in their previous meetings, is the importance of making spaces and mechanisms with proper throughput of lived experiences of staff and students. Members stressed the importance of listening and discussing these things and not losing the spaces that provide them, as well as ensuring what’s heard is acted upon and taken up with feedback and progress.

Discussions of the things that come out of RECSAT meetings will form part of the REC action plan as well.

The EDI Team has been working on our REC application with the input of the RECSAT and staff around the institution.

How you can get involved

If you’re a group of staff, a student network, Divisional EDI team, a person who wants to know more, get involved or mention something to us, do get in touch.

There are some quick and easy things you can do:

  • Have open discussions about EDI between yourselves and your Divisional/Departmental EDI teams. The more we talk, the more we can listen, the more we can improve. Those things can feed into the REC process and our EDI forum.
  • Ensure you’ve got your demographic information complete as possible and up to date on StaffConnect. We need to ensure we have as complete a picture as possible when we do our work to make sure it has the widest impact.

There are resources in Kent and across the board that can help you get started, enhance what you know with some intersectionality in Kent:

Progress on student demands

Throughout the REC and antiracism work we have been doing we are keeping a close eye on the student demands and what we can do to take more action on them.

Kent made its Antiracism Strategy in response to student demands as well as to incorporate the University’s commitment to being an antiracist institution. An action plan to that strategy is being made as part of our REC submission process to push the progress in a positive direction with meaningful accountability.

We are setting up a Harassment and Discrimination Prevention Group. The group will include staff and students and look at potentially being an independent panel having no senior management involved in the processes.

The excellent survey made by the BAME staff network is entering its next phase. Big shout out to the network co-chairs for the amazing piece of work they are continuing.

Other institutional progress

Kent has signed up to StellarHE Executive Development Programme for Diverse Leaders (BAME) in Higher Education. It is aimed at academic and professional staff aspiring to senior leadership positions in Higher Education and we have submitted our first round of staff to the programme.

E-scooters outside Templeman Library

Paid Summer Internship: Exploring effects of e-scooter use

What is the internship about?

The project will:

  • Explore the Physiological effects of E-scooter use
  • Use equipment in the Sport and Exercise Science Laboratory (e.g. HR, Gas exchange)
  • Improve understanding of motivations and attitudes to E-scooter use (E.g. Physical activity engagement, Transport habits)
  • Seek to provide recommendations around E-scooter use Eligibility*

How long is the internship for?

The internship is available for 5 weeks from 1 June (35 hours a week for 5 weeks).

What is the eligibility criteria?

The Summer Vacation Early Career Research Competition has been designed to address the lack of diversity in research. The aim is to encourage Black undergraduates in all disciplines to consider potential postgraduate study.

The internship is open to all Kent students and we particularly encourage applications from first and second year undergraduates who identify as Black, Asian or minority ethnicity, or come from an underrepresented group (ie. disabled, mature, lower socio-economic, care leaver, first in family to attend higher education).

Find out more and apply by 27 April 2022.

 

Join Kent’s Digital Champions Network and volunteer!

The University of Kent is teaming up with Kent County Council to support the local community in becoming comfortable with using digital technology.

As part of KCC’s Digital Champions campaign, the University of Kent is encouraging students and staff to volunteer for an hour or two to support people in accessing the digital world. Your efforts could help save people time and money, make people feel more connected and better informed. Despite this, many people have never been online.

A Digital Champion is someone who helps others to understand the benefits of being online and can spend some time showing them how. Digital Champions do a range of simple things like:

  • Teaching someone to use Google or a web browser
  • Showing a beginner how to set up an email account
  • Helping someone to use the internet to research and plan care
  • Explaining computer terms and internet jargon

In return you’ll get:

  • The opportunity to develop your own skills and knowledge about digital technology
  • Free online training so you know better how to work with others and what sort of things you could teach them
  • The chance to part of a community of Champions who can help each other and share ideas
  • Rewards and awards! You’ll receive a Certificate and an online Open Badge for each Digital Champion course you complete – you can put it on your CV and show others what you’ve done
  • Immense satisfaction that you’ve made a difference to someone else

What are we looking for?

You need a good level of basic computer skills, but you don’t have to be an IT genius. Much more important is having enthusiasm and patience to spend some time helping others to get online.

To find out more, join the introductory zoom meeting on Tuesday 26 April between 16:00-17:00

For more information, please feel free to contact James Corbin on J.I.H.Corbin-2@kent.ac.uk

Cathedral view with Daffodils

Spring break 2022 opening times

If you are staying on campus over the Spring break, most of the University’s services are still on hand to help. Here’s a list of services and opening times:

And of course, Campus Security staff are on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.