Category Archives: Student Guide

Reminder: Industrial Action 24-25 and 30 November

Some members of the University and College Union (UCU) will be going on strike this week on Thursday and Friday (24 and 25 November), as well as Wednesday next week (30 November). This is happening at all universities across the UK and is part of a national dispute – as such our influence over this is limited.

We’re sorry for the disruption this is likely to cause to your week. We are here to help and will do all we can to minimise the impact on your studies – we’ve put together some key links and info below.

What to expect on strike days

Some of your classes may be cancelled; union members don’t have to tell us if they are taking strike action so we won’t always know in advance.
You might see UCU members picketing on campus; these are peaceful protests which will be stewarded by the union
Other services may be affected but we’ll work to make sure all essential support services are running as usual. Our libraries and catering outlets will also be open as usual.

How to prepare for strike days

The impact of industrial action can be hard to predict and is likely to be different in different areas. It’s best to plan ahead as far as you can and get in touch if you’re not sure about anything:

Talk to your lecturer – to find out if they are taking part in strike days. Not all staff will be on strike and many classes will go ahead as scheduled so it is best to ask in advance so you can plan around it.
Keep receipts – if you arrive at a lecture or seminar to find it has been cancelled, keep a record of the direct costs you incurred so we can reimburse you.
Still submit work – if you have a deadline on a strike day. You still need to submit work unless advised differently by your Division or lecturer.
Meet with your lecturer after strikes – for support and advice on how to catch up with missed work.
Ask for help if you need it – see our support webpage for who to contact if you have questions or concerns about industrial action.

Academic Experience Reporting Tool

Use Kent Union’s Academic Experience Reporting Tool to record any missed teaching and to let us know if you have incurred any direct costs as a result of this, so we can reimburse you.

Job opportunity: Safer Streets Canterbury project

The Canterbury Community Safety Partnership is looking to hire Student Partners to support the project deliver of Safer Streets 4. This is a paid role.

The partnership has been awarded funding from the Home Office to identify ways to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls and conduct research on how we can make Canterbury safer for its residents, including students. This funding is supporting the development of research, training, safety resources, a central website and safety packs for patrons of Night Time Economy (pubs, clubs and bars) in the city, alongside other exciting projects.

This role is an opportunity for you to be an active participant in change for Canterbury, making it a safer place to live and study. As a member of the project team , you will be required to (but not limited to):

Conduct research, including research design, data collection and analysis.
Organise and facilitate focus groups/semi-structured interviews.
Liaise with key partners, including attending meetings.
Provide advice and gather information in a coordinated manner from students and the wider Canterbury community that will aid the project’s progression and provide
important strategic insights.
Contribute to developing and delivering training packages that focus on awareness
Contribute to the development of key resources and the production of safety packs.

Interested in applying? Find out more and apply for the role.

Find out more about the Safer Streets Canterbury project.

1,000 chances to win £100

If you’re looking for some extra funds ahead of the winter break, the Santander Universities £100k Winter Giveaway is here for you. They’re giving away 1000 lots of £100 to any UK university students- even if you don’t bank with them!

Winners can spend the £100 grants at the Santander Aspire webstore on a variety of items; Pick up some supermarket vouchers and get ready for that holiday feast or use the funds towards a new laptop and get a head start on your revision.

Apply before 30 November at 23:00 for your chance to win!

Apply now >

#100kWinterGiveaway #NeverStopLearning

Events roundup: 21-27 November

Here’s a roundup of the top events this week. And huge congrats to our students who are graduating this week! #KentGrads

Monday: Medway Pool Tournament

Get to know new people by playing a game of pool in the Oasis Lounge at the Medway Pool Tournament. This event is hosted by your Medway Residential Life Assistants, come by yourself or bring a friend.

Wednesday: Warner Bros. Studio Tour, DHM events and free talk on Sleep

Are you a Harry Potter fan? Explore iconic sets and discover what it took to bring the Harry Potter films to life at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour with Kent Union at a discounted ticket price (travel included).

On Tuesday you can join some Disability History Month (DHM) events including plant pot painting inspired by sunflowers, often used as a visual clue for those with hidden disabilities. Plus a DHM workshop about accessibility and coming up with ideas for inclusion, and a chance to kickstart your career with Change 100 and learn how to ask for adjustments in the workplace.

The Medway Talks open lecture series continues with a free talk ‘Sleep and our Biological Clock’, by Professor Gurprit Lall, who is a neuroscientist based at Medway School of Pharmacy. Open to all, but registration is required. Sign up now.

Thursday: Cultural Food Festival and industrial action support drop-in

Thursday is a UCU strike day, so your teaching may be affected today. The College and Community Life Team will be offering drop-in support sessions for any students affected by the industrial action. You can head to Locke Building between 9:00-17:00 to chat to one of the Residential Life Assistants or College Life Officers. Find out how to prepare for a strike day.

On Thursday evening, come along to Rutherford Dining Hall for a Cultural Food Festival! Find out about other cultures as our student groups will be there throughout the night serving up their dishes for all to try.

Friday: Celebrate Consent, Bubble Football and industrial action support drop-in

Friday is a UCU strike day, so your teaching may be affected today. The College and Community Life Team will be offering drop-in support sessions for any students affected by the industrial action. You can head to Locke Building between 9:00-17:00 to chat to one of the Residential Life Assistants or College Life Officers. Find out how to prepare for a strike day.

Celebrate consent with craft, books and action at Nexus in Templeman Library. Drop by and have a look at the ‘Consent. Get it. Full Stop.’ book list, pick up a free bookmark, and take part in craft activities including badge making. You can also make your pledges for the #ConsentGetIt campaign.

At Medway, have a laugh playing Bubble Football. No football experience required!

See more student events

Opportunities

Take the Cost of Living Survey – aims to understand how the cost of living crisis has impacted you and how we can best support you.
Last chance to complete travel plan survey and potentially win up to £150 on your KentOne card or for a voucher at the Deep End. Survey closes tonight (23:59 Monday 21 November)
Do you have an idea for a cultural event or celebration? Apply to the WorldFest Bitesize Fund for a financial award of up to £250 to run a multicultural event.
‘Twin your Toilet’ on campus for World Toilet Day! Make sure to report any faults with toilets to Estates Customer Services or the Home at Halls app.

See more student opportunities

Update: Internet service disruption

We are aware that over the last 48 hours there has been some disruption in internet service and brief outages across the network. We are sorry for the inconvenience these may have caused you.

These outages were linked to planned work where we have been replacing the internet firewalls. Following the replacement, an unforeseen issue led to several interruptions to the eduroam network.

Our teams worked closely with the supplier to quickly identify the issue and provide a fix. We can now confirm that affected systems are back online and internet access has been restored in all campus buildings, accommodation, and teaching spaces. We are not expecting any further wide-scale disruptions.

The new campus firewalls will provide the University with greater security protections against incoming cyber-attacks. These devices sit between our campus network and the internet, keeping our services and your data safe.

We apologise once again for any inconvenience these incidents may have caused you. If you have any questions or need further help, please contact:

IT and Library Support

Online help: Nexus Self Service

Email: helpdesk@kent.ac.uk

Visit us: Nexus, D Block, Ground Floor, Templeman Library

Tel: 01227 82 4888

Kent Stars: Paralympic Powerhouse Millie

Our Kent Stars campaign celebrates our students doing amazing things – and Millie Knight already has some incredible achievements under her belt. Being visually impaired from a young age, she has not let this stop her and is not only a Paralympic Medallist in Skiing, but also a Commonwealth Karate Champion! Hear from Millie:

“My name is Millie Knight, and I am a 23-year-old 4x Paralympic medallist and 2x World Champion in Alpine Skiing. I am also a National and Commonwealth Champion in Karate. I also happen to be blind, but that bit is dull. I studied Psychology at Kent (graduating this week) and received an Honorary Doctorate in 2017.”

Tell us about winning a Bronze Medal at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

“The 2021/22 season was extremely busy with Nationals, European Cups, World Cups, World Championships and Paralympics within three months. Winning the World Championships was an unexpected result and a significant confidence boost going into The Paralympics.

Beijing was my third Paralympic Games and a different experience from my previous two Games (2014/2018). Due to Covid restrictions, there were challenges, like no spectators and a requirement to wear FFP3 face masks all day (even when skiing). Despite the limitations, I enjoyed my time in Beijing and made the most out of the situation. I had no expectations of winning any medals at these games, as I knew my performances weren’t where they were four years ago. The Bronze felt like Gold to us; it was an incredible feeling.”

What advice would you give to other students?

“Make the most out of your time at Kent, there are so many things available to you, but you must make an effort to push yourself and experience as much as possible. Three years sounds like a long time, but it flies past, don’t wait to try something next year; do it now, and you won’t regret it. If you are struggling, there is help, and people do care! I couldn’t believe the amount of available support at Kent compared to my previous university experiences.”

What are your plans for the next year?

“I plan to keep progressing with my performance in both my academic and athletic careers. Fingers crossed, I get selected for the European and World championships for karate. I will not be competing in skiing this year which will give me the time to fully recover from multiple injuries sustained over the last few seasons. Starting my old job at Kent Sport again will be exciting, so if you are in need of a sports massage, head on over to see me at the sports centre!”

Learn more about the Kent Stars campaign.

‘Twin your Toilet’ on campus for World Toilet Day!

To celebrate World Toilet Day, the Sustainability Team and Estates Department are coming together to raise awareness of the global issues around access to clean water and sanitation and to save money and reduce wastage of this precious resource.

Spotting leaks and faults

We have over 3000 toilets and urinals across our Canterbury and Medway campuses and each one can use upwards of 100l of water per day. With that many toilets, It is impossible for our maintenance teams to check them all so we rely on staff and students reporting faults such as continuously flushing. Often, especially in office areas, people tend to assume that someone else has reported it so faults are often left unreported for weeks or even months. If left unfixed, each of these can waste 100s of cubic meters of water a year costing upwards of £2000!

Report a fault and ‘Twin your Toilet’

To encourage more people to report faults, the Estates department has pledged to sponsor a toilet through the ‘Twin your Toilet’ scheme for the first 10 toilets to be reported. If you report a faulty toilet you can even nominate your favourite toilet to be twinned! Find out more about water saving, including how to spot a faulty flush.

To report a fault in a university building please contact Estates customer services on (01227 8) 16666. To report a fault in on-site student accommodation please use the Home at halls app.

Did you know: The University has Changing Places Hygiene Room located at the Templeman Library. Changing Places facilities are located around the country and are designed for people who need additional space, equipment, time and for people who cannot use standard accessible toilets and changing facilities

What is the Twin your Toilet scheme?

The Twin your Toilet scheme helps fund projects across the world supporting communities to build safe and clean toilets as well as providing access to clean water. 3.6 billion people globally are still living with inadequate access to clean water and sanitation which leads to poor health outcomes, groundwater pollution and decreased opportunities, particularly for women and girls who can be forced to drop out of education due to no access to safe toilets.

The University of Kent is a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goal Education Accord and this work forms part of our response to Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.

This World Toilet Day, let’s make the invisible visible.

Events at Medway: Give it a Go and Medway Move

There are plenty of opportunities to meet new people and try new experiences and sports at Medway campus.

Give It A Go events

Give It A Go events are fun, varied events that are either free or at a student-friendly price. They are open to all Medway students.

Give It A Go events this month include Go Karting, Cocktail Making, Bubble Football and Pamper Sessions! Check out Give It A Go events.

Medway Move events

Medway Move is a bespoke social sports programme that provides a range of activities that you can just turn up and play for free! No prior experience is needed, and the programme is available to staff and students. Discover Medway Move events.

Some Medway Move events coming up in November are a Kickboxing taster session, Social Badminton, Zumba and Strong Nation. Why not try something new?

Other events to get involved with

Plus you can check out all the events run by The Hub, as well as the student events calendar for events at Canterbury, Medway and online.

Medway campus: social spaces and where to eat

You told us you wanted more places to relax, chat and eat your own lunch on campus. In response to your feedback, we have now created some exciting new social spaces #YourUniYourSay

Oasis Lounge, Rochester Building

The Oasis Lounge is our new social space on the Ground Floor of the Rochester Building. This space includes vending machines, a kitchen with a microwave, sofas and a pool table. It’s a great place to chill out and socialise with friends between your classes. See the new space below:

The Hook Lounge, Clocktower Building

The Hook Lounge in the ClockTower Building in at the Dockyard is another social space. It includes a relaxed seating area, vending machines and a kitchen. Take a seat and relax:

Postgraduate research study area, Drill Hall Library

Did you know there’s a new study room in the Drill Hall Library specifically for PGR students? It includes sofas, desks and a couple of computers for you to use.

Green space on campus

We have finished revamping the green space next to Medway Building to include more benches and a covered seating area. This green space is ready for you to enjoy in all seasons.

Where to eat on campus

If you are looking for somewhere to heat your food, check out this map that shows microwaves at Medway campus.

Have you tried out the Rich Aroma 21 food truck? They offer hot drinks, fresh cakes, sausage rolls and more. Find them outside the Medway Building on Tuesdays and Thursdays 08.30-14.00.

You can also buy food from these outlets at Medway campus:

The Deep End at the Hub
Pilkington Cafe, Pilkington Building
Archibald Hay Mess Cafe, Drill Hall Library
Pembroke Cafe (Starbucks), Pembroke Building

Cost of living student survey

As part of our ongoing priority to support students during the cost of living crisis, Kent Union and the University of Kent, in partnership with The Food Foundation, have joined forces to present you with the Cost of Living survey.

This survey aims to understand how the cost of living crisis has impacted you and figure out how we can best support you during your time at Kent. The information gathered will help us to identify the most vulnerable groups of students and the aspects of university life you are most struggling with so we can provide you with tailored support. The results will inform the actions we need to put in place towards achieving the University of Kent’s civic mission to promote food justice, tackle food insecurity and become the world’s first Right to Food University.

Taking part in this survey gives you the opportunity to enter our randomised prize draw which will take place once the survey closes. The prizes up for grabs include:

6 x £30 Co-op gift cards
1 x Meal for two at Woodys
15 x £20 Kent One card credits
1 x Kent hoodie from Kent Clothing
1 x Free entry package for the prize winner and friends for a Venue event
25 x voucher for free tea & coffee in the Library Café.

During these difficult times, it is important that your voice is heard, so we encourage you to fill out the Cost of Living survey and share it with your friends too.

Fill out the survey now.

For further information on how Kent Union and the University of Kent are supporting you during the cost of living crisis, check out the Cost of Living Support webpage.