Category Archives: Student Guide

We’re hiring a Social Media Content Creator (Medway campus)

We’re looking for an enthusiastic and outgoing Kent student to create digital content for the University, supporting and developing the University’s communication with its students. They will be primarily responsible for scheduling and producing content for the University’s social media platforms and website. Content will include photos, video and blogs, as well as running Q&As for current students on Instagram.

This is a great opportunity for a student interested in a career in the growing digital job market, as well as Marketing, Advertising, Communications and PR.

For the full job description and to apply, please visit our website.

Join our Global Hangout celebrations this term!

Global Hangouts are fun, informal events that are open to all Kent students. They are a great way to meet other students from across our community. Please feel welcome to come along and to share this information with fellow students.

We will be hosting a number of Global WebHangouts this term to celebrate various UK and international festivals. This term this includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas celebrations.

Later in the year we will also hold Hangouts to celebrate New Year, Spring Festival, Holi, Easter and Eid. If you would like to get involved in running a WebHangout to celebrate a festival or cultural event from your culture, that isn’t mentioned in this email, please fill in the form.

Global WebHangouts this term

Autumn Term Global Hangout (Face-to-face)
Join us for tea and cake at the Colyer Fergusson Foyer (next to the Gulbenkian Cafe) on Tuesday 23 November from 13.00-14.30 for the Autumn Term Global Hangout.

Meet new people at Kent and enjoy good conversation from Dr Anthony Manning, Dean for Internationalisation, staff and fellow students. Our Kent Global Student Ambassadors will also be there and we can help with any questions you may have too.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Student Prize for Sustainability (up to £500 to support your idea!)

Do you have a great idea for a project or initiative that could help us achieve our sustainability goals? Maybe you have a plan for how to save energy in halls through an engaging social media campaign or to reduce food waste by teaching students to cook using leftover food.

Students (individuals or groups) could receive up to £500 by suggesting ways we can overcome our sustainability challenges and will be supported by University staff to implement their proposal on our campuses.

Come along to our co-create your campus event in the Gulbenkian Cafe on Thursday 28 October from 12.00-14.00 and talk to staff and students about the sustainability challenges we face and find out more about how to enter.

The prize

The prize fund of £500* will be awarded to the winning proposals to support the implementation of the projects as well as reward the individuals or groups. There may by up to 5 prize winners depending on the number and feasibility of the proposals. Where multiple proposals are selected, the proportional distribution of the prize fund will be at the discretion of the award panel.

* A minimum of 50% of the fund will be ring-fenced as cash prizes with up to 50% remaining for the implementation of the winning proposals.

Find out more about the 2021 University of Kent Student Prize for Sustainability and upcoming Climate Action Week (25-29 October).

Christmas shoebox appeal wrapping and filling session

Would you like to get involved in our Christmas shoebox appeal to help vulnerable communities across Eastern Europe?

Our Careers and Employability Services (CES) will be hosting a wrapping and filling session Monday 15 November 13.00-15.00. Get involved!

This event is part of Volunteering Week (15-19 November). See the shoebox appeal poster to learn about what items we’re looking for and how you can help.

If you would like to get involved but cannot make the volunteering session, please contact careehelp@kent.ac.uk to register your interest and let us know how many boxes you will be making. Please then bring these to the CES reception no later than Friday 19 November.

Join your College Committee!

Your college committee is made up of student volunteers, remote and in-person, who plan college events for and run by students throughout the year.

You get the opportunity to plan the kind of events you want to see and create the kind of environment you and your fellow students believe college life should look like!

University musicians set to make a Beautiful Noise as part of the Canterbury Festival

Student musicians from the University will be taking part in the Canterbury Festival’s Beautiful Noise project at Westgate Hall on Saturday 23rd October.

The project brings together players from local educational establishments, including Simon Langton Grammar School, St Edmund’s School and the King’s School, as part of a day of community music-making in this year’s festival, and brings the whole day to what promises to be a rousing conclusion with big band jazz and swing under the direction of Head of Performance at St Edmund’s School, Ian Swatman.

“It’s very exciting to be bringing young players in the region together to play such great music.” enthuses Ian, “empowering the performers and audiences of tomorrow, and giving them a platform as part of Canterbury’s international celebration of the arts.”

Students from the School of Law and the School of History will be amongst the saxophone and brass sections of the ensemble that night; find out more here,

Thinking of studying a Master’s or PhD in 2022? PG Open Event, 17 November

Step up, stand out and specialise, discover our career-focused postgraduate programmes at Kent. We’ll be holding our Open Event on Wednesday 17 November 2021. The event offers both face-to-face and virtual options, providing an opportunity to meet our staff and current students, across our UK and European campuses.

Join a community that’s already shaping tomorrow’s world and discover where it could take you.

Book Now

Attend virtually from wherever you are – from 12.00-14.00 UK Time.

Book the virtual event

Attend in person at our Canterbury Campus – from 17.00- 19.00 UK Time.

Book the on-campus event

Here’s 5 reasons to attend our Open Event:

Find out more about postgraduate study at Kent and our range of Master’s, PhD and Research programmes.
Discover our multimillion-pound scholarship fund, research partnerships and other funding opportunities.
Learn more about our career focused programmes, particularly our January start courses in Business, Law, Politics, Architecture and Healthcare.
Meet and chat to our incredible academic and support staff as well as our current students.
Virtually view our campuses in Kent, Canterbury and Medway, and our postgraduate centres in Europe, Brussels and Paris. Or we welcome you to visit our Canterbury campus in person.

Book a place at our open event

Sharpen your focus and step up in your career this 2022. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Santander Universities Student Campaign Tuition Fee Grant

Fancy a year’s worth of free tuition fees?

Santander Universities’ mission is to support students into university, work and self-employment. Collaborating with a large network of university partners, we have spent over ten successful years removing barriers to higher education and, in turn, providing life changing opportunities to students from across the country.

In order to further this commitment, Santander Universities is offering 5 students from any UK university – including undergraduates and postgraduates – the chance of receiving a Santander Tuition Fee Grant worth £9,250.

The selected students (who will be chosen at random) will be encouraged to spend the Grant on one year’s worth of tuition fees. Applications close on 2 November 2021 at 11:00pm (GMT+0100).

How to enter:

1. Sign up to the Santander Scholarship Platform

2. Follow the verification link in your confirmation email

3. Log in and select ‘Enroll now’ to complete your entry into the Grant giveaway

Visit the Santander Universities website for information about eligibility criteria, terms and conditions and the application process.

Feedback from the ‘Implementing an anti-racism strategy’ session

The final day of Kent’s inaugural staff conference was marked by an important session on our university’s new Anti-racism strategy. GdM (DVC, EDI Lead and Kent’s Race Champion) hosted a staff discussion and Q&A, together with a panel of colleagues instrumental in the development of our strategy.

You can listen to a recording of the event.

Slides to accompany the event – Staff Conference anti-racism strategy slides

Key feedback from the session include:

*making sure that experiences and stories are incorporated into our anti-racism work (along with more quantitative forms of data).

*being as transparent as possible about what we are doing, so that we can get the most out of this living-breathing process and associated work plans.

In response to this feedback we will be continuing to update our Challenging Racism pages so that this can serve as one part of a broader suite of mechanisms for feedback and transparency in our work around EDI. We will also be looking to join up important insights from across the institution, including but not limited to the important experiential information and recommendations which have emerged from the BAME Staff Network’s survey and project.

To amplify work that is already happening across Kent in support of our approach to anti-racism, we’d also like to draw your attention to other key updates at this time:

*Inform Kent (InK) has changed to Report + Support. The Report + Support page can be found on the website. The page gives the option to give an anonymous report or a report with details that Ken can follow up on. In both cases your confidentiality will be respected in-line with our safeguarding policies. This page also collates all of the help and support pages into one, to increase access to the resources that may be most helpful to you at the time.

*The staff reporting tool can still be accessed via links found on the “Reporting Incidents” page.

Just a reminder that this reporting tool is for any sort of incident that occurs, irrespective of whether the incident involves another member of staff.

We hope that staff and students will feel encouraged to report incidents and that the experience of doing so feels helpful and supportive. Where sufficient information is shared, we hope to enable effective, timely resolutions and support. Your experience at Kent is important to us. If for any reason you have concerns about reporting, do please speak to a Harassment Adviser or someone you trust within the institution, as we’d like to ensure you get the support you need.

Supporting the mental health of Black and racially minoritised students

Warning: Contents contain references to racism and may have a triggering effect for some individuals

Racism can happen anywhere; at work, at home, at University, online or in the physical world. Racism is still a very real and damaging facet of modern day society and can have a long term and lasting impact on anyone who has experienced it either directly or indirectly. This includes the mental and emotional strain created by microaggressions. Here at Kent we want to support all students who have been affected or continue to be affected by racism and work together to create a culture where racism is not just challenged, but eradicated completely.

Have you been affected by racism? Young minds have some great resources and signpost organisations and helpline services to support you:

Advice on racism and mental health #BHMKent2021

Speak to someone you can trust. It might be difficult to talk about how you are feeling or to revisit personal experiences of racism. Take your time and only share what you are comfortable sharing. Student Support and Wellbeing have a free confidential counselling service for all students at Kent.

Learn your rights and how to report abuse. This can help empower you and remind you that what you are experiencing is not okay and no one should express that it is. Use our online reporting tool ‘Report and Support’ to be part of a culture shift and get the support you need. Allies should acquaint themselves with the support tools available as well so that they can be advocates for their friends and classmates.

Find supportive groups and communities who understand what you are going through. It can be very hard to explain how you feel to a person that has not experienced racism, whether directly or indirectly. Communities can be a way to find like-minded people with similar experiences and shared interests that you can talk to, have a safe space to be heard and remember that you are not alone. One of the online platforms you have free access to as a Kent student is Togetherall.

Join a movement to create change. There are many anti-racist movements and organisations who are fighting for change in society. Being part of a larger movement can help you feel empowered, valued and give you a sense of hope that change is possible. Make sure to take time out to rest and look after yourself if you are regularly involved in activism. Kent Union supports a number of student networks. These are student-led spaces where students who share an interest of identity can discuss issues relating to their group and help build a community.

Remember it is not your responsibility to fix racism. Do not put pressure on yourself – this is a problem you cannot solve on your own. The people around you all have a responsibility to make changes to their behaviour and to uphold the rights of Black and racially minoritised individuals.

Enough is Enough! Clean your social media feed. What we see online can have a negative impact on our mental health, but remember you can have control over what you see on your social media. Try unfollowing or blocking accounts and muting words that upset you. All social media channels have ways you can report abusive behaviour. At Kent we expect certain standards of behaviour both online and in the ‘real’ world. If you are concerned about anything you see you can report it to us in a safe and confidential manner using our online Report and Support tool.

The University of Kent and Kent Union are working together to celebrate Black History Month 2021 #BHMKent2021. Take a look at the Kent Union BHM website for events and resources at Kent. This includes a free mental health support workshop by Diverse Cymru, an organisation that specialises in Black mental health. Please check the website for further information and to register your attendance.

Photo by Mubarak Showole on Unsplash