Voting is now open for your Kent Union full-time Officers.
The full-time Officers work and support the student priorities that are picked by students for students. These make up the core campaigns of Kent Union’s Officer team. We currently have five full-time Officer positions that all focus on different remits for students:
There are three days of voting and there will be five polling stations spread around campus, plus you can vote onlineat any time during these three days. Voting closes Thursday at 17:00.
There are also chances to win a range of prizes if you vote in the Kent Union elections. Some of the top prizes include an Apple iPad, Xbox X and weekend getaways for two.
This week marks the start of Worldfest, our celebration of cultural diversity at Kent, as well as International Women’s Day.
Plus, don’t forget to vote in the Kent Union elections between Tuesday 5 March and Thursday 7 March (closes at 17:00). You’re voting for your full-time Officers who will represent you for the next academic year.
Find out what’s on this week:
Monday 4 March: PGT presentation skills and mindfulness colouring
If you’re a PGT student, you can join this presentation skills online workshop which offers practical advice on how to prepare and deliver an effective presentation.
Tuesday 5 March: Coffee with a Security Officer and LinkedIn photos (Medway)
Would you like to have a chat with our friendly Security Team? Each Tuesday lunchtime you can pop in to speak to one of the officers and ask any questions about the Safezone app, the role of Campus Security or for advice. And you can get a free cup of tea or coffee to enjoy while you chat.
Wednesday 6 March: Graduation Launch event (Medway) and Worldfest international dishes and using GenAi in your studies
In your final year at Medway? You’re invited to the Graduation Launch event in Rochester Building where you can find out your graduation ceremony date and ask any questions you may have. You can also try on caps and measure your height for your gown, as well as write a message to your supporters to be displayed on the screens during your graduation ceremony.
As we celebrate Worldfest, enjoy a taste of Japanese and Arabic Cuisine. Our World language tutors will provide you on a journey to learn how to cook some of your favourite international dishes from Japanese and Arabic cultures.
Thursday 7 March: Canterbury Graduation Launch and how to network (Medway)
In your final year at Canterbury? You’re invited to the Graduation Launch event in Darwin Conference Suite where you can ask all your questions and find out the individual School dates for the 2024 graduation ceremonies. There are opportunities to try on caps and measure your height for your gown and write a message to your supporters to be displayed on the screens during your graduation ceremony.
Learn how to network effectively at this Aspire workshop in Medway building, plus you can grab some free pizza.
Friday 8 March: International Women’s Day events and katsu cooking class
Sunday 10 March: Howletts trip and gallery hopping
If you live in on-campus accommodation, you can join the ResLife Ambassadors for a trip to Howletts Wild Animal Park where you can see elephants, gorillas, rhinos and much more. (£10 which covers coach and entry fee).
Join the ResLife Ambassadors for some gallery hopping in Canterbury City Centre. Canterbury has lots of galleries and museums to explore including The Beaney and Canterbury Roman Museum.
Opportunities
Looking for housemates? On the Umii app you can now add a signifier to show you are looking for someone to live with.
If you’re based at Medway campus, make the most of Medway Move, a series of free exercise classes including yoga, Jiu Jitsu and social badminton.
KentVision will be unavailable on Monday 11 March, from 08:00-12:00, due to planned maintenance.
If you need to view your timetable during these times, you can integrate your timetable with a personal calendar (e.g Outlook or Google calendar) on a mobile or computer through iCal. Please go to the my study webpage and click the cog in the top right-hand corner to see the subscribe to calendar options.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused while this essential work is carried out.
Struggling to find housemates? The perfect people might be waiting…
Find housemates on Umii app
The Umii app connects you with other students at the University of Kent based on your interests, course and societies, helping you to find new friends and housemates all in one go!
“I downloaded Umii as I wanted to make new friends, find out about student life and meet people with similar interests. Umii also helped me secure accommodation with a connection I had made.”
– Mohammad
Postgraduate Student
New housemate signifier
You can now add housemate signifier to your profile to show that you are looking for someone to live with. How to set up your profile:
WorldFest aims to showcase the cultural diversity, talents and knowledge of our students and staff and builds on from Cultural Celebration Week in the Autumn term.
There are a range of events, activities and classes across the university for you to get involved with, including:
Go along to Rutherford Dining Hall to try a different WorldFest dish each day, chosen by our student Global Officers.
Come along to our free language taster sessions in Japanese, Arabic, German, Spanish, Italian and French. At the sessions you can also learn about adding a Year in Languages to your degree next year and other options available to you to develop your language skills.
Step into Ukrainian culture at our English Speaking Club with our Ukrainian twin, Kherson State University. These run online every Tuesday throughout term time.
Get your passport and travel around the world exploring various cultures at our Global Hangout on Monday 11 March, 14:00-17:00. Join in with various games and activities to earn ‘stamps’ in your passport for prizes.
Get a team together and join in with our World Quiz night which aims to be a fun evening to test your worldly knowledge.
If you are looking to find out how you could spend your summer break abroad, either through summer schools, internships or volunteering opportunities, come along to our Go Abroad Bitesize talk on Thursday 14 March to find out how you can apply for funding to support you.
If all the above has inspired you to put on your own event to share your culture or celebrate a multi-cultural event, then you can apply to our WorldFest Bitesize Fund.
As part of our WorldFest celebrations, we also asked Kent staff and students to share with us their recommended reads, either from their favourite international author, or a book which teaches us something about other cultures.
Share your photos from WorldFest and follow us #WorldFest24
This month’s Kent Star is Jack, Environmental Social Sciences student, who was named the 2023 BBC Countryfile Young Countryside Champion! Jack won the award for the horticultural work and public engagement initiatives he is involved in. Alongside running his own horticulture business, Jack works closely with his supply chains and customers. Hear from Jack:
Video transcription below.
“I’m Jack Scott. I study Environmental Social Science at the University of Kent in my last year, four more months to go. I also grow vegetables at Nonnington Farms, as well as being a farm advisor for Farming Wildlife Advisory Group South East.
An interesting fact about me is I won the BBC Countryfile Champion Award for 2023. BBC Countryfile came to the farm in August. We picked vegetables and delivered them up to one of our Michelin starred restaurants, Angela’s in Margate, so the TV crew could experience the whole farm to fork process. The awards ceremony was in late October and November in Newport in Wales.”
How did you feel about winning the 2023 BBC Countryfile Young Countryside Champion award?
“It felt weird being on national TV. It felt good too. Getting recognition for something that you’re attempting to achieve, the food to fork scheme, better knowledge, bringing education into it with children coming on to the farm through school visits.
We don’t just grow vegetables, we have the soil we look after. We’ve also got hedgerows we look after and we’ve got the nature element we try to incorporate. So sunflowers bring in the pollinators and supply bird feed for the winter months. So that just element there, you’re not just producing food that goes to someone who eats it, you’re also providing a habitat, you’re providing food for nature. So the two in harmony it makes me more joyful.”
Do you have advice for other students?
“So I think just give it a go. The university runs quite a few initiatives for students to get involved in, such as the gleaning project. If you look at the university campus, on the north side, you’re surrounded by farms; go and ask them for a job. There’s loads of farmers out there wanting fruit pickers and general farm hands. Just get involved -you never know where it could lead.”
What are your plans for next year?
“We are a small agricultural business. We just finished our trial year where we experimented on what we can grow, if the market wants it and whether it’s profitable or suitable for the ground. So we’ve done that on one acre this year and it’s going really well.
For the future it is scaling up, so if we can increase our scale, we can start doing some of our larger orders and, we can start pick up a bit more the market in turn that should allow us to bring in employees or apprenticeships and business further financial sustainability.”
What does the Right to Food mean to you?
“For me, the Right to Food is the right to food. So it’s having access to food, having the access to seeing how food is produced or reared. I think it’s just the enabling of better communications and generally just being involved, seeing it and buying more local. So buying it within five miles of the campus, it for me is vital to food and awareness.”
Find out what’s on this week including therapy dogs, writing retreat and attempt the Ninja Warrior obstacles.
Monday 26 February: Medway Global Hangout and LGBTQ+ Social Mixer
The Global and Lifelong Learning Team and the Student Experience Team are teaming up to bring you a Global Hangout in Medway. There will be a selection of games, crafts and activities as well as lunch provided. You can come to all of the event or just drop in for part of it around your classes. All students are welcome.
This LGBT+ History Month, the LGBTQ+ Students Network are organising a social get-together for students and staff. The LGBTQ+ Social Mixer aims to bring together everyone on campus who identifies as being part of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as friends and allies.
Tuesday 27 February: CV drop-in and Bubble Football
Want to improve your CV? Come along to the CV drop-in session in Sibson. The Careers Team will have prompts ready for you to check your CV and be there to answer your questions. You can also join an online session about how to find a part-time job.
Have you tried Bubble Football before? Give bubble football a go and bounce your way to victory. No football experience is needed.
Wednesday 28 February: ResLife Rodeo, Pause for Paws and Ninja Warrior (Medway)
The ResLife Team are hosting the ResLife Rodeo, an afternoon of tasty treats, fun, activities and entertainment for students living on campus. Ride the rodeo bull and see how long you can stay on for. The student who lives in on-campus accommodation who stay on the longest will win a £50 amazon voucher! Enjoy complimentary burgers, curries and hot drinks as well as doughnuts, popcorn and candy floss for students in our accommodation (burgers will be available to purchase for students not in our accommodation).
Take a break with Coco the therapy dog at the Pause for Paws event in Nexus, Templeman Library. Spending some time with Coco is a great way to de-stress and recharge.
If you’re based at Medway and want an adventure, join the Hub trip to the Ninja Warrior centre for an action-packed afternoon. Test your skills on challenging obstacles and cheer on your friends.
Thursday 29 February: Yoga and Writing Retreat, talk by founder of LGBT History Month and Leap Year Birthday Party (Medway)
If you’re a postgrad researcher, consider joining this Yoga and Writing Retreat in Cornwallis East, Canterbury. It’s a mix of guided yoga sessions with opportunities for you to get on with your writing in a relaxed setting.
Come along to a talk by Sue Sanders, founder of LGBT History Month and Schools Out. Sue is an “out and proud” lesbian and a British LGBTQ+ rights activist who has specialised in challenging oppression in the public and voluntary sectors for over forty years. This is an in-person talk in Keynes Seminar Room 4. All welcome.
Thursday is also the 29th February, an extra day due to 2024 being a leap year! At The Hub, you can join this Leap Year Birthday Party, celebrating those who were born on February 29th and just an excuse to have some fun with some tasty treats and tunes.
Sunday 3 March: Bowling
If you live in on-campus accommodation, you can join the ResLife Ambassadors for an hour of ten pin bowling in Canterbury.
Enter the Kent CyberAnything competition for your chance to win cash prizes. Tell a story through a photo, short video, essay, poem (or other media form) about living, learning and connecting in the cyber or cyber-physical world in the past, at present, and/or in the future. Deadline to apply is Friday 1 March 2024.
Next week is Student Money Week (4-8 March), and the theme is ‘Less Risk, More Reward: Maintaining your financial wellbeing at university.’ Find out what events are coming up and where you can go to for support around your finances.
Upcoming workshops to help you manage your finances, 18-19 March
Our Careers Team are running some StudyPlus workshops in March to help you develop your budgeting skills and get a better grasp on your finances.
These events are taking place online and are open to all Kent students.
Don’t become a money mule
Be cautious if someone asks you to transfer money for them. You might become a money mule.
Recruiters may try to befriend you and ask you to transfer money between accounts for them, giving you a small cut for doing so. You may think you are doing someone a favour, but you could be transferring criminal money. If you get caught, you could get a criminal record and up to 14 years in prison.
We offer a range of emergency financial support for students who are in financial difficulty. The emergency funding webpage provides information on support available and how you can apply. Take a look at all our emergency funds below. At the bottom of this page you can find additional ways to access support if you are experiencing emergency financial hardship.
Where to go for support
Kent Union’s Advice Service at Canterbury and at Medway through the Hub offer free, confidential and impartial advice to all Kent students. They can help with financial topics such as student funding, bursaries, budgeting and hardship.
You can also see our finance contacts webpage for more ways to access support at the University and other useful finance contacts and resources.
Our Cost of Living Support website also summarises support on offer and initiatives by the University and Kent Union to help students with the rising cost of living.
Becoming a Right To Food University means working to ensure that we protect our students from food insecurity and that access to nutritional, affordable and sustainable food is paramount across our food services.
To celebrate our one year anniversary (26th February), we celebrate what we have achieved against this mission and look forward to some exciting projects that will do even more.
Cost of living meals
A number of initiatives are underway already – most notably the £3 meal deal on campus. Starting as a hot meal, served in our Rutherford Dining Hall with a choice of salad or vegetables, but moving on to include a grab-and-go deal in outlets across campus has proven to be extremely popular. We have now sold over 60,000 meals since November 2022.
In addition to this exciting meal deal expansion, the catering team have reduced hot food price on average by 20%. Through reducing food waste, collaborating closely with our primary food supplier, simplifying operations, and managing food expenses effectively, prices across campus have been significantly reduced.
At the Medway campus, the Hub offers free community breakfasts for students, supported by the Universities at Medway.
Giving Week generosity
Alongside the £3 meal deal and reduced prices across our catering outlets, we kicked off our anniversary week with a special free breakfast for students on Monday 26th February. This event was funded by the generosity of staff, students and alumni at last year’s Giving Week, which raised £18,000 to provide meals for students facing hardship.
Zaid Mahmood, Students’ Union President at Kent says: ‘Kent Giving Week 2023 raised money that would directly help in tackling food insecurity on campus. Being a Right to Food University, this is a critical mission for us as an institution because no student should go hungry and be disadvantaged in their university career. These giving week meals will ensure that the most disadvantaged and impacted students are supported during their time at The University of Kent and are set up to thrive in their academics. We want to thank every single person that donated to support this cause, the impact of this initiative will change the lives of so many students!’
As well as supporting over 350 students with a free hot breakfast, the money will help provide meals and other financial support for students who need it the most thanks to a collaborative approach between the university’s student support and wellbeing services and Kent Union.
Gleaning
Our student led gleaning project, ran in partnership with Produced in Kent, has also given students the chance to access free fresh produce. Our student volunteers go to local farms to pick surplus food and veg that would otherwise go to waste. As well as redistributing it to those in the wider local community who need it, the volunteers also get to take home some of the produce for themselves.
Canterbury for Ukraine (C4U) and Ukrainian Society of Kent (UsoK) are running events on Saturday 24 February to commemorate the second anniversary of the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.
As the current conflict continues, the commemoration takes on special importance as Ukraine continues to defy Russian aggression and affirm its commitment to peace and freedom.
Events include:
Information stand on Canterbury Highstreet (near the Beaney Library) from 12:00-16:30
Walk through Canterbury with displaced Ukrainians and supporters to remember and honour those affected by the war. Meeting place is the Beaney Library at 16:15 and will finish at 17:00 by the Marlowe Theatre.
Public talk ‘War on Ukraine: Unbreakable People’ at The Friends Meeting House at 17:15. The talk will feature distinguished speakers, including:
Yevhen Hlibovytsky, a public figure and director of Frontier Institute, a strategic think tank for Ukraine
Baroness Alison Suttie, a Member of the House of Lords since October 2013, the Patron of Canterbury for Ukraine
Maryna Poltavska, an officer of Canterbury City Council and a beneficiary of the Home for Ukraine scheme.
The discussion will be moderated by Sir Julian Brazier, a former Member of Parliament for Canterbury. The panel discussion will be followed by the Q&A and light refreshments.
