We’re running regular Student WebChats on a range of topics to keep you up to date and give you the opportunity to get your questions answered.

Missed a WebChat? You can catch up on all the sessions via the links below:

Welcome (back) earlier arrivals – recorded 4 September 2020.

A guide to managing your finances and getting financial support – recorded 14 August 2020.

Security: Your Questions Answered – recorded 11 August 2020.

Accessing Mental Health Support – recorded 11 August 2020.

How to make a complain to the University – recorded 31 July 2020.

How to get a part-time job whilst studying – recorded 31 July 2020.

Accommodation for returning students – recorded 24 July 2020.

New students (for offer-holders and applicants) – recorded 20 July 2020.

Resits – recorded 17 July 2020.

Graduation – recorded 26 June 2020.

Please note all information is correct at the time of recording.

Welcome back to The University of Kent! It’s been a long and uncertain time for everyone, and for many it means adapting to a ‘new normal’. So, to make things a little easier, we’ve reduced the cost of our membership options for returning students for the 2020/21 academic year. Our annual memberships are up to £50 cheaper this year. Whether you want to join a club, or get more active, you can do it all for less.

Memberships for 2020/21 are available to purchase now, for use from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021. You can buy membership online

Please note: If you live in on-campus accommodation, you’ll get membership for free at Kent Sport.

Membership prices 2020/21
•       Premium Plus – All-inclusive membership combining the benefits of Premium and Plus. The perfect option if you want to join a sports club* and stay active with gym or class sessions. Save £50 – now just £195
•       Premium – Gym and fitness and dance class membership with physiotherapy and massage discounts. Perfect if you want to keep fit and healthy. Save £20 – now just £170
•       Plus – Sports-only membership including recreational sport bookings and club training session access*. Save £25 – now just £150
•       Pay to Play – Our pay-as-you-go option. £5 annual joining fee, £4.50 per activity

For more information about our membership options and benefits, visit the Kent Sport page.

*Club joining fees apply. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we have implemented safety measures throughout our facilities which will restrict access. All activities, including the gym, classes and sports, will need to be pre-booked through your online account.

Click and Collect service ends today so you won’t be able to reserve books that are available on the shelf after 17:00.

The library will still hold any Click and Collect items you’ve requested prior to tomorrow. When you get the email that tells you they are available, you will have seven days to collect them from the Click and Collect point.

However, from From Tuesday 1 September you will be able to access the bookshelves in the Templeman Library and get the books you need yourself.

Staying safe

When you access the bookshelves, please follow these rules:

• Wear a mask when moving around the library and when accessing the bookshelves, unless you are exempt
• Don’t browse the shelves: look up the location of the book through ‘Find it on the Shelf’ on LibrarySearch to minimise handling of books and the time you spend in the stacks
• Keep your hands clean: wash them before and after handling books or use the sanitisation stations at the Library’s entrances
• Don’t enter a bookshelf aisle if there’s already another person in it
• Don’t put books back on the shelf: if you’re using books in the Library without checking them out, put them into the returns machine in the Welcome Hall or into drop-off points across the Library when finished with.

Reservations

You can currently only reserve items that are on the shelf in the Drill Hall Library (through our inter-site loan service) and items from the Kent Request Access collection in the Templeman Library basement.

You can no longer reserve items on the Templeman Library shelves, and you can’t reserve items on loan to someone else, so that we don’t have to recall those items and cause people to make journeys to campus.

How to borrow and return

• Borrow your books by taking them to any Borrow & Renew machine across the Library.
• Return them as normal into the returns machine in the Welcome Hall.
• We’ll quarantine any books that have been borrowed or handled for 72 hours before returning them to the shelf.

BSc Computer Science student Mihail Munteanu took first place in the American Express global intern coding challenge while on an internship at Amex. In total, 278 interns attended the challenge from the UK, the US and India.

Mihail said ‘We were given 3 algorithmic problems and were asked to solve them using the most efficient way. In order to solve these problems we had to be familiar with data structures, algorithms and time complexity, luckily enough all of these were taught at Kent. By having a great day, I was able to solve the three problems and be the only contestant with a 100% score. I was awarded an Apple watch for being the first in the UK and a Nintendo switch for being first globally.’

Mihail found out about the six-week American Express summer internship through the School of Computing Employability newsletter. Mihail explained  ‘The internship made this summer one of the best experiences ever. Amex is the gold standard for how a company should treat their employees. I got to work with another team of interns on a project which aimed to solve a real life problem using some of the most modern concepts and technologies. We successfully implemented it, and from speaking with other engineers they mentioned that what we did will be in place for 30-40 years. It’s crazy how a company trusts interns with such important problems, but at the end of the day we weren’t just interns, we were a part of the Amex family. I got to work with engineers with over 20 years of experience who always treated me like a fellow senior developer.’

This year’s internship was obviously a bit different as everyone was working virtually. Mihail said of the virtual experience ‘It’s quite hard to work with people you have never actually met, to counter this, our team had a lot of informal meetings were we got to know each other, played games and in the end we got quite close and we were able to trust each other with the work we did. Another big challenge is the environment we work in, I was living in Tyler Court and I had my own space which was work friendly.’

Congratulations to Mihail.

Former President of Kent’s ice hockey club, Charles Dabbs, has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to sports development at Kent with a win at the Kent Student Awards 2020.

Charles (23), who is now a Kent graduate in Politics and International Relations with Year in Continental Europe, helped to reorganise the structure of Kent Knights ice hockey club and worked with Greenwich & Kent Student’s Union (GKSU) to formally open a base at Kent’s Medway campus. This allowed Kent to make ice hockey as accessible as possible to many students and better reflected the club’s regional catchment.

For the first time, a dedicated B-team was formed in 2019/2020, with a series of friendly matches building their development throughout the season. Furthermore, due to the club’s continued growth, the A-team managed to make a return to the competitive BUIHA Southern Checking Division.

Born in Torfaen, Wales, Charles played ice hockey for Cardiff’s under 10’s team and undertook training camps in Finland. The appeal that Kent has an ice hockey team, was a key factor in his decision to study at the University.

Charles Dabbs said: ‘Winning the award felt brilliant. Receiving recognition for the many hours of hard work made it completely worthwhile. My tenure as President has granted me with an invaluable set of skills and experience that can partner my degree and enhance my employability. At the conclusion of my last tenure, I was able to use my experience to gain a summer internship with Rolls-Royce PLC. Now I have graduated, I am using the same experience to gain interviews for career positions. There is plenty to do, to see, and to experience as a student at Kent. It has been a huge factor in shaping and defining the person I am today.’

Learn more about ice hockey at Kent.

Ayomikun Adekaiyero, a Journalism student at Kent’s Centre for Journalism, successfully raised the profile of the University’s Medway student television station in the 2019/2020 academic year to secure bookings to cover major student events.

Ayomikun, the Head of KTV (Kent Television) Medway who becomes a third-year student in the 2020/2021 academic year, led KTV Medway to cover the campus’ Black History Month showcase, Medway Music Society’s annual Battle of the Bands and This Medway Girl Can.

The Journalism student had strived to inform more students on campus about KTV Medway and encouraged event organisers to call upon them to cover events, from video production and carrying out interviews to editing footage for future use. This commitment secured the bookings of popular student events on campus.

Ayomikun’s main role for the society in the 2019/2020 academic year was to organise production shoots and support the main society in Canterbury. In Medway, his focus has been to shoot, direct and edit event content. He has spent between 45 and 50 hours volunteering for KTV Medway so far.

Ayomikun said: ‘It is so rewarding to look back on a successful year for KTV Medway. I have developed both effective leadership and communication skills as a result of this role, and my additional role as a student rep. The Centre for Journalism has supported KTV Medway a lot. We have interviewed staff for some of our videos and used their equipment. Members of staff have been happy to give advice or provide opportunities for KTV Medway to promote ourselves to other students.’

The Careers and Employability Service is pleased to launch the 2020 Graduate Programme. The programme aims to support new graduates from achieving their degree, to achieving their next steps into work or study.

If you are a 2020 graduate, who is:

. Looking for graduate work
. Thinking about further study
. In work, but would like help to find something else
. Unsure where to start

Join our graduate programme and receive tailored 1:1 support to help you in your journey!

Simply visit the Graduates 2020 webpage to begin!

Are you taking August exams? Could you do with reducing your stress levels? Then booking onto an online Mindfulness workshop might be a good idea…

We are pleased to announce two online Mindfulness based stress reduction workshop for students sitting August exams – one on 4 August and one on 11 August, both from 12.00 – 13.00.

Places are limited, so please book your free place online using your Kent student login to access the booking site:

Book for Tuesday 4 August

Book for Tuesday 11 August

What is it?
In this free experiential workshop we aim to introduce you to the basics of mindfulness; a way of focusing on body and breath as an alternative to the usual panicked states we can find ourselves in both when revising, and when sitting an exam. The workshop facilitators, qualified counsellor Patmarie Coleman, and Wellbeing Adviser Richard Stack, will guide you to carry out the exercises individually and opportunities to share experiences with the other participants should you choose.

How do I join in?
The link to the hour-long Zoom meeting will be sent to you on the day of the workshop. You will have the option of using the video and audio functions to connect with the group or turn them off as you wish. You will also be able to rename yourself for the meeting using the Zoom function. The meeting hosts are staff members from Student Support and Wellbeing and will be facilitating the meeting from a private and confidential space.

If you have any queries, please email wellbeingevents@kent.ac.uk and we’ll be happy to help.