At Kent, we wish to encourage excellence amongst students, leading by example. In light of our Good Neighbour initiative, we aim to celebrate local student residents who exemplified what it means to be a kind and respectful neighbour.

At Kent, our aim is to inspire students to be good neighbours, by drawing from the model students living in our communities and bringing them to the forefront. We would like to recognise the achievements of those students who go the extra mile and embed themselves within their neighbourhoods.

Do you have local student residents displaying exemplary behaviour and community spirit in your area?

Are your student neighbours benefitting the area where you live and giving back to their community?

We would like you to get in touch with information about your excellent student neighbours. Please provide their address and some information about why your neighbours deserve recognition for the award.

You can either:

Contact us on communityliaison@kent.ac.uk.

Fill out the Good Neighbour Award form online.

We look forward to hearing your experiences and celebrating students who deserve recognition for their contributions to our local community.

We plan to interview the winners of the Good Neighbour Awards and share these case studies with our cohort of students to inspire and empower them. We will use these real-life examples to inform our resources for the future and make them relevant to students living locally in years to come.

International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) is an annual event on March 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. 

Read our Staff LGBT+ Network’s joint statement on Trans Inclusion and Support.

What does it mean to be Transgender? 

Transgender, or Trans, is as an umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth. Someone who is trans may identify as (not limited to) transgender, non-binary, or genderqueer. 

Support for trans students at Kent 

There is a Trans Support Group in Canterbury that meets twice a month. It is open to trans, intersex and non-binary people at Kent. The group is run by trans/non-binary people for trans/non-binary people. Family and partners are welcome.  

We have gender neutral toilet facilities across our campuses, and these facilities will increase as building improvements and construction takes place.  

Student Support and Wellbeing offer mental health support, counselling and peer support groups to all students and have an advisor with specialist LGBTQ+ support knowledge. You can also check out our LGBTQ+ self-help resource section online. 

You can also update your gender and preferred name (which shows on your Microsoft Teams account)  on KentVision.

How can you be a good ally to trans people? 

Cisgender, or Cis, describes someone whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned to at birth.  

There are lots of simple ways you can become a better ally and show support to trans people, such as: 

• Updating your pronouns on your email signature, Teams profile and social media profile. Include a link to a website such as mypronouns.org for people to find out more. 
• Wear one of our new Rainbow lanyards. These are designed around the ‘Inclusion Flag’ which incorporates the Pride rainbow flag with pink, blue, brown and black, representing the trans community and people of colour within the LGBTQ+ community.  
• Tweet your support using #TDOV2022 and tagging @UniKent, @ukclgbtq and @Medwaylgbtq. 
• Familiarise yourself with policies, guidance and terminology. 

Here are more ways you can be a good ally.  

Study into the Experience of Transgender Students in Higher Education 

Lynne Regan from Student Support and Wellbeing, recently gave multiple talks about her research on the Experience of Transgender Students in Higher Education, including a presentation to members of the Executive Group.  

You can watch the recording and view the PowerPoint slides to learn more about Lynne’s findings and her suggestions for what we can do at Kent to improve the experience of our trans students.  

LGBTQ+ student groups at Kent 

The LGBTQ+ Student Network acts as a voice for LGBTQ+ students to both the University and the Students’ Union and helps to ensure informed decisions are made on a practical and strategic level as well as planning events and networking opportunities for students. Email the Student Network if you are interested in joining. 

You can also join the student LGBTQ+ Society at Canterbury and the Medway LGBTQ Society, a safe space for students of marginalised gender identities and sexualities to socialise and meet other like-minded individuals. Make friends and develop your support network. 

A huge congratulations to Thomas on his new role as Vice President for Welfare & Community 2022/23, a student leadership position in Kent Union. This role draws focus to student life within the local community, development of student safety schemes and tackling student welfare issues at Kent.

We asked Thomas a few questions about his plans for the role, revealing his passion about living, studying and working in Canterbury.

What would you like to bring in your role as VP of Welfare & Community?

“Having previously volunteered for the Independent Police Advisory Group and Kent Union, I have a good knowledge of the work being done to make our cities safer and I am excited to contribute towards this great work in my new position. I am passionate about driving an increase in the volunteering and outreach from Kent Union societies and clubs, providing opportunities to use their unique skills to benefit their local community. I want to amplify their student voice and provide students with the tools and funding they need to mobilise their initiatives off-campus”.

Where do you feel you’ll work most closely with the local community in your role?

“A key part of the work we do is making Canterbury and Medway safe places to live and study. Local safety isn’t just an issue owned by students, rather it is one shared by our whole community. I would like to work with our local residents and services on shared goals that improve the city not just for students, but for everyone.”

How do you feel your experience at Kent has prepared you for the role?

“I have lived in Canterbury for 5 years and studied on the Medway campus to complete my degree, this gives me a great idea of the challenges faced by our students in these areas and I can’t wait to start my role and make a difference at Kent. One of the wonderful things about living and studying here, is that you truly feel a part of Kent, and that is something I am proud to be.”

We wish Thomas the best of luck in his new position, and look forward to working alongside him in the year to come.

**Updated 30 March – Our local union branch is currently balloting its members about whether to accept the proposal, which will take a few days to complete. We will update you all as soon as possible once we have the response.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Industrial Action Student WebChat on Friday 25 March. Missed it? You can view the recording online.**

From Professor Richard Reece | DVC Education and Student Experience  

Today is the first of five days of national strike action by members of the University and College Union (UCU).   

The strike is scheduled to run from today (Monday 28 March) to Friday (1 April). Not all areas of the University are equally affected.   

We continue to meet with our local UCU representatives to discuss how we can help resolve these ongoing issues and bring an end to the industrial action here at Kent.   

Meanwhile, teams across the University have been working to minimise as far as possible any disruption the strike might cause you and your studies. There is information about this on our webpages, including how you can keep up to date with any planned disruption to your studies.    

Background to the industrial action    

UCU has called the action over national-level disagreements over pensions and over pay and conditions. The action will affect a number of universities around the country. You can read more about the background on the student webpages.     

What the strike might mean for you    

It is probable that this week:     

• lectures or other timetabled classes may be disrupted or cancelled at short notice;      
• research activities could be cancelled at short notice;      
• other University services you use might be affected
  

UCU members are not obliged to tell us whether or not they will be working on the strike days so we will not know in advance what the level of disruption will be. However, we will share with you on Moodle any specific information we receive, and we recommend that you check your online course groups and your emails frequently to keep up to date about any changes that might affect you.     

You can keep a personal record of the impact of the strikes on your teaching by using the Kent Union Academic Experience Reporting Tool.  

Support for students    

Wherever possible, we will work with staff to prioritise essential student support services so that these remain in place throughout the industrial action.    

We have dedicated student support webpages where you can find details about the support available to you, and contact details of sources of help should you need it.    

I want to thank you all for your patience during this unsettling period, and to assure you that we are doing everything we can to bring this national industrial action to an end here at the University.   

We will keep you updated with any developments during the strike.    

Goodwill payments  

We will be distributing money not paid as staff salaries during the strikes to students based on the amount of disruption to each student caused by the strikes. We are currently working through the information we have about relative levels of disruption to students across the University and we should be in a position within the next few weeks to begin distributing that fund. I will keep you updated on that.  

Marking and Assessment Boycott  

As I mentioned in my email on Friday, I hope to have a positive update early this week on the local marking and assessment boycott. As soon as we get news, I will be in touch again.     

With all good wishes,    

Richard   

Professor Richard Reece | DVC Education and Student Experience