Vice-Chancellor’s update – 18 February 2021

This week’s staff web chat focused on the financial impact of Covid-19 on the University as well as the ongoing work to deliver our Financial Improvement Programme.

As I have previously mentioned, we have made significant progress in addressing our underlying deficit. My thanks go to you all for the hard work that has been done in support of this.

As a result, we have now secured funding from our lenders through until 2024 which will provide greater stability into the future, enabling us to manage cash flow volatility and move to a sustainable financial position over this period. However, this is contingent on the continued delivery of our financial improvements and move away from a deficit operating position.

You will be aware that Covid-19 has had a considerable impact on our commercial income. Combined with Brexit and associated changes to the fee status of EU students, this creates uncertainty with regard to overall student recruitment as well. Despite improvements to our marketing activity, we are at risk of falling behind our revised targets, especially overseas and postgraduate taught. This means that, in the short term, we continue to face considerable financial risks.

While we have made allowances for Covid-related income loss in our financial forecasts, the situation remains highly volatile. If any income drop is greater than we have contingency planned for, we may have to make additional savings.

We will do everything we can to avoid further losses. Over the coming months, we will continue to monitor our income risks so that we can respond quickly if looks like we won’t be able to meet our financial forecasts. We will continue to keep you updated and in touch as the situation develops. We are committed to being as open and transparent as possible about our financial position.

Our priority is still to deliver our improvement plan, increase our income and provide the stability we need to deliver the best possible teaching, research & innovation and student experience and continue to deliver regional, national and international impact through our work.

I am convinced that, if we continue to work together to overcome the short-term challenges presented by Covid-19, we have a very promising future here at Kent.

Thank you again for your continued work to support this. If you were unable to attend the web chat, please do view the recording which is now available online,

With my very best wishes to you and your families,

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

Sustainability consultation – have your say!

The Sustainability Team has opened up a number of key strategies for consultation to get student and staff’s say on sustainability at the University.

The University has a number of operational strategies that support our transition to a more sustainable institution which are due for renewal this summer. The Sustainability Team are running an open consultation on some of these strategies as they go through the process of being refreshed over this academic year. The strategies are owned by a number of departments across the University including the Estates Department, the Safety, Health and Environment and Kent Hospitality.

The strategies include our Carbon Management Plan; Sustainable Food; Landscape and Biodiversity; and Waste and Recycling strategies.

The Sustainability Team have put together a consultation form for each strategy asking for students and staff to input their thoughts and ideas on a number of sustainability issues across our operational work. Collaboration is key to the work that we do in the Sustainability team and we need to hear from staff and students across the organisation to help us navigate the complex road to sustainability.

Reponses from these forms will be collated by the Sustainability Team and fed back to the strategy owner where they will be reviewed. Not all responses and ideas will make it in to the final strategies as decisions around affordability, timescales and achievability will have to be made. However, we are hopeful that we can get a real insight into your priorities that we can then reflect in our short and longer term targets, as well as integrate ideas that we would not have come up with ourselves.

The initial consultation will be open for 4 weeks closing on 19 March . Full details of the timeline and links to the consultation forms can be found on our website.

LGBT+ History Month – This is Not My First PANDEMIC

The University of Kent LGBT+ Staff Network is pleased to invite you to the final event in our series to mark LGBT+ History Month 2021. ‘This Is Not My First PANDEMIC – The LGBT+ Community Response to AIDS & Covid: then & now’ will take place on Thursday 25 February from 18.00-20.00.

The Programme

During the Teams event, we will hear from three speakers about the impact of the AIDS and Covid-19 pandemics on our community, drawing parallels between the two:

Jose C. Mejia, HIV Peer Support Manager, METRO Charity – ‘Insight on the experiences of people living with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic: activism, triggers and vaccines’
Dr Ken Levine, Faculty Member, Department of Communication at Michigan State University – ‘From AIDS to COVID-19: examining the impact of messaging on the two pandemics’
Hilary Cooke, CEO of Medway Gender & Sexual Identity Centre, Chair of Medway Pride, founding member of Medway Pride Radio – ‘Trans realities 2021: health care, support, discrimination and hate crime’

This will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.

Attendance is free and open to all. Please register your intention to attend via Eventbrite.

No detriment measures update

From Professor Richard Reece | Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience

Please note – this guidance is intended for undergraduate and postgraduate taught students only. If you are on an apprenticeship programme, please wait for further guidance from your department.

Dear Students

Following my email to you last week concerning our No Detriment measures, I wanted to provide more details on the approaches that have been developed to support the different circumstances you are facing in 2020/21.

In keeping with guidance from our regulator, the Office for Students, and in line with many other universities, we are adapting our approaches this year to suit the specific impacts that Covid-19 has had on the whole of this academic year.

Please find below answers to some of the key questions you have raised in recent days.

What no detriment measures will be used this year?

To ensure no student is disadvantaged because of Covid-19, our package of measures includes:

More flexibility for coursework submissions and deadlines.
No requirement for supporting evidence to prove the impact of Covid-19.
An assurance that Boards of Examiners will offset the impact of the pandemic on your academic performance.

This year’s measures reflect how the pandemic has affected students’ entire academic year rather than needing to mitigate for the sudden, unexpected changes to teaching from March 2020 onwards.

Why is there no Safety Net calculation this year?

Applying a University-wide Safety Net Calculation this year would not present a fair reflection of your academic abilities or your progress for the following reasons:

The 2019-20 Safety Net Calculation, implemented in March 2020, was undertaken during a time of a sudden and unexpected disruption due to the pandemic and the need to move to remote learning.
By March 2020, a significant proportion of you had completed sufficient assessments to calculate a fair and robust weighted average on which the Safety Net Calculation could be based.
With national lockdowns taking place in November 2020 and January 2021 this year, there are insufficient marks already achieved to make the same calculation.
Finally, academic staff planned this year’s modules and assessments to be suited for online delivery rather than needing to make unexpected changes to teaching partway through the year.

What are the mitigations available to Boards of Examiners?

Boards of Examiners already have powers to act to ensure there is no disadvantage to either individuals or groups of students. Boards consider individual performance as well as reviewing the performance of this year’s students against previous years.

If Boards find evidence of an individual or group of students at a disadvantage, they already have several measures available to them. Last year, these measures were enhanced in response to the pandemic and these enhanced measures will be used once again this academic year. The full range of mitigation measures for Boards of Examiners will be published later in the term.

In the meantime, please make sure that you complete any work that has been set to the best of your ability given your personal circumstances.

I hope this has helped reassure you of our commitment to protecting your academic progress. Later in the term we will be revisiting this in our Student WebChat series. Please contact your student support team or our CovidSupport@kent.ac.uk mailbox if you have any urgent enquiries.

Best wishes

Richard

Professor Richard Reece | Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience

Covid-19 update – 18 February 2021

Students’ return to campus

The Government is expected to publish its latest guidance on 22 February 2021 concerning students’ return to face-to-face teaching. We anticipate that the guidance will cover how institutions should prioritise particular students’ return and how the regular testing programme should be managed on campus. At this stage, we know that the Government is likely to recommend a phased return which may centre on those subjects needing access to specialist equipment and final year students.

We know that many of our students are keen to return to campus. However, it is important that we manage expectations and ensure they do not make firm travel plans until all information is available to them. This is particularly important for any students needing to travel from other countries as the Government has announced strict new regulations concerning travel into the UK.

Our priority has been, and will continue to be, the safety of our community and ensuring we can adhere to social distancing regulations on campus. Divisions are currently working on their plans for teaching for the remainder of the academic year; these plans include requesting timetabled events where students require access to specialist equipment or spaces. Further information will be available once the Government guidance has been published.

Update on the Covid-19 Hardship Fund

The University has received £588,000 of hardship funding from the Office for Students to support students disadvantaged through the effects of Covid-19. Most of the funding is to be prioritised for “rent related hardship” and must be dispersed to students by the end of March 2021. Working in partnership with Kent Union, we have launched a scheme to support disadvantaged students who can apply to the Covid-19 Hardship Fund for a one-off payment. In phase 1, students can apply for a £500 award using a simple online form and, if successful, will receive their money in 10 working days. As of 17 February, over 1,000 students have applied to the scheme, a large percentage of the 1,200 applications that it will be possible to fund. Once that funding has been allocated, a second phase will open later in the term.

The University continues to support students in hardship in a variety of different ways, with 271 laptops distributed and 41 currently on loan to students needing technical support to study effectively. Any students needing financial support can contact the Financial Aid team, or Kent Union’s Advice Service (Canterbury) or GKSU’s Advice Centre (Medway) for more information.

Top 10 ways to be kind to yourself and others

Being kind to yourself and others is something we should all practise and a message that’s even more important during the current pandemic and lockdown.

This week is Random Acts of Kindness Week (14-20 February). Here are some suggestions on how you can show kindness during lockdown:

1.Organise a virtual get-together for someone who’s going through a rough time.

2.Follow some positive accounts on social media, for example @kindness.news, @wholesome_planet and @the_happy_broadcast on Instagram. If a post brightens your day, share it with others.

3.Drop a note to an elderly neighbour to ask them if they need anything. Help someone feel less isolated.

4.Allow yourself breaks from study and work. A screen break can also be beneficial.

5.Take time to check in with a friend you haven’t spoken to for a while.

6. Ask for help. If you’re struggling don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you are struggling mentally, check in with our Student Support and Wellbeing Team.

7.Invite your friends list to ‘like’ the page of a local business to help it grow.

8.Offer to make your housemate a cup of tea or a meal.

9.Always say thank you. You could take the time to thank a teacher or lecturer who has helped you.

10.Take some time for yourself! Be sure to set some time aside in the week to do something you enjoy.

BAME Staff Network – all staff survey results

The University’s BAME Staff Network shared the initial findings of its 2020 all staff survey at a live online event on 10 February, attended by over 60 academic and professional services staff.

You can watch a recording of the event by clicking the link below:
https://bit.ly/3jF2d2v

Dr Heejung Chung and Hyojin Seo (both from the Division for the Study of Law, Society, and Social Justice) undertook the first stage of the data analysis and shared this with attendees. This indicated some significant points which will be helpful in addressing the University’s EDI objectives. Further analysis of the data will be completed in due course.

Please visit the BAME Staff Network website to keep up to date with the full analysis, as well as to join the Network.

Colleagues can also email the Network’s Co-chairs at bamestaffnetwork@kent.ac.uk

Marking International Women’s Day on 8 March

The BAME Staff Network at the University of Kent is honoured to host the Right Reverend Dr Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, as keynote speaker at this year’s International Women’s Day on Monday 8 March 2021.

Dr Hudson-Wilkin is the first Black woman to become a Church of England Bishop, and was previously Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow. The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day campaign is: #ChooseToChallenge, and Dr Hudson-Wilkin will be sharing her thoughts on issues of gender and race.

The event starts at 5:30pm to 6:30pm and will be via MS Teams through the Link below:

International Women’s Day with Dr Rose Hudson-Wilkin

We look forward to seeing you there.

Vanisha Jassal, Dave Thomas, Dr Barbara Adewumi and Dr Bridget Ng’andu, Co-Chairs BAME Staff Network, University of Kent

Email: bamestaffnetwork@kent.ac.uk

The Power of Random Acts of Kindness

Article from Brenda Brunsdon, Occupational Health and Wellbeing Team Manager

This week is Random Acts of Kindness Week and Wednesday, 17 February, is celebrated as Random Acts of Kindness Day. The strapline this year is ‘Explore the Good and Make Kindness the Norm’.

What is so special about being kind that it needs a specific day dedicated to it, let alone a whole week to celebrate it? Then again, isn’t being kind so natural that we shouldn’t need a campaign or special day to remind us of its importance in everyday life?

Kindness is a lot more important than we think. When we act with kindness towards others, do things to make their lives easier, go out of our way to bring them happiness, we do ourselves good as well. To quote Portia in Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’: ‘The quality of mercy….is twice blessed; it blesseth him who gives and him who takes’.

When a person gives or receives kindness, both individuals involved experience a release of feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters. We get a dose of serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins. All of this lifts our mood, relieves pain, and physically helps heal any inflammation in our bodies. What’s even more amazing is that the positive effects that occur are also experienced by onlookers who see the act of kindness. It amounts to a cascade of positivity, happiness, and calmness.

There are many research studies that bear out these positive effects which come from practicing kindness. It only needs to be a few acts of kindness a week to make a difference. Some research has shown that extending this to engaging in loving kindness meditation can actually help a person live longer – see the BrainCraft YouTube video below.

Kindness has assumed an even greater emphasis over the pandemic crisis. Our worlds have been turned upside down by restrictions, illness, grief, and fear. Extending kindness to ourselves and those round us has never been more important. So, really make an effort to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day this year. If you’re struggling to think of what you can do, some of the links below have suggestions. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, who initiated this as a focus day some years ago, even has a Toolkit you can use, (link below).

It’s rare that something so easy to do is also so very good for us; it really is minimal effort for maximum gain.

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation Toolkit for 2021 Campaign ‘Explore the Good and Make Kindness the Norm’

‘Make Kindness the Norm’ Random Acts of Kindness Foundation Workplace Calendar 2021

Lifevestinside Kindness Cards on lifevestinside.com

‘35 Random Acts of Kindness You Can Do While Social Distancing’ on Waterford.org

‘Random Acts of Kindness’ and ‘Kindness Matters Guide’ on mentalhealth.org.uk

‘The Selfish Benefits of Kindness’ by BrainCraft on YouTube

‘The Science of Kindness’ by randomactsofkindness on YouTube

‘Official Song of LifeVestInside – Show You Care’ by lifevestinside on YouTube

‘Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor’ research publication by Curry OS, Rowland LA, Van Lissa CJ, Zlotowitz S, McAlaney J, Whitehouse H in J Exp Soc Psychol. 2018;76:320–9 via ScienceDirect.com

‘Happy People become Happier through Kindness: a Counting Kindnesses Intervention’ by Otake K, Shimai S, Tanaka-Matsumi J, Otsui K, Fredrickson BL. In J Happiness Stud. 2006;7(3):361–75. Via PubMed.gov

Walking buddies and JustCoffee

Stuck in your room and need to get out, but nobody is around to go for a walk? We can put you in touch with a walking buddy. This is a great opportunity to get out, meet another student and energise your mind! Find a reason to leave your accommodation, get outside and enjoy the fresh air with someone else.

Or you might like to have a virtual coffee or tea (or other beverage!) break with someone else but find that your usual network isn’t available. We’ll randomly match you with another student who’s looking for a coffee break buddy and email you their contact details so you can get in touch to arrange when to virtually meet.

If you’d like to take part and find a buddy, simply email wellbeingevents@kent.ac.uk from your Kent email address giving your mobile number and saying that you’d like to be matched for a Walking Buddy or Just Coffee and stating which campus (Canterbury or Medway) by midday on Friday, and we’ll randomly match you with another student to meet the following week.

For more information and to sign up, check out the Student Support and Wellbeing Events Calendar.

Please note: From 5 January 2021, England has entered a third national lockdown. You are able to meet with one other person from another household in a public place for exercise. Make you maintain social distancing (stay 2 metres apart from anyone not in your household.)