Researching the Kent student experience – findings

Not every student’s experience is going to be the same and we do not think it should be. However, what are the key ingredients for a great learning experience at Kent?

Last year we spoke to nearly 2,000 students and 60 staff members to try to answer that question and articulate what every student should experience while at Kent.

Our research found that through your studies and co-curricular activities you want to experience:

Learning that is relevant to your goals, interests and ambitions

You thought the University offered opportunities that support your passion for your subject and personal growth. You also said that teaching needs to make explicit connections to the real world and potential careers.

Active learning with feedback

Learning happens when you read, talk, write, explain, make connections between ideas, try things out and observe the results, analyse, evaluate, apply, and organise your knowledge in meaningful ways. When you do these things, staff can give you feedback, which also helps your learning.

A challenging, supportive and inclusive environment

We hear that you value challenge, but also need guidance about new expectations, how you can rise to them and how you can take best advantage of co-curricular opportunities.

A diverse student and staff population from around the world

Many of you want to engage with peers intellectually. You also recognise that peer interaction – in and outside of classes – supports a range of educational goals.

Meaningful interactions with staff

You particularly appreciate inspiring or helpful interactions with staff members. Yet the report shows that many of you are disappointed when you do not experience this.

Work experience, real world projects, public exhibitions/performances or study abroad

Many of our courses offer a fourth year in industry/abroad or a final year project. You told us that these experiences help to enhance your learning and student experience at Kent.

Work has already started to enhance course and co-curricular opportunities. If you want to get more from your time at Kent visit the Student Guide and Kent Union website for all the opportunities available to you.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this study. If you would like to know more you can read the full report online (pdf).

Football Shirt Friday – 15 February

Calling all staff, students and alumni! Please support us in our fundraising drive to enable the National Children’s Football Alliance (NCFA) and Slum Soccer to send a team of children from India to the 2019 Global Peace Games, a week-long peace education and football programme in Messines, Belgium.

How to get involved – Football Shirt Friday, 15 February
All staff, students and visitors are encouraged to support ‘Football Shirt Friday’ and contribute whatever they can via collection buckets in the Sports Centre reception and via the crowdfunding page – suggested minimal donation £2.

If you love your team, wear your shirt with pride on this Friday and support this great cause. If football doesn’t float your boat then you can wear a rugby or other team jersey accordingly.

We are also looking for cyclists to take part in the sponsored bike ride on Saturday 23 March. To enable as many cyclists as possible to take part, Football Shirt Friday will raise money to help the cyclists reach the baseline donation figure.

If every Kent student and member of staff contributed just a couple of pounds to the fund, it would make a huge difference towards making this opportunity a reality for as many young people as possible!

For further information about the cycle ride, please contact Oli Prior at o.prior@kent.ac.uk

For further information about the fundraising campaign, please contact Ernie Brennan at erniebrennan@thecfa.co.uk

Parking on large Applicant Days (Canterbury campus)

This is a reminder that large Applicant Days are starting at Canterbury campus from Wednesday 13 February.

For large Applicant Days, parking will be reserved in Rutherford and Tyler Courts car parks, whereas for smaller Applicant Days parking will continue to be reserved in Giles Lane car park (the area behind Woolf).

While we do not expect parking on campus to be completely full, it may be helpful to consider car sharing or using alternative modes of transport where reasonably possible on the large Applicant Days. If you are able to work from home and wish to do so, please arrange this with your manager.

Large Applicant Days

Applicant Days are essential for recruiting new students to the University. The larger Applicant Days starting from next week tend to be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the Spring Term.

A significant number of bays (100-225 based on requests for parking from bookings) will be reserved in Rutherford and Tyler Court car parks to assist with parking on the following Applicant Days, as requested by Enrolment Management Services:

Wednesday 13 February – 137 bays reserved (confirmed)
Wednesday 20 February
Wednesday 27 February
Wednesday 6 March
Wednesday 13 March
Wednesday 20 March
Wednesday 27 March
Wednesday 3 April

Please note that the locations are subject to change. Keep up to date with the Transport Team newsletter and events calendar which we will update as details are confirmed.

Refer to our interactive parking map for parking areas.

Smaller Applicant Days

Up to 40 bays (based on requests for parking from bookings) will normally be reserved in Giles Lane car park (area behind Woolf) on the smaller Applicant Days to assist with parking as requested by Enrolment Management Services. These events are held on weekdays and Saturdays in the Spring term. The weekday dates are below:

Thursday 14 February
Thursday 21 February
Friday 22 February
Thursday 28 February
Thursday 7 March
Friday 8 March
Thursday 14 March
Thursday 4 April
Friday 5 April

When numbers are confirmed they will be updated on the events calendar.

CHASE summer school on ‘Comparative Literature: principles, practices and perspectives’

Applications are now open for the Consortium for the Humanities in South-East England (CHASE) Comparative Literature summer school, running this year between 24-26 June 2019 following the success of last year’s inaugural event.

This summer school will offer intensive training in the principles and practices of comparative literature. Following the success of the inaugural CHASE summer school in comparative literature in June 2018, this second iteration will build on the first event while taking its intellectual focus in a new direction.

The programme is designed for humanities students working on comparative research projects who wish to broaden their knowledge of the discipline, and their use of comparative methodologies, in the light of both classical comparativism and more recent theoretical frameworks within the emerging discipline of world literature and the rise of the global South. The summer school will bring together postgraduate students working in the various fields of comparative/world literature, introducing them to leading specialists in the discipline and offering them a valuable opportunity for both intellectual training and institutional networking.

Applications are invited from postgraduate students, either currently undertaking or about to start a PhD, working in the field of comparative literature broadly defined. The summer school is fully funded by CHASE; accommodation costs and tuition fees of successful applicants will be covered.

Informal enquiries should be directed to Dr Patricia Novillo-Corvalán, Head of the Department of Comparative Literature, at p.novillo-corvalan@kent.ac.uk. Suitably qualified students should submit a brief CV and a one-page outline of their project to chasecomplit@kent.ac.uk by 12 April 2019.

English Hub for Refugees receives funding

Dr Gloria Chamorro, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics in the Department of English Language & Linguistics, has recently been awarded a grant by the Amity Fund (in association with Kent Community Foundation) for her English Hub for Refugees project.

The project started in September 2016 and it involves undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University teaching English to young refugees for two hours every week. The refugees, who are between 16 and 18 years old, come from a range of backgrounds, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan, and they have recently arrived in the country unaccompanied by adults. Many of them have had limited or no access to education because of conflict or because of the community they come from.

Dr Chamorro said: “I am very grateful to the Amity Fund and Kent Community Foundation for the award of this grant which will allow us to continue the important provision of free English classes for young refugees taught by our University students and will also enable the with the continued creation of language learning materials.”

Can you train your brain?

Researchers in the School of Psychology are looking for participants aged between 25 and 40 or 65 and 80 years old to take part in our exciting research testing whether ‘brain training’ really works. This project is led by Prof Heather Ferguson, and is funded by a large European Research Council grant.

The research team uses a range of questionnaires and computer tasks to find out whether cognitive and social skills can be enhanced through training, and how these training effects might change at different ages.

As a thank-you, participants receive £50 cash, a small gift, and be reimbursed for reasonable travel expenses!

To find out more please email us at braintraining@kent.ac.uk

Dido and Aeneas: University Cecilian Choir, Sinfonia and soloists this Friday

The tragic story of the doomed love of the Queen of Carthage for the Trojan prince comes to Colyer-Fergusson Hall this Friday, in a performance featuring student and staff musicians in the University Cecilian Choir, String Sinfonia and soloists.

The role of Dido will be sung by postgraduate Law student and Music Performance Scholar, Helen Sotillo, and the semi-staged hour-long performance of Purcell’s enduringly-popular chamber opera will be prefaced by live music on the foyer-stage and costumed courtiers presiding over the foyer from 6.30pm as the audience arrives.

Tickets are £10 full price and £5 for students; join the Music Department and musicians from across the University as the curtain rises this Friday at 7pm. Tickets can be purchased online.

Writing retreat for HEA Fellowship/Senior Fellowship

There will be a writing retreat for HEA Fellowship/Senior Fellowship on Wednesday 1 May at Medway campus, from 9.30-15.30.

The retreat is for all staff at Canterbury Christ Church, Kent and Greenwich Universities who are in the process of putting together a claim for their Fellowship or Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE).

Places on the retreat are limited, so do book your place before 20 April 2019.

If you wish to cancel your booking, please contact LTE-ADMIN@canterbury.ac.uk

The retreat is an opportunity for you to have protected time away from your ‘day job’ to focus on making progress with your application to become HEA Fellow or Senior Fellow. You will receive guidance and support from assessors of HEA claims, and share your ideas with others in a similar position. This will give you a chance to further your critical reflection on your professional practice, and transform your ideas into more structured notes and even start writing sections of your claim.

If you are interested in HEA Fellowship, please contact recognition@kent.ac.uk

Staying Out exhibition in Keynes College

Keynes College is pleased to welcome the ‘Staying Out’ exhibition that has been installed in the Keynes Gallery (above Dolche Vita). Curated from the LGBTQ archive at the Bishop’s Gate Institute, this exhibition vividly depicts the LGBTQ struggle over multiple decades, around the concepts of “Coming out”, “Protests”, “Pride” and “Equality”.

For further information on exhibitions in Keynes College visit our events page.

Access the full LGBT+ History Month 2019 programme here.

Outside Time: new photographic exhibition in Keynes College

Keynes College is delighted to continue its 50th anniversary celebrations by hosting a new photographic exhibition in the Atrium and the Teaching Foyer.

“Outside Time” shows intriguing black and white photographs by Josef Guinzbourg- Husson, Claude Philippot and Jean- Michel Husson, three artist who have exhibited extensively across Europe. We are particularly pleased to host them at Kent as it is the first time their work has been shown in the UK.

For further information on exhibitions in Keynes College please visit our website and click on the Keynes tab.