Kent staff are encouraged to consider whether their school or professional service department’s existing European and international partnerships could form the basis of an Erasmus+ funding bid. Erasmus+ Key Action II funding is available to support consortia to run collaborative projects aimed at improving higher education provision.

Acceptable project themes within Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships funding strand are broad within the overall objective of promoting innovation in higher education, and therefore this particular funding strand could be a useful means to develop existing work with partners.

Staff may also be interested in Erasmus+ Capacity Building project opportunities; Capacity Building projects must involve institutions from Erasmus+ Partner Countries (as opposed to Programme Countries). Capacity building projects typically focus on one of three main activities: curriculum development activities; modernisation of governance and management of HEIs and systems, and strengthening of relations between higher education and the wider economic and social environment

An Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) funding bid could also be considered by Schools within well-developed consortia. (Approval for EMJMD bids need approval of the International Postgraduate Steering group chaired by the Dean of the Graduate School).

Key application deadlines

Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships: 21 March 2018

Erasmus+ Capacity Building projects: 8 February 2018

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees projects:  15 February 2018

Staff are advised to contact International Partnerships as soon as they start to consider a bid. Please take a look at the  Funding Opportunities webpage for the internal approval procedure: https://www.kent.ac.uk/global/partnerships/kent-staff/funding-opportunities.html

The closing date for calls is 12.30 (GMT) on Wednesday 10 January 2018 with institutions being notified of the outcome by Friday 26 January 2018.

Other opportunities

For full details of other opportunities, please read the full news story on the International Partnership news page.

BBC Radio 4’s Today programme is coming to the University – and you can be part of the audience!

Justin Webb will be presenting a live broadcast of the programme, which will include various guests, in the Gulbenkian on Thursday 7 December from 06.00-09.00

Admission to the recording is on a first-come, first-served basis – doors open at 05.15.

Find out more and book your place now on the BBC webpages.

For the first time there is going to be a Christmas Dinner taking place on Christmas day in Canterbury for any care leaver living or studying in Kent. Many young people who have grown up in local authority care feel excluded from the kind of family Christmas that many of us take for granted. We have a record number of care leaver students at Kent this year, and they have all been invited!

Please come along to our Coffee and Cake event in the Keynes Teaching Foyer from 12.00-14.00 on Tuesday 5 December where we will be offering coffee and cake in exchange for a gift or stocking filler for our Christmas Dinner guests.

To find out more about the project, please search for “Canterbury’s Christmas Dinner” on Facebook or click here to join the mailing list.

You can also choose a gift from the Amazon Wish List here or take a look at our crowdfunding page here if you would prefer to make a cash donation.

Eliot College – Annual Maintenance

Saturday 16 December 2017 – Friday 12 January 2018

From 16 – 21 December 2017 and from 3 – 12 January 2018 the annual maintenance in Eliot College is due to take place between 10.00 – 19.00.

Fire alarm testing will also take place on 17 December from 13.30 – 15.00 in Eliot College, Eliot Extension, Becket Court and the Senate and Mandela buildings, where the fire alarms will sound continuously; this is to ensure they are operating correctly.

There will be electrical testing of study bedroom corridors and cleaning and re-lamping of lighting in general areas and teaching spaces.

Electrical safety checks will be carried out in the main kitchen and Mungos Bar.

Keynes College – Annual Maintenance

Saturday 16 December 2017 – Friday 12 January 2018

From 16 – 21 December 2017 and from 3 – 12 January 2018 the annual maintenance in Keynes College is due to take place.

Fire alarm testing will also take place on Sunday 7 January from 13.30 – 15.00 in Keynes College and Careers where the fire alarms will sound continuously; this is to ensure they are operating correctly.

There will be electrical testing of study bedroom corridors and cleaning and re-lamping of lighting in general areas and teaching spaces.

Electrical safety checks will be carried out in Dolche Vita and K Bar.

We apologise for any inconvenience this work may cause, if you have any queries please contact the Estates Helpdesk on extn. 3209.

From November 2017, all Kent students wherever they are located can access free, 24/7 online support for issues around mental health and wellbeing.

The Big White Wall (BWW) is a Care Quality Commission registered service recognised nationally through awards by the NHS and is a safe environment overseen by qualified therapists called Wall Guides. It offers:

• peer talk therapies where members initiate or join forums on topics ranging from depression and anxiety to relationship issues, work stress, abuse, self-harm and eating disorders
• peer support and networks where students make friends to create a support network as a reference group, source of motivation and a means to improve self-awareness
• creative therapies employing art and writing therapies where members express themselves on ‘bricks’ that are posted to the Big White Wall where they can choose to share and discuss the underlying ‘story’
• brief counselling providing immediate 24/7 support from Big White Wall Guides who are trained counsellors
• 24/7 guided groups that are based in therapeutic approaches such as interpersonal therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy You can find a link to the Big White Wall here.

How students can register

In order to gain access to this service students can click on the BWW link using their Kent email address to gain access.

As part of the registration process, please advise students not to use their Kent IT account password for this service.

Please note that students may, upon completion of the registration process, change their contact email address to a non-Kent email account.

Big White Wall takes privacy very seriously and you can find their privacy policy here.

The beautiful Royal Dockyard Church (Chatham Historic Dockyard) provides the stunning seasonal setting for a feast of musical offerings from University of Kent (School of Music and Fine Art, Medway) ensembles, the University choir and band and University chamber orchestra on 13 December.

Programme:

Part One

Kumpo: World Percussion Ensemble

Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 3 (D.200): University Chamber Orchestra (Medway)

Pop, Rock and Soul Choir

Seasons of Love: Jonathan Larson

Merry Christmas Everybody: Slade

Part Two

Otono Porteno: Astor Piazzolla – Chamber Music Forum

Phase Study – Guitar Ensemble

Saxophone Ensemble

Aligato – Andy Scott

Charm or Smarm – Will Gregory

Improvisation Group

Nothing Personal – Don Grolnick

Go Daddy-O: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy –  Little Big Band

University Choir and Band (Medway)

The Lamb: John Tavener

Selection from ‘A Night at the Opera‘: Queen

FREE to attend but booking via the Gulbenkian.

Dr Xiaofan Amy Li, Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature, has contributed an essay to the newly published edited volume Minding Borders: Resilient Divisions in Literature, the Body and the Academy (Legenda, 2017).

The essay, entitled ‘When Do Different Literatures Become Comparable? The Vague Borders of Comparability and Incomparability’, explores the state of the discipline of Comparative Literature as a matter of crossing borders, and considers how far discussions, in the philosophy of comparison can revise critical thinking and methods in comparative literature.

The edited book Minding Borders, where the essay is published, traces the troubling and yet generative resilience of borders. It explores how borders define as well as exclude, protect as well as violate, and nurture some identities while negating others. A book launch event was held on the 27 November 2017 at St Anne’s College, Oxford, where Amy joined the discussion with the editors Matthew Reynolds, Adriana X. Jacobs, Ben Morgan, Mohamed-Salah Omri, and Nicola Gardini.

Find more information about the book and discussion event.