Colleagues are invited to attend the E-Learning Forum (ELF) titled ‘Digital Classroom’ on Tuesday 3 December 10am-11.30am in Templeman Seminar Room 6.

Over the past two years the success of the digital classrooms (TS5 & TS6) has led to improvements in a number of seminar rooms across the University. Room upgrades include group tables, repeater screens, wireless connection and, in some cases, touch screen monitors. These teaching spaces can give the Academics greater flexibility in teaching approaches and, when used correctly, enhance the Student learning experience.

During the academic year 2018/19, UELT collected user feedback from Academics and Students on their experiences in these spaces. In this session, Phil Anthony will present the findings on how these rooms are currently being used by Academics and Students across the University. He will then give an example of how group work can be conducted in these rooms using multiple technologies. Finally, Academics currently using the rooms will share their experiences.

To confirm your attendance please complete the online booking form.

Kent was proud to host the annual meetings of the SGroup European Universities Network (SGroup) from 6-8 November 2019.

This event saw representatives from the SGroup’s 32 member institutions from 17 European countries attend as well as one of the network’s associate partners from Colombia.

The Network, which was established in 1989, is based on four core areas of co-operation – internationalisation strategy, academic collaboration, academic mobility, and transfer of knowledge.

Kent joined the SGroup in April 2011 and has used its membership of the network to strengthen both its European and international partnerships, giving rise to a range of mobility opportunities for students and staff.

Our Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Karen Cox gave the formal welcome to network representatives and stressed Kent’s commitment to continued European and international collaboration in the context of its civic mission.

The meeting of the SGroup concluded with a workshop on collaboration in the context of Brexit and included the perspectives of Professor Philippe de Wilde as Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation and Professor Jeremy Carrette, Dean for Europe.

Find out more about the SGroup on International Partnerships website, or email Primrose Paskins

Message from the Vice-Chancellor

After an open competition I am delighted to announce that Professor Georgina Randsley de Moura has been appointed to the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Strategy, Planning and Performance. Georgina is currently in the interim position and will transition to the substantive post with immediate effect. I am sure you will join me in offering her many congratulations.

The University and College Union (UCU) has announced its intention to launch industrial action in the form of a strike and action short of a strike (ASOS) as a part of its dispute relating to the national pay award.

The strike action is scheduled to begin on 25 November and last eight days, ending on 4 December. The ASOS is to begin on the same day and continue until April.

The Executive Group (EG) recognises the strength of feeling surrounding the dispute and is aware that this is unsettling for many staff and students. Although this is a national dispute, and cannot be resolved at a local level, work is already underway at the University to address many of the issues raised as part of the pay claim.

To ensure all staff have the information they need, the University has launched dedicated industrial action web pages for staff, including links to the industrial action pay policy, FAQs, information about the background to the dispute and what Kent is doing. Web pages for students are also now available to help answer students’ questions and ensure they have the support and information they need. Both websites will be updated routinely in coming days and weeks.

The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) and Universities UK (UUK) have issued a joint open letter to staff affected by the disputes confirming that UCU have been formally invited to discuss what the employers’ association can do at sector-level to support individual institutions on issues around workloads, equality and casualisation.

In the meantime, EG will continue to do all it can at a local and national level to find a way forward.

The University is also doing everything it can to minimise disruption and to mitigate against the impact on students whose experience remains the utmost priority during this time.

At Kent, we transform lives through opportunity, discovery and community. Organising for Success brings together work that will empower staff to do this, helping us meet out Kent 2025 strategy and ensure a future we can be proud of. This includes introducing seven new academic divisions with greater freedom to meet the needs of our students, simplifying or removing processes so that we have more time to do our jobs, and embracing new ways of working that mean we will be free to focus on the best of what we do.

We have now made the following appointments to our new Director of Division roles:

Division of Arts, Culture & Design

Kent School of Architecture and Planning; School of Arts; School of English; Centre for Music and Audio Technology

Professor Simon Kirchin (who will take up the post on a two-year basis to see through the transition and begin succession planning)

Division of Humanities

School of European Culture and Languages; School of History

Professor Shane Weller

Division of Natural Sciences

School of Biosciences; School of Physical Sciences; School of Sport and Exercise Sciences; Medway School of Pharmacy (affiliate); Kent and Medway Medical School (affiliate)

Professor Claire Peppiatt-Wildman

Kent Business School

Professor Marian Garcia

We are continuing the process of appointing Directors to the remaining divisions and will communicate outcomes as soon as possible. In the meantime, the new Directors of Division will begin in their roles from 1 December and join Executive Group from that date. Announcements relating to our Directors of Operations for the Divisions will be made shortly.

The University is introducing PensionsPlus to help offset the cost of saving for your retirement.

PensionsPlus is a new way to make contributions to your pension scheme, which reduces your National Insurance deductions and means you take home more pay than you would outside of PensionsPlus.

The salary exchange scheme will cover two of the University pension schemes – SAUL and USS – and takes effect from February 2020.

How PensionsPlus works:

-You agree to exchange a portion of your salary equivalent to your member pension contribution, thereby reducing your gross basic salary

-The University pays the same amount on your behalf to the pension scheme

-Both you and the University pay less National Insurance on the reduced salary

-The amount going into your pension is the same, but your take-home pay is greater than it would be outside of PensionsPlus

-Tax relief on your pension contributions remains unchanged.

All eligible staff will be opted into PensionsPlus from 1 February 2020 unless they choose to opt out. Staff who may request a refund of pension contributions within the first two years of pension membership should note that PensionsPlus places a restriction on refunds.

Further information on the way PensionsPlus works, as well as details of briefings and drop-in sessions for staff during December and January, are available on the PensionsPlus webpages.

From Thursday 21 November, the iCASS online accident/incident reporting system will be unavailable in preparation for the launch of the new system, eSAFETY, on 4 December.

During this time, when an incident occurs, please complete and retain one copy of the Interim Report form for inputting into eSAFETY when it’s launched.  This form can be accessed via a button on the front page of the SHE Unit website.

Please send a copy of each completed form by email to Julie Martin AND Angela Hewlett-Day or via internal post to the SHE Unit at Keynes College. It’s important that they receive these as soon as possible after the incidents for monitoring purposes.

When eSAFETY is up and running please enter the details of each incident from the form into the new system, so that the appropriate notification emails can be sent.  This cannot be done by the SHE Unit as, in a similar way to iCASS, the notification emails are linked to the person entering the details.

Further information will be issued to confirm the eSAFETY launch.

In the latest episode of the Nostalgia podcast series, Chris Deacy, Head of the Department of Religious Studies, interviews Dr Patty Baker, Senior Lecturer in Classical & Archaeological Studies and School Equality, and Diversity and Inclusivity Representative.

Patty, who is originally from Pennsylvania, has been at Kent for 18 years. In this episode, the pair talk about Pennsylvania, the concept of ‘home’, running into people from your past, the different dreams that we chase, visiting exotic places, Patty’s love of the sea, sailing and flower arranging, gardens in the ancient world, the History teacher who made the subject come alive, voting in the UK and US, marching in Washington, why Patty likes reading obituaries, her dream trip to the South Pacific, what her 15-year-old self would think about what she is doing now, and why Patty is a looking forward type of person.

On Friday 22 November, Chris will be running ‘Nostalgia Night’. This will be a free evening of live music, readings, clips, interviews and interactions celebrating the pull of Nostalgia in shaping us as human beings – which will be taking place in the Colyer-Fergusson Hall at 19.30.