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Testing out a theory

Learning opportunities available

The Talent and Organisational Development Team are happy to share a number of upcoming learning opportunities, that are bookable via your personal Staff Connect Dashboard.

In partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University, and facilitated by Planned Future, we will be offering two webinars as follow:

Pre-Retirement Financial planning: Wednesday 5 May 2021, 10.00 – 13.00.

A half day webinar aiming to give participants knowledgeable advice in regards to all aspects of planning for retirement, looking at areas such as finance, health and lifestyle.

Mid-Career Financial planning: Wednesday 5 May 2021, 14.00 – 16.00.

This short webinar covers a range of issues relevant to planning your financial affairs, both now and for the future.

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, we will be running the following session:

Mental Health training for Line Managers: Monday 10 May, 10.00 – 13.00.

The aim of the workshop is to enable and encourage managers to develop a management style that strikes the right balance between the needs of the individual/team and the needs of the business.

You can book all these webinars via Staff Connect and you will receive a Zoom invite a day or so before the webinar takes place.

If you would like any further information, please get in touch with the team: ldev@kent.ac.uk

Access to Microsoft 365 services from off-campus

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) set up for staff

All staff have now been enrolled onto multi-factor authentication (MFA) for access to email and other Microsoft 365 services.

If you haven’t set up MFA yet, the next time you try to sign into email, OneDrive, Teams or any other Microsoft 365 app from off campus you’ll be asked to set up a second authentication method.

MFA set up instructions

Full details about what you will need to do has already been emailed to all staff. If you cannot find this email we have reproduced the set up instructions here.

MFA helpline

If you have any issues you can call our dedicated MFA helpline – we’ll be here to help you over this weekend as well:

01227 82 7300
08:30 – 16:00 Monday - Friday
09:00 – 13:00 Saturday – Sunday

Helpline opening hours may vary during the week 19 – 23 April.

What this means

When MFA has been added to your M365 account there will be an extra authentication step for you to complete before gaining access to M365 services from off-campus.

Once set up, MFA is easy to use and provides added protection against cyber-attacks which is especially important now as many staff are working from home. MFA provides a 99.9% reduction in compromised accounts and will also help to protect your own personal information.

For a more in-depth explanation of how MFA works take a look at this film.

Scottish HE/FE Information Security group

What’s next

When the rollout of MFA to staff accounts is complete we will start enrolling our students onto MFA. This will be scheduled after student exams have been completed.

Any questions

If you have any questions, please get in touch with IT Service Desk.

Telephone: 01227 82 4888
Email: helpdesk@kent.ac.uk

KentVision: Progress Update

From Professor Richard Reece | DVC Education and Student Experience

As many of you will be aware, the KentVision project team are currently working hard behind the scenes to get our new student data system up and running for next week. Launch preparations are going well, and a number of key stages in this process have already been completed. However, while we remain on track to have the system live next week, we now expect this to be slightly later in the week due to the need to confirm that everything is working as it should be before the system becomes fully operational again.

Where we are up to so far

The initial data migration went well, and the team are currently going through the process of carefully validating key systems records to ensure that the new system is operating smoothly. This process is almost complete for areas including finance, assessments and PGR admin, with core student record admin also well on the way to being finalised.

What we still need to do

All Student Support and UKVI data is being migrated at the moment, with the team working through the weekend to continue these final steps and carry out all necessary checks. Validating this will take some time, so we expect all critical work to be complete by Monday afternoon – the team will then need a couple of days to bring all of the systems back up before they are available to use. The only exception will be Student Notes and Academic Advisors, which we will now migrate shortly after the system is back live to avoid any further delay.

We will provide a further update for staff and students on Monday, when we expect to have further progress to report, along with confirmation of the expected launch date next week*. All key internal stakeholders have already been informed so they can update plans for next week and we have arrangements in place so we can continue with key admissions activity in the meantime.

I am sure you all appreciate the careful and detailed work needed to complete a data migration project of this scale, and so thank you all for your patience as we carry out these vital final steps.

With best wishes,

Richard

Professor Richard Reece | DVC Education and Student Experience

[UPDATE 21.04.21: KentVision now expected to go live on the afternoon of Friday 23 April 2021]

Covid-19 update: Return to campus

From Professor Richard Reece | DVC Education and Student Experience

On Tuesday, the Government confirmed that students in England will now only be able to return to universities for face-to-face teaching from 17 May at the earliest. This is disappointing news for all of us, and I have written to students today to update them and share our frustration at this further disruption to their studies.

Latest Government proposals

Under the latest guidance announced yesterday, students who are still off campus can only return for face-to-face teaching no earlier than 17 May, in line with the next phase of ending lockdown. As we are now moving into the exam term after the Easter break, our focus will therefore be on continuing to support students wherever they are based and ensuring we are doing everything we can to help them achieve the best possible outcome in their online exams from 10 May onwards. There is more information on support available for students on our Student Guide.

The Government announced further details on asymptomatic testing requirements when students do return, plans to provide home-testing kits for students and an additional £15m in hardship funding to support those most in need. We are awaiting further details on what this means for us at Kent and will share more information as soon as possible.

Kent Summer plans

After what has been such a difficult year for everyone, we are determined to give our students a chance to come together to mark the end of the academic year. We are currently developing joint plans with our Students’ Unions to run a programme of activity throughout the summer term culminating in a two-week celebration at the end of June. We will provide further updates on this as soon as possible and I hope a number of you across the University will be able to help with shaping plans as they come together.

Professor Richard Reece | DVC Education and Student Experience

Challenging Racism – Live Webinar 19 April and Inclusion Circle 22 April

Continuing with our ‘Challenging Racism’ campaign, staff are invited to join us at two key events – a Live Webinar on 19 April and an Inclusion Circle session on 22 April.

For our final Live Webinar on Monday 19 April at 13.00, we are delighted to welcome Dr Jason Arday on ‘Let’s talk about race’. The 90-minute online webinar is facilitated by Inclusive Employers, with a guest speaker, panel discussion and Q&A session.

We will be looking at why talking about race is difficult and why silence is so damaging to all of us, including:

What we can all do to encourage and improve conversations around race
Language and saying the ‘wrong’ thing
Top tips for starting conversations about race

Dr Jason Arday is an Associate Professor in Sociology at Durham University and Deputy Executive Dean for People and Culture in the Faculty of Social Science and Health. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at The Ohio State University in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, an Adjunct Professor at Nelson Mandela University and a Trustee of the Runnymede Trust, the UK’s leading Race Equality think tank. He is a presenter, with Heidi Mirza, of a podcast on Dismantling Race in Higher Education.

Book your place today via Eventbrite. You can listen to our two previous live webinars on the Challenging Racism Together webpages (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

Inclusion Circle

Our next Inclusion Circle ‘Taking action on race inequality and inclusion’ will take place on Thursday 22 April at 10.00, and is open to staff from all ethnic backgrounds.

The aim of the Inclusion Circles is to create a safe environment to listen to staff concerns, shared lived experiences, discuss a variety of topics, and show solidarity. The 90-minute session is facilitated by Inclusive Employers consultants Aminata Pungi and Addison Barnett, and will include:

An open discussion on how to tackle racial inequality.
A facilitated conversation focusing on the problems and ideas for solutions.

Spaces are limited so please email ChallengingRacism@Kent.ac.uk if you would like to join.

About Challenging Racism

The aim of the ‘Challenging Racism’ campaign is to promote unity, not division and to help understand and develop more inclusive behaviours. To do that, we all need to increase our awareness and understanding of racism and how it can be tackled within Kent, to ensure all staff and students feel safe and empowered.

Please share this and encourage your contacts and teams to sign-up so that we can all work together and take the first steps to address racism at Kent and beyond. If you have any questions, email challengingracism@kent.ac.uk

#EDI #challengingracismtogether #choosetochallenge

Marking Ramadan 2021

Ramadan begins on the evening of Monday 12 April and ends on the evening of Wednesday 12 May 2021. Muslims follow the lunar calendar, so the exact start and end dates depend on the sighting of the moon so these dates can vary slightly.

Ramadan is followed by the festival of Eid-ul- Fitr, a celebration to mark the end of Ramadan, which will take start on the evening of Wednesday 12 May and the evening of Thursday 13 May 2021.

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the name of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

Muslims believe it is the month during which the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) over 1400 years ago. Ramadan is the holiest month of the year for Muslims and it is considered that the reward of good deeds during this month are multiplied several fold.

During Ramadan, from dawn until sunset, Muslims are obliged to abstain from all forms of food, drink (including water), smoking and sexual activity. Most Muslims will wake before dawn for a meal before the start of their fast (also known as Suhoor), and break their fast (also known as Iftar) with dates and water at sunset, and then a meal.

This year, fasts in the UK will last around 15-16 hours. The start and end times vary as the month progresses.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. The overall purpose of the fast is to gain Taqwa (which means to gain piety or God consciousness). This is achieved through an increase in prayers, reading the Qur’an, self-reflection and self-discipline.

Find out more

For further information and guidance for managers and staff, take a look at the Inclusive employers Ramadan 2021 fact sheet.

Welcome to Chris Sleeman, Interim Head of Admissions

From Simone Davies, Director of MORA

I am delighted to welcome Chris Sleeman, Interim Head of Admissions, to MORA (Marketing, Outreach, Recruitment and Admissions).

Chris joins us from Regent’s University London, where he was Head of Admissions and held a variety of roles during his 10-year career at the institution. Prior to entering Higher Education, Chris worked in business development and business support/consultancy, building networks, and implementing process improvements. Over the coming months, Chris’s focus will be on leading the team, post a review of admissions, to improve processes and services to benefit our applicants and the University.

I am sure you will join me in welcoming Chris to the University of Kent.

Simone Davies | Director of MORA

Next Generation Impact event – ‘Perspectives on Impact’

The University’s Research Excellence Team, in collaboration with KMTV, present ‘Next Generation Impact’, the first streamed impact series for all levels of academic and professional staff across our sector.

The series will tackle all aspects of the impact agenda, from engagement to working in partnership and funding impact activities. With panels of esteemed experts within the field, pertinent and provocative questions will be addressed as the ‘Next Generation’ of impact is considered in terms of expertise, maturation of research impacts, and how we move forward as a sector in facilitating and maximising impacts.

The first virtual event titled ‘Perspective on Impact will be taking place Monday 26 April between 12.00 – 13.00. Find out who will be on the live panel on the Next Generation webpage and book your place via Eventbrite.

The team look forward to seeing you there!

Entries for THE Awards 2021 now open

Entries for the Times Higher Education Awards 2021 are now open.

Entries are invited from UK higher education institutions (and for the first time, in Ireland too) across 19 categories, which will be shortlisted and judged by an expert panel, with this year’s categories listed below.

This year focuses primarily on the 2019-20 academic year, so that includes brilliant responses to the many unforeseen challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the judges are aware that lots of work took place during that period that was unrelated to or unaffected by the pandemic, and are keen to read about those too.

University of the Year
Business School of the Year
International Collaboration of the Year
Knowledge Exchange/Transfer Initiative of the Year
Most Innovative Teacher of the Year
Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community
Outstanding Entrepreneurial University
Outstanding Estates Team
Outstanding Library Team
Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team
Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year
Outstanding Support for Students
Outstanding Technician of the Year
Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Research Project of the Year: STEM
Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year
Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of the Year
THE Outstanding Achievement Award

Winners will be announced at a glittering hopefully in-person ceremony in late November.

Corporate Communications will once again be co-ordinating Kent’s award entries this year and is happy to support schools/departments with their submissions. Please email Corporate Communications by Friday 21 May if you know of a potential entry – deadline for all completed entries is Wednesday 9 June.

Further information on the awards is available on the THE Awards 2021 website.

Picture shows: Murray Smith, Professor of Film at the School of Arts, who was shortlisted for Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year at the THE Awards 2020.

Covid-19 update – 8 April 2021

From 12 April, we will be moving into Step 2 of the Government’s roadmap to ease the country out of lockdown. From Monday, non-essential retail can reopen along with some entertainment venues and hospitality outlets.

For example, on the Canterbury campus, Kent Sport will open its indoor gym facilities and other services as outlined on its website. The main Co-op store and Library Café will also reopen.

In line with the roadmap guidance, all staff should continue to work from home unless they are deemed critical or essential workers. If you are working on or accessing campus, having followed the latest Government guidance and are Covid-19 symptom-free, it is very important that you get tested twice a week. We are offering asymptomatic Covid-19 testing for both students and staff at both Canterbury and Medway. Booking is currently open at the two sites.

Graduations

We recently wrote to all our final year students confirming our delayed plans for this year’s graduations. While everyone will still receive their certificate so there should be no need to delay plans for employment or further study, it is important that every Kent student can enjoy the graduation ceremony they deserve. Unfortunately, we are unable to guarantee this for this summer – however, we will be welcoming all our final year students to celebrate their graduation at Canterbury or Rochester Cathedral next May.

Summer celebrations

We are working on joint plans with our Students’ Unions to make the most of summer and celebrate the end of term, including a festival fortnight of fun and community on our Canterbury and Medway campuses from 21 June to 2 July. We are aiming to have something for everyone, with music events, outdoor catering, sports programmes, screenings, workshops and much more to coincide with the planned removal of Government restrictions.

Watch out for further announcements on this soon, and I hope as many students and staff as possible can join activities when we can this summer and come together safely to mark the end of a difficult year for everyone.

Richard Reece | DVC Education and Student Experience