Election 2018: What have Kent Union Achieved so far?

The Student Leadership Team and the Student Representatives work for both students and the wider community. They ensure that the voice of students is heard and that they get the most out of their University experience.

Each year, the Sabbatical Officers of Kent Union lobby for changes to the University and Union policies in order to improve Students’ Academic interests and make sure that students have a say on education whilst studying at Kent.

In an interview conducted by InQuire last week, Kent Union President Ruth Wilkson said, when asked “Can you give an update on what the Union has achieved this academic year so far?” Responded: “There’s loads of stuff I could talk about here and it would fill a newspaper.”

She said: “Some big exciting things have been winning the Zero Tolerance funding to tackle sexual harassment. We are about to launch in January an exciting Nightline which is a confidential, non-judgemental, student led listening service. For the first time ever we are running a joint awards with the University in June which will be a huge celebration of student achievement (nominate yourself and others now online). We are working hard towards the development of a real Student Union Building, and the Free printing development is making strides but not ready to release to students yet. Common rooms with kitchen facilities are being lobbied for in schools so that hopefully at some point in the near future you will have a common room near you!”

Here are some of the other recent achievements that the current Kent Union body have said that they have fulfilled so far:

Advice Centre Opened

The Advice Centre was a recent addition to Kent Union that offers free, confidential and impartial advice for students at Kent. They offer drop-in sessions, telephone consultations, bookable appointments, or email advice on a range of topics, including academic interests.

Digital Rep

Kent Union launched Digital Rep, an online tool giving students the opportunity to record feedback about their university courses, which Kent Union say helps to “directly influence and shape university courses. The Union then works closely with Student Representatives and Academic Schools to put feedback and ideas into place. Since the start of this academic year, Kent Union have reported to have received 157 Digital Rep responses representing 423 students.

Lecture Capture

Following 6 years of campaigning from students, Reps, and Sabbatical Officers, Lecture Capture became University policy in 2017, which enables staff to easily produce recordings of lectures and make these recordings available via Moodle to students.

Free Printing

Free printing is on its way; by printing a small advert at the bottom of each page, Kent Union say that this will help to save students’ vast sums of money.

Kent Academic Societies now Free

Last year, Kent Union lobbied the University to completely fund academic communities, meaning that membership of Academic Societies such as Kent Student Law Society (KSLC) is now free to join.

University Facilities

-Working with the Turing Students’ Committee, Kent Union successfully lobbied the University to improve the Turing hub, making it more fit for purpose for students.

-90 more seats in the library placed in the 2nd level of D block by the end of the spring term.

-Architecture Reps secured a kitchen for their undergraduate students in their school, with a petition signed by over 300 students.

Other Achievements

-Student Reps in Medway prevented the School of Music and Fine Art from closing and instead have worked with the School to redefine its future.