Moving Beyond Steam 'Train-ing'

Just a quick one here to share the excitement I have about the new Societies and Volunteering group (SLVG) Training which will be delivered on Monday the 17th of September which is the Monday of welcome week.

Having attended this training day for several years whilst a society committee members and delivering it myself last year, I really felt it was in need of a spruce-up. The old system meant that students sat through a lecture-type session which would last the best part of an afternoon. The room was not always fit for purpose and it was all pretty dry administrative stuff. Last year the attendance was higher than anyone can remember... in forever.

However, a few weeks later I was invited to help out at the course-rep conference as one of the trainers and the format felt so much more engaging and inovative. There were short plenary sessions which were a bit like lectures but there were exciting guest speakers who came along to deliver these. The rest of the day was broken into skill-based group training sessions where the volunteers shared their own best practice and the differences in the different departments and shared knowledge of how best to get results. Students were free to select which sessions they attended and the sessions were much more interesting and big-picture. This was something that I really wanted to replicate and develop.

So here is what I have come up with... there will be a new societies handbook which is currently being drafted. It is designed to be comprehensive and answer as many questions as I could remember societies ever asking and from my own experience of bieng involved with societies for the last 5 years. It will cover all of the administrative stuff such as how to claim back cash, book transport, apply for additional funding, run a complex event, complete a risk assessment, become an admin on your page, access further training through the union and much more besides.

 

This means that the amount which needs to be covered in a 27 hour long lecture can be cut down (I hope) to about 90 minutes of introduction, health and safety and finance training. The afternoon is going to be made up from these break-out sessions where groups will work together sharing best practice with an experienced trainer and will be able to choose which sessions they attend. This also means that you can spread the load across your committee and wont reply just on your president to remember everything. I am hoping that this will enable societies to become more effective and efficient. The sessions will be much more strategic than operational thereby inspiring groups to think about the bigger picture and how they can improve the quality of their own experience.

With the new employability and volunteering toolkit getting ready to launch as well as a new handbook for societies, this could be one of the best-informed years at least! The morning plenary will be in RLT1 with afternoon 'break-out' sessions being in Keynes seminar rooms.        

Please bear in mind that the training on the day may differ from the sessions below. Please contact me at union-activities@kent.ac.uk if you have any questions or suggestions.  

Session	Trainer	Objectives
K.S.C.V and Community Volunteering	Steph Hughes and Natalie Tiu	Introduction to the K.S.C.V scheme including platinum and new Gold+ as well as introducing some of our other volunteering opportunities in the community
Planning Events Safely	Helen Close	A session which helps volunteers to plan their events strategically, safely and for ultimate success
Successful Fundraising	Nick and the RAG Team	This session will help groups to think about creative ways to fundraise for their activities and charity as well as understanding their relationship with RAG
Getting to Grips with Budgeting (SLVGS)	Steph Hughes	This session is aimed at helping volunteers to plan their expenditure and use their funding to best effect.
Getting to Grips with Budgeting (Societies)	Amy Van-Poppel	This session is aimed at helping volunteers to plan their expenditure and use their funding to best effect.
Effective Teamwork	Suzanne Payne	A session working on effective leadership as well as dealing with pressures when working in a team with volunteers.
Using Media Effectively	Mel Lewis	A session which helps volunteers to use social media as well as student media to its greatest potential.
Developing Your Group (SLVGS)	Steph Hughes and Natalie Tiu	A session aimed at moving each group onto ‘the next stage’ from new group to established group, then leading group. Helping groups define their own success
Developing Your Group (Societies)	Caroline Demetriou	A session aimed at moving each group onto ‘the next stage’ from new group to established group, then leading group. Helping groups define their own success

Room To Swing A Cat

An irrelevant  Shocked looking Kitten

Hi All, I just wanted to make a couple of short posts to update you about some of the latest issues that I have been working on for societies and students led volunteer groups in particular.

As many of you know, last year a change was made to the room booking system meaning that you can no longer book rooms directly with the college masters. Instead this is done centrally through the timetabling office. Room bookings are made by societies online using a link, groups request their room requirements, this is sent to us at the Union who then confirm that the booking is on behalf of a Kent Union student group. This then gets forwarded onto timetabling who will do their best to accommodate the groups' needs and then get back to them with a booking I.D which is confirmation of the room having been legitimately booked.

Eliot Hall, The Most requested room on campus for
our student societies. 

Although it could be said that it is an advantage having all of the room bookings going through a central location there are still limitations to the system. If students want to book facilities that are in a school building as opposed to a college building then this must be done with the individual school, outdoor bookings are made with estates, some bookings depending on location (particularly spaces with commercial 'value') are booked through hospitality. In addition, some spaces are controlled by the union, but in fact the only space which students could really use for activities are the bars.

In addition to this, the real clincher for students has been that although in most cases the official line was for college masters to require a week's notice to book rooms, in actuality exceptions were made in some of the colleges allowing for a level of spontaneity and flexibility. Another potential problem for students is that under the old system 'average Joe student' could book a room for say... group study. To my knowlege the only way this can still be done is either with the Library or through an academic.        

Our Circus skills society; have special requirements
for the rooms they use 

Recently I met with the Academic registrar and timetabling to thrash out some ideas and see if there were any improvements that could be made to the system namely whether we could cut down on administrative delay and  secondly, introduce a limited number of rooms on campus which could be booked at short-notice (less than a week). Through the efforts of the stretched timetabling department some success was possible with the design and introduction of an improved online booking link that will mean that requests will not have to wait to be forwarded from Kent Union but go directly to timetabling with only 'questionable' bookings being flagged up by Kent-Union which should help to speed up the process.

Unfortunately, due to "the complexity of operating a two tier system it was felt that this is not a viable proposal" which effectively means that a short-term room booking option is still out of grasp for most groups. Any suggestions at this stage would be welcome.

However, every cloud has a silver-lining! Performing-arts groups may be in luck. Following a meeting with my friends at the Gulbenkian, a space has been available for societies and volunteer groups to use. Short-notice bookings will be possible for this room which is available from 1 (I think) until 6pm on Wednesday afternoons. This space is large enough for a small rehearsal I am told. If you are interested in this space then you need to get in touch with Jess Thomas who is in charge of marketing at the Gulbenkian. I am very grateful for their efforts so far.   

The Attic Bar has a great open floor but will in future be a busier cafe
 in the day, prohibiting use for society activities 

In addition to this I have recently met with Venue General Manager Renaud and Hels who is in charge of facilities management. The Attic is hoping to improve its daytime provision including the installation of a new 'proper' coffee machine and improvements to lighting and power provision which is hoped to make it a more inviting space for social and group study.  This does put pressure on societies who had been using it occasionally for bookings for dance or musical rehearsal. In reaction to this Hels and Renaud are looking into whether there are any improvements that can be made to the cleaning rota which would allow groups to use the balcony and venue floors for activities space from Monday to Wednesday during daytime hours. Another small improvement. Please contact R.Mayers@kent.ac.uk if you are interested in using this space.     

An impression of the new Colyer Fergussion Music Building Main Hall Interior

I have also recently met with Sue Wanless who is the director of music at the University of Kent. The new Colyer Fergusson music building which is being constructed on the Canterbury campus (due for completion in October 2012) will have soundproofed rehearsal rooms of all sizes which I have been told student groups will have access to for the price of an access card (£5). This will be available to groups who have music as their main objective such as Music, live music, CPAS, Musical Theatre and any other groups who wish to make music.

I am unaware of any such developments at the Medway campus and would love to hear about any advances that have been made. I am looking forward to attending the new democratic meetings that are being set up at U.M.S.A which should allow for greater empowerment and effectively turning complaining into campaigning.    

Softly softly catchy monkey!

  

Gearing Up for 2012 and Student Participation

Well it's mid-August and we are only about a month away from the new intake of wide-eyed and fresh-faced student intake of 2012. For me and many other students at Kent, arrivals week is the most exciting time of year with online fora already starting to buzz with an expectant hive of students-to-be firing questions at current students and staff.

Volunteer 'Welcome Helpers 2011' 

In my opinion, welcome week is something that Kent Union do really well, with an incredible amount of forethought going into the planning of the events and entertainment which is organised for new and returning students. One overwhelming piece of evidence that leads me to believe that other returning students enjoy the week as much as I do is the number of students who choose to volunteer every year as welcome week helpers moving students into their new homes and helping them to become socially and emotionally as well as geographically adjusted. For any of you who may be arriving in September or may have missed the welcome week in the past, each college (Rutherford, Eliot, Keynes, Darwin, Woolf and Parkwood) have a team of helpers in brightly coloured t-shirts who not only physically help new students to move in but also arrange much of the college-based entertainment in the first week. Helpers are trained the week before arrivals weekend admirably arriving back in Canterbury a week early in order to do this. This year the training is undergoing a few improvements which should make it more streamlined this year. In addition this year's event will be extra-special as the sabbaticals (Kent students' elected representatives) will be announcing the Priority campaign which will be the primary focus of campaigning efforts this year.... and its a goodun trust me! These volunteers will be the first to know.

Kent Unions' International  event

Some events that should not be missed under any circumstances are the welcome fayres on September 20th and 21st. Here all of our societies and sports teams will be advertising themselves to new members, airing their wares and explaining what it is that they contribute to the diverse range of student-led activities at Kent.

If you are an international student then the international dinner on Tuesday 18th is a lovely event (with free food, drink and entertainment... can you ask for more?) its also a great way to meet other international students. I personally find meeting international students really rewarding which is one of the reasons I will be working closely with the international students' officer as last year. After the dinner the Big International night out is an event revitalized and revamped at the Venue and Attic. I don't want to give too much away at this stage but the event is going to be more regular, more fun and more lavish than ever before, don't miss out all are welcome! You can Find the Venue Facebook page here.

Another annual event that occurs at this time of year is training for our student groups. Having attended this training a fair few times myself as a student and delivered it once it feels pretty dry as it is based around a rather traditional lecture type delivery with the trainer just 'telling you stuff you need to know.' I felt that this was really tired and dated and almost cruel to expect volunteers to sit through 4+ hours of. Therefore, what we're planning this year will be based on a different model. I am writing a societies handbook which will include pages of useful information and answers to frequently asked questions. Hopefully this should empower the leaders of societies to be able to find solutions to their own challenges without having to wait to speak to a member of Union staff or one of the officers. This will also mean that we will not have to go into the basics in details on the training day. Instead, volunteers will only need to attend a shorter 90 minute plenary session, the afternoon session will focus on group sessions where societies can share their best-practice, experience and knowledge lead by an officer or member of staff on sessions such as; developing your group, effective fundraising, community projects and using multimedia effectively.  Both of these projects as well as the priority campaign are the projects I am managing ready for release in a month's time. And it doesn't feel like much time at all.

Kent Union Society Storage facility arrives August 2012

The society storage campaign  that I have been working on over the last year has now taken solid form! One of the main problems caused by not having any storage to speak of is that many volunteers are forced to store equipment in their own homes which is not only inconvenient but risky for a range of reasons. Pictured is a new storage facility under Eliot College walkway, a second facility is to be built in the next couple of months behind the Venue in order to accommodate further groups. Due to ongoing developments to the sports facilities on the Canterbury campus, some sports clubs will also be using this space which is a project that Matt (VP sports) and myself will be managing over the next year.

In addition to these projects there has been good progress with Kent Union's online volunteering and employability systems. The new "E and V toolkit" will be integrated meaning that students will be able to log their hours and see how their employability skills are developing on the same system that will be used by external volunteering providers to log their opportunity for volunteers. Future plans may see further integration with the University's 'my folio' and 'employability points scheme' with the ultimate goal being smooth operation between all of the toolkits provided at Kent for students to register and manage their own skills in preparation for future employment.

At Kent's Canterbury campus we have some incredible opportunities in activities with encouraging growth at Medway. Sadly, I feel that the 'traditional' student experience which is sought by many of Kent's Medway students is still not provided and students wait with bated breath to see whether their will be investment in a flexible social space that students will be able to use for their activities at Medway. The C4 site is a possibility for development, Medway students may have to hold their breath a little longer to see if the institution/s decide to invest in such a project. Greenwich and Christchurch students with their less traditional demographics and lack of on-campus dwellers may be less affected by the absence of a social hub. With Kent students at Medway paying £9k fees next year I wonder how this lack of social space provision will affect application numbers from Kent's 18-21 pool. Envy of the Canterbury facilities is at least steady.

Kent Union put £714,000 back in students' pockets 

Another thing that concerns me is how student participation in extra-curricular activities will be affected. With the exception of sports scholarships  or perhaps music scholarships there is no prior commitment to engage in activities outside of your academic studies and not all students will have access to these programmes. With rising tuition fees and high cost of living generally and in Canterbury especially, more and more students are looking for part-time work which is not necessarily easy to find in itself [Guardian 2010] .Research supports that there will be an increasing number of stay-at-home students studying at their local institution in order to keep costs down [Guardian 2011] This may have fiscal advantages but how does this affect the students' experience by not living in halls on campus or shared accommodation in their second and third years often seen as being large parts of the University experience.

Kent Union and The University believe that being involved in volunteering and activities whether sports, societies, volunteer groups or media is highly beneficial to students helping them to build up skills that employers find valuable and look for in job applications. It is also important not to overlook the de-stressing benefits of sport and hobbies. Never-the-less, with 40 hours spent on students' academic commitments per week as well as part time work, will students be able to make time for this valuable experience? Can students afford to be as involved as they have been in the past with less free time?

I hope so.

Your comments are graciously received.   

Summer and Student Groups Q and A

Its that time of year that is supposed to be 'quiet' for students' unions considering that most undergraduates have gone back to their family homes and many postgraduates have their noses to the grindstones writing research papers and dissertations. In truth, its just a different sort of busy being the time of year when the National Union of Students (NUS) run the majority of their training sessions, not to mention our own internal induction process for the new elected officers and staff. It is a chance to prepare for the year ahead and complete any projects with the relative 'quiet' of an office, locked-in.

One of my projects this summer is to re-write the societies handbook, a document which I hope will empower societies to be able to find solutions to their challenges and answers to their frequently asked questions rather than having constantly having to come to the Union which is frustrating and time consuming for them.

I've recently been in contact with an associate member of one of our societies twittername @Sk1mble who has raised some issues some of which are frustrating societies at the moment, you can view his blog here. I thought that it might be useful to address some of those issues via a blog so other society members and committees can view my response.

Paying Society Membership

Not so long ago societies were taking cash payments from their members in payment for their society memberships. Unfortunately, there were occasions where this money was not paid into the correct account or was not paid into the society funds at all and was therefore unaccountable for. Therefore, society memberships can be bought on-line at the Kent Union website  using the 'worldpay' service or alternatively can be paid in-person at the Mandela reception on campus by card or cash between 9-6 Monday to Friday in termtime. Kent Union tries to discourage societies from handling cash where possible although for some events this is unavoidable.       

Online Society/ Volunteer Group Elections

In the recent past societies held elections at their own Annual general meeting with a 'returning officer' sent to societies in order to ensure that elections were fairly conducted. The Union holds its own main elections on-line through the MSL web-based system. Considering the growth of the number of groups, the reported inconsistencies between society elections and the time taken for the volunteer returning officers (members of societies federation committee) to attend all of these meetings it was decided that society voting would be cast on-line. Benefits of using the on-line system include the ability to track the number of people voting, consistent, fair and accurate elections across the board. Groups would still have their hustings debates and A.G.M.s but would cast their votes on-line.

However, based on feedback given throughout the year by societies anecdotally and at societies federation meetings (once a term) it was felt that where the on-line system was beneficial it was not yet able to effectively fulfil all the needs of societies such as being able to see who has been nominated for positions and stand last-minute if a position was not going to be filled, for instance or being able to find out the results immediately. MSL have been contacted to see if these changes to the system can be made ideally giving individual groups admin control over their own elections rather than it having to be done centrally.

In light of this, for 2012-2013 societies and student led volunteer groups will be encouraged to use the on-line system but will be able to request a volunteer returning-officer if they wish to hold a paper-based election. 


Some societies have had to request the results to their elections or have been kept waiting for prolonged periods which is something I am looking into as I don't believe that this should be the case and that election results should be transmitted automatically.          

Constitutions and Membership fees

Societies and volunteer groups write thier own constitutions based on a core document provided by Kent Union. Any changes to this must be approved by the individual society membership (usually at a general meeting) and Vice-President Activities/ societies federation committee or volunteer committee (elected representatives.) These changes are rarely refused unless they conflict with Union policy i.e inclusiveness, cause significant overlap with the activity of other societies or the law.
 
Societies may set their own membership fees, notifying Kent Union of any changes. They must be at least the minimum fee and must charge associate members (non-Kent Students) at least £1 more than full members (Kent Students). At the last societies federation meeting in the third term of 2011-2012 it was voted to increase the minimum fee to £5 from the previous £3. This was agreed as part of a new funding package to give increased funding to the smallest groups who most need the financial aid. The details of this new funding package will be published in the societies handbook which is currently being designed.

General Bureaucracy

Kent Union and myself personally acknowledge that the Union's systems are clunky and not member-friendly  enough. So much of what is currently done is paper based and office centric and here are some of things we're working on at the moment.

*A new full time staff post has been created to help with the administration and development of sports and societies

* A new form is being put together in order to make organising events simpler, consolidating these into one easy to use form.

* Looking into on-line video training sessions

* A new comprehensive societies handbook  

* Facilities where student groups can view their accounts on-line

* Transport tender looking into providing more accessible transport for student groups

* Increase to the sports, societies and volunteering development funds

* Building of two purpose built storage facilities for our student groups

* Student led stand-out (employability) sessions worth £150 each in society fundraising (see previous blog)

* Cross training of activities staff to provide answers to basic student queries


If you have any additional suggestions please feel free to contact union-activities@kent.ac.uk

     
    

 

That's Entertainment

Kent Union 'Ents' Forum  

Chillin` in the 'student union' for a 'swift half' after a long day of lectures/ revising/ not a lot is not a new concept for students all over the country. Student Unions have often provided a bar as one of their services for students often offering a relaxing atmosphere which students can really have a sense of ownership over buy a reasonably priced beverage and enjoy some quality student focussed entertainment.

However, long gone may be the days where student unions can rely on healthy 'wet sales' of alcohol to prop up their finances and fund the kind of activities which cost money such as running our sports teams and societies or the Kent Union advice centre which sees over 4,600 students in need of advice.

Students just aren't big drinkers.... 78 cup beerpong?

Nowadays tax on alcohol is high and coupled with this, student unions individually and nationally through he NUS often have strict policies on responsible drinking even beyond the requirements of the law.  Supermarkets can mitigate against the tax levied on products because of the wide range of products that the provide. This means that there is a real change of culture in the way that students (and indeed society more widely) consume alcohol. 'Predrinking' or 'preloading' which is the practice of downing a few before heading out to party has had a serious toll on the 'spend per head' especially in the Venue and attic. Customers have already had as much as they want to drink before they arrive at the club which apart from creating issues with people being less than sober in the queues also means that people are drinking less in Union outlets.

I have my reservations about a system which increases the tax on alcohol in order to discourage (especially young) people from over-indulging. I think that the principle of a minimum price for a drink is also wrong. The strategy should be to encourage society to bring its drinking habits back into bars an pubs and to empower landlords to be able to operate responsibly and keep an eye on consumers. I would also propose that alcopops and other products which are targetted at young people but are cheap to produce and of low quality should be taxed the hardest and certainly not real ales, artisan ciders and wine where the main customers generally have a more mature attitude to the consumption and appreciation of the drink rather than 'getting smashed cheaply.'

Apart from this, the attitudes of students are changing generally. Coming to university is expensive and a lot of people don't want to get 'wasted' every night. This is even more the case with increasing numbers of international, postgraduate and mature students, this means that we need to be responsive to the needs and wants of students.          

Teetotal rave superstar "Crazy Hands" source of much
feedback at the forum. 

Three years ago at AGM a policy was passed to set-up an entertainments committee of students that would offer feedback to and be a liaison and working group with Kent Union licensed trade. Not much work was done on this over the two years that the policy was active but at the beginning of my term this year I really felt that there was a need for this group. Changing it from an elected 'committee' to an open 'forum' that any student could attend, students attending were offered free entry to the attic or venue every time they attended a meeting.... and they could bring a mate!

As will all new initiatives it got off to a bit of a bumpy start but by the end of the year there was a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/309225215767462/ and regular meetings every other Thursday chaired by myself and often with a member of licenced trade present. Feedback ranged from the length of the queue times and service times to the quality of individual acts, the customer service, the price of drinks, the way the attic and venue operate as separate venues in a shared building to feedback on the Summer Ball, Keynestock and new nights such as Prism. There was also a lot of feedback about the implementation of our Zero Tolerance to sexual harassment and discrimination http://www.kentunion.co.uk/goingout/thevenue/zero/ as well as the difficulty of putting on student organised events in Kent Union outlets especially the Attic.

Based on feedback on the method of feedback, members of  the group felt that the process was positive and felt it particularly useful to hear the actions that had been taken based on the feedback given. I am particularly excited about the hiring of Renaud our new Venue manger an the recruitment of a new Entertainments manager who will be working closely with students in order to improve the range of nights as well as work more closely with student gro.

Below are some of the plans Kent Union have to improve the service at the Venue and Attic in particular and outlets in general.

"We are reviewing how people can get on a guest list and why. We want the process to be leaner, with more controls. We are thinking about a pass system for some people.

A Twitter wall as well as a text wall are part of the plans for next year. You should have both of them up and running by September. These were part of our requests sent to both sound and light suppliers we deal with. We are negotiating a new contract that should see the venue undergo a full make over on both sound and light and it should save Kent Union around £10 000 a year.

We are running simulations at the moment with next year’s budget and it is part of my plans to increase the amount of glass collectors employed each night to 2 on each floor.

Furthermore, glass collectors baskets have been ordered. This should enable glass collectors to collect more glasses quicker, hence keeping the floors and shelves clear of any rubbish.

This in turn should ensure that glasses are cleaned and returned to the bars quicker. Thus hopefully reducing the waiting time at the bars for our customers.

Heavy petting : Once again, this is subjective, subject to personal opinion and perception.

Couples are going to flirt and kiss. That is all too natural.

We need to ensure everyone abides to common rules of decency and do not cross the line. There should be no groping going on.

The feeling that there are more incidents at the Venue can be explained by the fact the Venue holds more people than other outlets on the campus.

When you multiply the people in one venue, you multiply the risks. This is simple mathematics.

Add to this the fact the premises are much bigger and slightly darker and it makes it the more difficult to detect misbehaviour.

Considering the average age of the people involved and the total weekly footfall, we can consider the Venue to be a pretty safe nightclub.

We will redraw the door team deployment plan to make it more effective, pre-emptive and reactive.

This should hopefully reduce the amount of bad behaviour in the venue accordingly.

Regards people drinking too much; this is part of our duty of care and  part of responsible licensing also.

We are drawing a training session for supervisors and bar staff. People who seem too drunk should not be served at the bar. This is against the law. End of story. Staff and supervisors will be trained accordingly.

Bar supervisors will spend more time behind the bar also, helping us all enforce the adequate policies and procedures in place.

Queues : We are trying to change the admission system used on the tills to speed up admission times. 

Furthermore, having that many people outside is a health and safety risk. And as people get frustrated, tempers flare and that may lead to an increased risk of fighting and other misbehaviour.

Yeah will not be continued next year, a new Friday night session will be organised.

However, regardless of the session attendance, we cannot vary door prices. Law dictates that we should display door prices at the door/admission desk and we can’t change or deviate from it.

Prism : Under review. A final decision will be taken once the new entertainment manager is hired and settled in

Summerball…

With such events, I am afraid we will not be able to please everyone. Every single one of us has different music taste and a favourite band/DJ. It is simply impossible to make every  people happy.

We have spent a substantial amount of money on entertainment this year and regardless of how much more we would spend, we would still upset some people.

A 1 hour DJ set can cost between £5000 and £15000.

One big name asks for £9000 per 30 minutes worth of performing…

A full band is more expensive.

If the artist has had a number 1 chart hit in the 6 months previous to the performance booked, you can expect prices to double.

What I can do is ask my staff and supervisors and you guys to give me a wish list for the acts next year and we will make our utmost to meet expectations… As long as expectations are realistic."

If you are interested in getting involved with the forum and want to offer your feeback next year, drop me an e-mail at Union-activities@kent.ac.uk

K.S.C.V Awards night 2011-2012

I thought I might write a few words about the K.S.C.V awards nights. These are annual events at Medway and Canterbury Campus which celebrate all of the hard work and time that is given so freely by dedicated students at the University of Kent.

Medway's Asian Society

Last Night's Medway awards was well attended, volunteers collectively contributing 5,000 hours+ with the vast majority being within the local community. Certificates were awarded by the Deputy Major of Medway also giving a speech with Tom Ritchie (Union President). There was a dance performance from Medway's Asian  Society as well as a buffet which was enjoyed by all.     

This year over 80,000 voluntary hours were logged by Kent students across the Campuses which was nearly a doubling of last year's 45,000 hours. A very impressive figure. Apart from the 250 attendees recieving awards from across the spectrum from 25 hours 'Bronze award' to the highly demanding 'platinum award' which constitutes a 15 credit module which can be taken as part of the volunteer's degree or can be used for additional credits. The University Of Kent is one of only three universities I am aware of that offer a volunteering award like this. 

The K.S.C.V Gold Certificate is awarded
to volunteers contributing at leas 100 hours

In Canterbury, Special congratulations were given to Simon Smith of the Magic Society for contributing a total of 1,000 hours of volunteering during the course of his platinum award. Certificates were also awarded by Kent Raise and Give the charitable arm of Kent Union's volunteers who's 'escape and evade' event had seen volunteers raise over £500 for charitable causes. In the event, students must try to get as far away from the University as possibe and back for free. 

As well as the awardees themselves there were also speeches from Tom Ritchie Union president who's speech stressed the 'transformative' nature of volunteering changing the individual and community for the better. Keith Mander spoke on behalf of the University thanking the volunteers for their continuing efforts over the years and expressing that time is a comodity more valuable the money which is being donated. Thirdly Derek Smith, graduate of the univeristy of Kent and external trustee on Kent Union's Board shared his memories experiences of the people met and experiences shared at University, his message was that 'people are more important than things' and giving an alternative meaning to the student certificate in Volunteering as 'Keep Serving, continue volunteering.'

'Platinum' Awardees 2011, Canterbury   

My own message was of the responsibility that we have as a generation for the continuation of Voluntary work, that not only are we contributing to the community through the work we do but that in doing so we are passing on our personal values, giving something back and the idea that every individual can make a difference. Often Students dont think of themselves as volunteers because the projects that they are working on are of personal interest to them as if the fact that they are passionate about a good cause makes it less valuable. This is of course not the case. Finally, the work that we are doing in the community is combating ageism and the misconceptions that students have a negative net impact on the local community. If you were to ask any of the local causes that students have been working with I think they would confirm that the contrary is true.

If you are interested in getting involved in something new or want to further your volunteering experience you can contact s.l.j.hughes@kent.ac.uk for details of how to get started. It may be the most rewarding thing you ever do and you don't know what it could lead to... this was the case for me. 

Gimmie a Job

  

Has it come to this? 

Employability, employability, employability. The University of Kent is nuts about the word and rightly so. The Blair government had a proclaimed target of 50% of school leavers attending higher education. Where I agree with the principle of free and accessible education for all as a principle, I do not necessarily believe that having a figures based target such as 50% was necessarily the right way to go about achieving this aim. I personally believe that University is great for many but for many it isnt the only definition of success and for some its just simply not for them. All who are willing and capable of studying at Degree level should be able to do so but I wonder whether we can pluck this figure out of the air and make a policy based upon it.

However, the point is that many more people have a degree now than ever before. I recently heard someone say that nowadays having a masters' degree is the equivolent to having a degree thirty years ago. The University of Kent's strategy is certainly focussed towards the growth of postgraduate numbers, particularly oversees students and as was to be expected, following the rise in undergraduate tuition fees to £9,000 a rise in postgraduate fees has fallen upon us. From my perspective this must partly be due to the need to maintain the perception of the value and quality of a postgraduate degree. However, support for postgraduates financially is not as robust as it is for undergraduates and often postgraduates are forced to hold down a part time job (particuarly challenging at postgraduate level especially for a highly condensed one-year taught course) or take out a personal loan.

Impressive Woolf Lecture Theatre near Postgraduate
accommodation at the Canterbury Campus

Whether you are considering a postgraduate degree or not its fair to say that if you are 21, freshly graduated with no work experience you are going to find it harder to walk into a job then our parents' generation did thirty years ago. So what are you going to do about it? My answer to this question is to take your fate into your own hands... get out there and develop your skills through volunteering. There are many ways you could do this including going directly to charitable organsations or community groups in the local area or you can pop up to the activities centre above essentials and speak to Steph our volunteering co-ordinator or myself about the wide range of opportunities available.

Another way that thousands of students at the University of Kent are making themselves more employable is by being involved in a society, CSR, Inquire or a student led volunteer group. Many people get involved in these projects because they have a passion for them not necessarily thinking about how they are passively developing the skills and knowledge that could be the clincher in that first job interview.

The University runs a scheme offering intern ships and other
rewards for students who have gone the extra mile 

In February during the sabbatical elections I was fortunate enough to be able to meet with Karl Leydecker the Dean of Humanities a few months esarlier I had been informed by Sam O'Hana (English School rep) of a possible opportunity. Humanities had expressed an interest in organising sessions for students during the third term which could develop employability skills for students. As any society will tell you funds are hard to come by and sponsors are not very forthcoming in these austere times. So Sam set up a meeting for us all.

What Happened Next?

We proposed that the leaders of these sessions could be students sharing their own skills and experience gained through extra-curricular activities on campus and in-turn further developing thier own skills through presentation and training. Each student led group whether society or volunteering group would lead a 90 minute session open to all students and be funded £150 by the faculty of Humanities towards their yearly activities. There were nine sessions planned with a trial total of £3,000 funding from Humanities. The first sessions were held last week with Kent Technical Services organising two techinical sessions; one in lighting and one in sound for musical gigs. Feedback was excellent and their hands-on session was very popular. Considering the specialist nature of the sessions the up-take was also pleasing.

Sessions are ongoing to the end of term on Wednesdays , they are free and everyone is welcome. If you would like to reserve yourself a place you can e-mail standout@kent.ac.uk. Be sure to check out the programme below as there are some exciting options to chose from and you can join as many sessions as you like. You'll also be helping to put up between £1,500 to £3,000 back into the coffers of societies to be spent on student activities.

Whatever stage of your degree you are at its worth checking out the wealth of knowledge available through the Careers advisory service provided by the University.