The Times and The Sunday Times | Education - University UniversityGuide

University of Kent

NATIONAL
RANK

74.7%

FIRSTS
2:1s

91.4%

COMPLETION
RATE

Key Stats

n/a

TEACHING
QUALITY

23rd

STUDENT
EXPERIENCE

42nd=

RESEARCH
QUALITY

31st

GRADUATE
PROSPECTS

Contact details

ADDRESS

The Registry, Canterbury, CT2 7NZ View on map >

Telephone

01227 827 272

information@kent.ac.uk

Website

www.kent.ac.uk

Open days

October 4 (Canterbury); October 11 (Medway)

University Profile

Kent will open its first new college for undergraduates in 45 years before its 2015 intake arrives. Turing College, named after Alan Turing, the Enigma code breaker, will have 800 study bedrooms and a hub building with social and study areas, catering facilities and a launderette.

The development will not only maintain the university’s position as one of the best-provided in terms of accommodation – with nearly 6,000 places in Canterbury alone for 15,000 full-time students there – but also give it scope to expand.

The university, which celebrates its 50^th anniversary next year, has been moving steadily up our league table, rising another three places this year, fuelled by a further increase in levels of student satisfaction, good graduate job prospects and an improving completion rate.

Kent offers scholarships of £2,000 a year (renewable annually) to candidates who achieve at least AAA at A-level, or the equivalent, to attract the brightest students in today’s more competitive higher education market.

Applications rose by more than 7% in 2013 and there was a similar increase in enrolments. Every student is attached

to college, although they do not select it themselves. The colleges act as the focus of social life – especially in the first year – and include academic as well as residential facilities.

Capitalising on its location, Kent has become probably the UK’s most active in Europe, both in terms of its participation in EU programmes and in its continental ventures. Styling itself “the UK’s European university”, Kent now has postgraduate sites in Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome, as well as giving many undergraduates the option of a year abroad.

Student City

Tammy Naidoo, students’ union president

There are partnerships with over 100 European universities, and 25% of all students are from outside the UK. The university has been broadening its horizons at home as well, with access courses throughout the county and a Medway campus, at the old Chatham naval base, that is shared with Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church universities and Mid-Kent College.

The School of Pharmacy, is the main feature of a £50m development which now has more than 2,000 students from the university. The university has another base in Tonbridge serving 3,000 part-time students, who are mainly taught in associate colleges.

Kent’s original low-rise campus is set in 300 acres of tidy parkland overlooking Canterbury. Recent developments include the prize-winning Colyer-Fergusson Music Building, which cost £8m and boasts flexible performance space with outstanding, adjustable acoustics and retractable seating for up to 500.

Kent School of Architecture’s new Crit Building provides also contains one of the most advanced learning environments of its type in the UK. Among several other major projects is an ongoing redevelopment of the main Templeman Library, due for completion by 2016, and a student media centre that is due to open this year.

The student centre has a nightclub large enough to attract big-name bands, as well as a theatre, cinema and bars.

On the Medway campus, a new School of Arts opened in 2012, with flexible work spaces for painting, sculpture, printmaking, film, photography, music and performance projects. There is also a £1m sculpture workshop and recording studios, as well as more than 1,000 residential places nearby.

The university has a good record in the National Student Survey and tries to safeguard teaching standards by encouraging all academics to take a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. Kent academics have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships in five of the last six years.

The student population is more diverse than many in the south of England: over nine out of ten undergraduates are from state schools and nearly 30% come from working-class homes.

Entry grades for full-time degrees have been rising in most subjects, although there was a slight dip in the average Ucas points held this year (372). Offers are pitched according to the UCAS points tariff, although those taking A-levels are expected to pass at least three subjects (one of which may be general studies).

Graduates of all disciplines fare well in the employment market – the university regularly features among the top 20 for graduate starting salaries.

Kent was much more successful in the 2008 research assessments than in previous exercises, with more than half of its submission placed in the top two categories. The university has been building up its science departments, among which computing is particularly well regarded, but still a majority of the students take arts or social science subjects.

Campus security is good, although some complain that Canterbury itself is expensive and limited socially. Residential accommodation was upgraded and extended with the £25m redevelopment of Keynes College and completion of the Park Wood student village.

Sports facilitieshave improved considerably following an investment of £4.8m in a fitness suite, which includes an extensive range of free weights, as well as four Olympic power-lifting platforms. A multi-purpose fitness and dance studio has also been built a new indoor tennis centre has been added alongside the sports centre.

SHOW LESS

Detailed Statistics

PERFORMANCE