All about Kent Uni

The University of Kent calls itself the UK’s top European university. There are three faculties at Kent, comprising 21 Academic Schools: Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences, plus 3 academic centres. The main campus is in Canterbury, Kent, with other campuses in Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels and Paris.

Campuses

The Canterbury campus is about two miles from the city centre, and sits in around 300 acres of green space. There are over 19500 students at the university, over 14000 are undergraduates. The female to male split is 53 / 47, and over 12% are international students. Nearly 5000 live on campus in halls, flats and houses, some catered and the rest self-catered.

The University of Kent’s Brussels campus is a specialist postgraduate school, located 15 minutes from the city. The Paris campus, near the Jardin du Luxembourg and the centre of the city, runs 12 month programmes – ideal for MA students who want to spend a year in Europe. And for students looking for part-time degree courses, the Tonbridge campus offers a range of certificate, diploma and BA Hons classes.

At Medway, the campus is shared between the University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Greenwich. Each of the Higher Education institutions offers its own range of courses and buildings, all located at the famous Chatham Maritime site. (Visit our sister site www.medwayuni.com for more information about this campus.)

Teaching

The University of Kent offers around 400 undergraduate degree programmes, and has around 665 paid academic lecturers.

Students have the option of taking a single honours degree (one main subject and up to 25% in another subject) or joint honours (two subjects.) The number of contact hours students can expect per week depends on the subject; full-time undergrads are expected to do at least 1200 hours of study per year (contact hours and private study.)

Courses span the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. This includes business, economics, law, drama, history, english, engineering and digital arts, maths, statistics and actuarial sciences, biosciences, forensics, social policy and psychology.

Fees

Undergraduate students (UK and EU) looking to study at the University of Kent in September 2011 will pay £3375 a year in tuition fees (a Foundation Year course is £1345.) From September 2012, undergraduates will pay £9000 a year in tuition fees.

International undergraduate students pay £11,230 per academic year for non-laboratory courses and £13,400 for laboratory courses. A Foundation year programme costs £9500.

Postgraduate students pay a standard fee for full-time coursework (£4,500) or full-time research (£3,732). Additional courses charge a non-standard fee, ranging from £2,000 to £17,800.

Part-time certificate, diploma, degree and postgraduate course fees vary according to subject or specialism.

Funding

Full maintenance grants are worth £1000, and partial maintenance grants £250 to £750. Partner Schools and Colleges scholarships are offered to local students to continue in Higher Education (£1,000 a year.) Each of the University’s 21 Academic Schools offers one scholarship per year to any UK or EU full-time undergraduate student for academic excellence (£1,000 a year.)

Music scholarships are worth £1,000 a year. Sports are between £250 and £5,000, with additional scholarships between £2,000 and £2,500 awarded in partnership with Kent County Cricket Club, Canterbury Rugby Club, Canterbury Mens and Ladies Hockey Clubs and Old Bordenian Mens’ Hockey Club.

All University Schools and Centres offer scholarships for postgraduate study. They range from one-off payments of a few hundred pounds to tuition fees or maintenance payments. UK Research Councils also support postgraduate training and research. The Disability and Dyslexia Support Service can also help with applications for funding to pay for specialist assistance and equipment.

Facilities

The self-contained University of Kent campus in Canterbury has a range of facilities for students. These include halls accommodation, library, sports centre and pitches, theatre, nightclub, cinema, cafes, bars and restaurants, shops, medical centre, pharmacy, day nursery, computer rooms, chapel and launderettes.

You will find purpose-built teaching facilities and laboratories, lecture theatres, seminar rooms, performance and exhibition spaces. The School of Arts building made the RIBA shortlist for its unique architecture. There is a multi-million pound Sports Pavilion and a dedicated Music building on the way.

Ranking

The University of Kent is ranked 27th in the Guardian 2011 Guide; 34th in The Complete University Guide and 39th in the Sunday Times.

The Unistats website says 87% of final year undergraduate students at Kent were satisfied with the quality of their course (National Student Survey.) It also reports that 89% of students have a job after graduating or continue with further study. Only 56% are employed with a graduate job.

Term dates

University of Kent students break up for the summer on 17 June 2011. The 2011-2012 academic year begins with the Autumn term, from 26 September 2011 to 16 December 2011. Spring term starts on 16 January 2012 to 6 April 2012, and the final Summer term from 7 May 2012 to 15 June 2012.

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