What does this mean for me?
While Schools will be now be part of new academic Divisions, they will retain their identity and you will still be part of the same subject community with your fellow students. You will still have an academic adviser and teaching and professional service staff to guide and support your studies. However, there may be some changes to the way you access some support services to make things simpler and more consistent - these will be confirmed by your Division.
When will I notice changes?
The six new academic divisions will be in place for the 2020/21 academic year, with recruitment to a number of roles taking place over the summer.
While our intention is to minimise any disruption to your studies as things change behind the scenes, you may start to see mention of the Division your School is in when you contact support services. Any key changes to contacts will be communicated with you directly.
Why are you changing how the University is organised?
Feedback from our students and staff over a number of years identified areas where we needed to improve.
This included needing things to be more consistent for students, while also being able to respond more quickly to the things that you need.
With the new Divisions, there should be no major changes to your academic experience and you will still be part of the same subject community - however, the services around that will become easier to access for everyone and will be better shaped around your needs.
What will the new academic structure look like?
The new structure brings Schools together
into six academic Divisions. The current faculty layer will be removed, giving the new divisions will have greater autonomy to make local decisions that meet the needs and expectations of their
individual students.
Each subject area will still retain its own identity, meaning you will remain part of the same subject community with your fellow students. However, some support services will be joined up to allow for a more consistent approach.
Will I still go to my school if I have questions or concerns about my studies?
Yes – your academic adviser in your school can offer individual advice and guidance to help you make the most of your academic and personal development.
What will happen to support and admin services?
We know from the feedback students gave us that the School administrative services could be inconsistent due to the varying size and scale in different areas.
Under the new Divisional support structure, each area will have consistent teams that will work together to ensure students benefit from the same high standards.
This will be based on the principle that students should get the same service regardless of their area of study, while also ensuring that staff in each area are able to move quickly to change things if they need to.
How have students been involved in the project?
We worked closely with Kent Union while developing our initial proposals for the project to ensure we best represent students’ views.
We also continue to hold regular engagement events with student representatives and full-time officers to gather feedback on what is working well and what we could improve as the new structure comes into effect.