Francis Samra

I was kind of one of those perennial students, I did love studying, so having done lots of it I thought to myself "higher education might be a good place to work".

For me there’s different types of values. If you get a good degree, career wise it can open up a lot of doors for you and it can enable you to move in and out of jobs more easily if you have those transferable skills. What made me come to higher education? I suppose, initially, I was interested in maths so I thought it was a natural progression, going from A-Level to higher education. It also enables you to meet different people, move away from home and overall broaden your horizon.

I did my first degree at Coventry University which was a long time ago. I had dropped out of Birmingham University in the first year prior to going to Coventry University, so that was a bit of a knock to my confidence. In terms of difference, Coventry was based in the town centre so there wasn’t much green space and in terms of the student population Kent has a lot more, and to me it’s a much more diverse student population and staff from Coventry.

I don’t know how many jobs I’ve done at the University of Kent, on and off probably for about 6 or 7 years. I’ve worked in HR (Human Resources), I’ve worked on Phase 1 of this project, also in the Faculty Support Office and School of Psychology. I saw a job advertised for HR EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity) advisor and that was something I was interested in. It also involved data analysis which I like and once I joined the university I saw how the whole university works, what kind of environment you’re in, and if you like it, why not stay there which I did.

Probably my mum from a very early age. She was always very supportive of what I wanted to do, whether I wanted to go to higher education or not. She was always there, she would not bribe me but say “if you do well in your exams I’ll buy you this”. Even though she’s not well educated, she can’t speak English very well, she was still very supportive.

I came here to do my Masters in Statistics and I passed that. Although I wouldn’t say it transformed me it did enable me to use that to go on to better jobs, not that I wanted to go to academia or anything like that. I don’t know if transformation is the correct word, but I would say that the university itself has quite a diverse student and staff population so for me that was an eye opener. Even though I came from Birmingham, which is very multi-cultural, when I came to Kent I noticed the number of, let’s say Europeans, which wasn’t necessarily transformational but it was something very different to what I was used to.

Looking back, I'd say the eye opener of seeing all these different nationalities together and meeting them. On my Masters course there were people from Europe, African countries, many from England too, it was very varied and mixed. So if I have any memorable moments it would be meeting all those different people.

I’d say the slow pace and lots of meetings as well. You may go to one meeting then the same meeting a few weeks later where things should have been done, but they haven’t - decisions can take a while! Also understanding the political nature of what’s going on and the bigger picture which, when you’re down there (in the lower grades), you’re not always aware of what’s going on up there (senior/leadership). In terms of systems they’re also sometimes a bit behind. I worked at Kent County Council for a few years and they seem to be a bit more advanced in terms of HR self-service, business intelligence, dashboards, that sort of stuff.

I suppose the Phase 1 project in the School of Maths, and calculating the attainment gaps within the school which they hadn’t done up until that point. We also implemented the AAA (Attend, Attempt Achieve) initiative which I was heavily involved with. At the end of the year we were able to show that it was quite effective in improving student attendance and performance which was a good achievement. Now we are using that in the School of Sports so let’s hope it has the same results.

I would like to see us turn the School of Sports (SSES) around. There’s a high withdrawal rate in SSES to address, and also to reduce attainment gaps between BAME and white students, males and females, as well as other groups. So in a way, I hope we can ideally improve most student’s performance and experience so they enjoy their time at the university rather than just concentrating on the academic side. I think if you go to university, as well as focusing on the academic side you should focus on the all-round experience.

Currently the university is strapped for cash so I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. Brexit as well, there’s quite a large European student population here so it depends what happens with that. The Erasmus program is (could be?) going as well which could have an effect. Caps being removed from student recruitment could impact Kent, so for example Russell Group universities increasing their student numbers could mean other universities ' fight for scraps' in a way. I think its dependent on a few things and also how the university markets itself in the future, because at the moment Kent sees itself as a European university but who knows whether that will be true in the future. We do have many overseas students so maybe change the marketing from just European to being a global university.

A few of the jobs I’ve had have been in EDI so it’s about equality really. I do believe in equality for everybody and that is a main motivator. Treating everybody how you would like to be treated yourself, and wanting the best for all the students coming to the university.

I would say something like what the late Kobe Bryant said; "hard work is one of the most important things, you don’t get anywhere without it unless you’re extremely lucky". You have to put in the work in order to get something out of it. If you want a First (degree) make sure you keep your attendance up, basically hard work and perseverance. Sometimes you will have your ups and downs, but if you are on a downer and you need support, then don’t be afraid to ask for it, whether it’s from your academic advisor, student support or even your friends. Having friends is also important, especially when first coming to university, as without friends you can become a bit isolated. Not only can you go out with them and do things, but if you do need to talk to someone you have them there. Also form good relationships with your lecturers and go to them for advice, try to work with others, but don’t plagiarise and be aware of those pitfalls. Make sure you read your feedback as well because that will really help you when trying to improve your performance. Also get to know your academic advisor because they’re usually your first line of help, or they can point you in the right direction for additional support if you need it.