Kent has capitalised sensibly on its position near the Channel ports, specialising in international programmes, as well as the flexible degree structures that have been the hallmark of most 1960s universities.

Styling itself “the UK’s European university”, Kent now has a postgraduate site in Brussels, as well as giving many undergraduates the option of a year spent elsewhere in Europe or in the United States.

This process should accelerate with the establishment of the Transmanche University with four counterparts in northern France, which took its first students in 2006.

The project, backed by both Governments, will involve joint courses at a variety of levels and research collaboration. Almost a quarter of Kent’s undergraduates take a language for at least part of their degree, and European studies are among the most popular subject combinations.

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Horizons

The university is broadening its horizons at home as well, however, assuming a regional role. Access courses throughout the county allow students to upgrade their qualifications to university standard, but the main focus is on the Medway towns, where Kent is involved in ambitious projects with Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church universities and Mid-Kent College.

The Medway campus, based in the old dockyard has already exceeded its target of 6,000 students by 2010, with a new School of Pharmacy among the main features of a £50-million development. The first intake of pharmacists was 50 per cent larger than planned and the school is eventually expected to take 430 students.

The original low-rise campus, set in 300 acres of parkland overlooking Canterbury, is tidy rather than architecturally distinguished.

Nightlife

The student centre has a nightclub big enough to attract big-name bands, as well as a theatre, cinema and bars. A university centre serves 1,400 parttime students in Tonbridge, and Kent has gone into partnership with Imperial College London to deliver business degrees at the former Wye College campus. In addition, a series of associate colleges offer university courses. Entry grades are variable, with offers 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).

Applications have been increasing, partly thanks to the Medway development, and 2007 saw another 10 per cent rise in the demand for places.

Medway’s applications were up by 40 per cent. Kent is strongest in the social sciences, although biosciences, philosophy and drama, dance and theatre studies took pride of place in the teaching assessments, each registering a maximum score. The university takes teaching standards seriously, encouraging all academics to take a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education.

Ratings

Kent academics have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships in each of the last three years. Social policy and statistics were rated internationally outstanding in the last research assessments, which showed marked improvement on the disappointing grades in 1996.

Kent has been building up its science departments, among which computing is particularly well regarded, but still two thirds of the students take arts or social sciences. Graduates of all disciplines fare well in the employment market – the university regularly features among the top 20 for graduate starting salaries. It is also on the fringes of the top ten for student satisfaction, with the best record in the country for sports studies and excellent results in pharmacy and architecture.

The university has a more mixed intake than many in the south of England: nine out of ten undergraduates are from state schools and more than a quarter come from working-class homes.

Significant numbers of American and European students give the university a cosmopolitan feel and campus security is good, but some complain that Canterbury itself is expensive and limited socially. Students on the main campus are attached to one of four colleges, although they do not select it themselves. The colleges act as the focus of social life, and include academic as well as residential facilities.

They provide accommodation for all first years. Among £100 million of completed or planned capital developments has been an expansion of sports facilities and the addition of 500 rooms at the Parkwood student village, bringing the total number of residential places to 4,300.

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