The University of Kent

The University of Kent (UKent) offers award winning teaching informed by world leading research in Humanities, Sciences & Social Sciences. There are three faculties at Kent, comprising 18 academic schools and 3 academic centres employing over 2.800 staff of which half consists of academic staff. The total student body is around 19.000 students, of which 23% are from outside of the UK, study at Kent’s campuses in Canterbury, Medway, Paris and Brussels.

UKent has a strong international impact, and builds vigorously on its close ties within Europe and beyond. Kent prides itself on being the UK’s European University: the University’s commitment to the European Higher Education Agenda is demonstrated by extensive study abroad opportunities; double/joint degree programmes and research links as well as its presence on mainland Europe. Kent has long-standing partnerships with over 100 universities throughout the EU. Many academic schools and research staff are partners in innovative European projects at the cutting edge of research and education.

Kent has extensive experience of managing EU funded multilateral programmes including Erasmus, the prestigious Erasmus Mundus, Interreg and the Framework Programmes. International development oversees reporting procedures within these awards in cooperation with a centralised Finance Office and the School or Centre concerned.

The School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR) at UKent is one of the largest, most highly ranked and most diverse centres of social science research in the UK. It maintains a high level of research activity, output and public engagement consistent with this position. It has a strong research culture, in which the majority of staff is research active. Public engagement is central to the School’s research activities, with many staff gaining press coverage for their research. SSPSSR Criminologists won the first ‘National award for Excellence in Teaching Criminology’ given by the British Society of Criminology in 2011 for good practice and innovation.

Recognised worldwide for its research quality, the school was ranked 2nd for research power in the UK by the official 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The REF also places the School 3rd for research intensity, 5th for research impact and 5th for research quality (GPA). An impressive 94% of our research-active staff submitted to the REF and 99% of the research submitted was judged to be of international quality. The School’s environment was judged to be conducive to supporting the development of world-leading research, gaining the highest possible score of 100%. Research funding comes through the Government’s dual funding system: the School receives a block grant based on the quality of our research judged by the REF in conjunction with project-specific funding from Research Councils, UK government bodies, UK charities and NGOs, Industry, the European Union and other overseas bodies.