About us
The University of Kent was founded in 1965, growing to become the anchor institution in the county it is today. Our 16,000 students and 3,000 staff are spread across two campuses, with a combined economic impact in the region of £0.9bn a year.
Building for the future
With recognised strengths including Law, Business, Computing and Biosciences, we are currently making changes to make sure our offer can adapt to student, government and employer needs. Along with the critical driver of embedding financial sustainability across our activity, this reflects an approach built around our students and shaped by their changing expectations of a university education.
Collaboration and connectivity are at the heart of this, with the combined talents of our students and staff coming together to ensure we have a transformative student experience, groundbreaking research discoveries and a significant role across wider society. Proudly international throughout our first six decades, the University is also committed to an open approach that creates space for thousands of first generation students who might never have considered university before joining us.
Through initiatives like the Kent and Medway Medical School, the University brings vital skills to the region, while its Institute for Cultural and Creative Industries reflects a desire to support the fastest growing sectors in the UK. This is supported by a thriving international alumni community that includes two Nobel Prize winners along with leading lights from the Arts, Politics and Business.
Delivering excellent education
Our students are diverse, passionate and independent, helping to shape their communities as thought leaders, volunteers and co-creators. Recent work on the Race Equality Charter and Kent Students’ Union’s Student Voices Project exemplifies a commitment to EDI which is shared across the organisation.
Employability is integral to our offer , with employers helping how we deliver and assess our courses to make sure they are authentic and driven by what they need in the years ahead. We also actively seek new ways to open up education, from online learning to apprenticeships, to support personal and community development as well as business growth.
As we look to the future, we want students to get a rich, varied education from the University which is delivered in ways that meet their needs. Flexibility, value for money and an indvidualised approach are all central to this as we increase our focus on classroom time with students.
Outstanding research quality and impact
Kent’s longstanding research strength is driven by the positive change we make locally, nationally and internationally. Our research performance was recently ranked 32nd in the UK, while the latest Research Excellence Framework saw the majority of our submissions rated as world-leading or internationally excellent, with eight subjects in the top ten for research quality.
Collaboration and creativity underpin our approach, with groundbreaking initiatives like our Right to Food programme showing how we drive innovation and economic growth by bringing different areas of expertise together. We work to address critical societal challenges, including how to best respond to ageing populations, the role of synthetic biology and bioengineering in ensuring a sustainable future, and using conservation to reverse the destruction of habitats.
The expertise of our academic staff in turn informs our teaching, with leading-edge research and innovation used to fire our students’ imaginations and support their career ambitions. Through strong partnerships and close links with businesses, our academic research and the contributions of our students directly drive economic, social, cultural and environmental impact, creating tangible benefits and meaningful solutions for the world around us.