The University of Kent (originally titled University of Kent at Canterbury and still often referred to as UKC) is a Glass Plate University in the United Kingdom. It was granted its Royal Charter in 1965 and the first students arrived in the October of that year. The main campus covers 300 acres (1.2 km²) and is in an elevated position just over two miles (3 km) from Canterbury's city centre. It has approximately 7,500 undergraduates. A second campus has recently been established at Medway - this has resulted in the formal title of the University being contracted from the original "University of Kent at Canterbury".

This campus university's on-campus residential facilities are of modern design, and are divided into four "colleges", named after famous thinkers: Keynes, Rutherford, Eliot and Darwin. Each building also contains a mixture of teaching rooms and offices, alongside social facilities. However the University cannot be considered collegiate in any true sense - many of the colleges rely on each other, for day-to-day operation. For example, Keynes College no longer has a dining hall, and so the students resident there are catered by other dining halls, most notably the older and larger, Eliot college. Many students are allocated accommodation irrespective of their college, which reduces the ties further. In addition to these college accommodations there are also Becket and Tyler Courts, two new blocks catering to undergraduate (Becket Court & Tyler Court B & C) and postgraduate students, and Parkwood, a small purpose built village slighty removed from the main campus solely for student accommodation.

The Grimond Lecture Theatre is named after a former Chancellor of the University, Jo Grimond. Another important building on the campus is the Gulbenkian Theatre, named in honour of the Gulbenkian Foundation which helped fund its construction.

Popular with the local community is Cinema 3 , a cult and arts style cinema that operates out of the Cornwallis Lecture Theatre in the evenings.

The University of Kent Students' Union, also known as "Kent Union", is notable for having the unique position of "Duck Warden" amongst its many office bearers.

Chancellors

• 1963-68 Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
• 1970-90 The Lord Grimond
• 1990-95 Robert Horton
• 1996- Sir Crispin Tickell

Alumni

• Rosie Boycott - journalist, former editor of The Independent
• Alan Davies - comedian and actor
• Gavin Esler - BBC Newsnight Presenter
• Charlotte Green - BBC radio presenter, voted "Most Attractive Female Voice on National Radio"
• Kazuo Ishiguro - novelist, Booker Prize winner
• David Mitchell - novelist
• Tom Wilkinson - actor, Oscar nominee
• Frederick Kambemba Yamusangie - novelist

Trivia

• In 1987 an honorary degree was awared to Oliver Postgate, creator of Bagpuss. He stated that the degree was really intended for his creation, who was subsequently displayed in academic dress.

External link

• University of Kent website
• University of Kent Students' Union website