Amid a glaring lack of trust in the 27 members (!) of the Executive Group, each earning at least £100k+ pa, staff are still being burdened with crafting their own redundancy plans, navigating contradictory guidelines and unclear timelines.

Big thanks to our amazing students for orchestrating yesterday's fantastic rally (KMTV coverage here). Your clear demonstration of how this impacts your studies, despite the University's denial, is commendable! And massive gratitude to all for the support - we're almost at 15k signatures! Plus, we made it onto BBC South East.

Here's the latest, 8 days before the consultation period ends:

• Lenders have agreed to refinance the university, contingent on meeting savings targets (details unclear);
• A concise 2-page guide on crafting effective counterproposals has been released (15 days into the consultation period), outlining:
  • The top level decision to discontinue some subjects in order for others to grow cannot be questioned;
  • All subjects must be 'viable' without a clear definition of viability.
  • Counterproposals can't hinge on growth or stability in the subjects under review.
  • Data (and its interpretation) cannot be challenged, and growth promises must be evidence-based (with no alternative data sources accepted though making this impossible).
  • Counterproposals must demonstrate savings, validated by finance (even though the proposal to cut 9 subjects has not been accompanied with evidence of the savings that will be achieved).
• Results from a comprehensive 2023 staff survey at Kent were released on Friday: 93% don't believe the executive group effectively responds to challenges, 90% think they don't listen to staff views, and 86% think they don't take accountability for tough decisions.
• On the bright side, while a blanket extension for consultations won't be granted, each subject can now request up to a 2-week extension (confirmed on Friday).

In summary: while we might get an extension we are still tasked with crafting implementation plans for a proposal whose principles cannot be questioned. There is no real scope to ‘counter’ anything in the documents we should submit, and consultations continue to be meaningless. The lack of trust in our (very large) Executive Group is at an all time low.