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InQuire The University of Kent’s student newspaper
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23 October 2015 Issue 11.5
Meetings Mondays at 6.15pm in KLT3
Creepy cakes and bakes
Are youth disengaged?
Features Page 10
Interview with Amy Ziering
Editorial Page 19
Issues and Analysis Page 5
Another win for Kent
Grieving students fined £6,500 Natalie Tipping Editor-in-Chief
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Photo by Connor Murphy
Jack Hadaway-Weller Newspaper News Editor
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ent has broken into the top 20 of Times Higher Education’s ‘Table of Tables’ for the first time in its history. The University of Kent has achieved its highest ever ranking in the Times Higher Education (THE) ‘Table of Tables’, since the table’s inception in 2008. The placing comes after Kent was also shortlisted for two Times Higher Education awards by THE for Outstanding Support for Students, as well as the main prize for University of the Year.
Kent rose four places in the THE rankings, the highest climb of any institute in the table, from its 2015 ranking of 24th, to its 2016 ranking of 20th. The top four universities of Cambridge, Oxford, St Andrews and Imperial College London remain unchanged, with Cambridge having topped the table for its fifth consecutive year by achieving the maximum 90 points. THE ‘Table of Tables’ rankings are calculated through compiling the results of tables collated by The Complete University Guide, The Good
University Guide, which is published by The Times and The Sunday Times, and The Guardian University Guide. Each university is awarded points that correspond with their overall ranking from each separate table. The leader of each table is awarded 30 points, whilst the second is awarded 29 points and so on. The three scores are then added together to denote the institution’s overall ranking by the THE. Through achieving 16th place overall in The Guardian
University Guide, as well as performing well in the other tables, Kent managed to achieve 32 points overall. The University’s ViceChancellor Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow said The hard work and commitment of all our staff and students has resulted in Kent having its most successful year to date across a range of important university league tables.’ The results of THE University of the Year awards will be announced on November 30.
tudents who were left traumatised after their friend died in their house from a drug overdose have been taken to court by their former landlord. The landlord, Werner Toogood, has taken the students to court with claims that they owe him £6,500 in unpaid rent, after they decided to vacate the property due to the awful circumstances. The students have argued that the event meant that they were unable to move back into the property. In spite of this, Toogood is demanding that the students pay the remaining five months rent in order to fulfil the contract. The claim for £6,529 was taken to Medway Civil Court on 9 October. At the hearing, the house heard that the property had been rented for the academic year 2013/14 through the Student Lettings Agency, a company run by Mr Toogood, which looks after around 200 properties in the area. Speaking about his case, Toogood said: “It was not our circumstances that changed, but the tenants’. Had the building fallen down, it would have been a different argument.” Toogood’s central argument is that because the student, Robert Chavda, died of an MDMA overdose that was selfinflicted, the other tenants are still bound by their contracts. Continued on page 4.