Governance

University of Kent is part of London and South East University Group, established on 1st August 2026.

LASE University Group is a company limited by guarantee and a charity, with one unified Board of Governors, one executive team and one Vice-Chancellor.

The Board of Governors is the main decision making body of the University Group.  It has the ultimate responsibility for setting and monitoring the strategy of the University Group. The Board of Governors agrees the strategy of the University in conjunction with the executive and monitors its implementation.

See full details of the new LASE University Group governance arrangements.

Charter, Statutes and Ordinances

The University of Kent at Canterbury received its Royal Charter in 1965. The University’s Charter, Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations form the University’s constitutional framework.  

• The Charter sets out the University’s fundamental objectives. 
  
• The Statutes provide information on the appointments of the Chair, Deputy Chair of the Council, the Vice-Chancellor and the Chancellor and make provision for the appointment of Deputy Vice-Chancellors and the Secretary of the Council.
• The Ordinances define, amongst other things: the academic Schools, the University awards and membership of the University. 

The Council, the Senate and the Court

The former governance structure of the University included the following which are no longer in place:

• the Council and its sub committees had overall responsibility for the governance of the institution.
  
• the Senate, had responsibility for the academic work of the University.
• the Court included representatives from many sections of the local and national community as well as the University’s principal officers. 

The University of Kent is a founding signatory of the Magna Charta Universitatum. Signed in 1988, the Charta is a commitment to institutional autonomy for universities, the link between teaching and research, academic freedom and the internationalism of higher learning. The Charta has an associated Observatory that gathers information and forms opinion from signatory institutions to promote fundamental university values.  

The University of Kent was established by Royal Charter in 1965. It is an exempt charity subject to the provisions of the Charities Act 2011 (HMRC reference number XN5452). 

The Office for Students is the principal regulator for all higher education institutions (HEIs) in England which are exempt charities. All HEIs with exempt charity status are required to publish the following information on their websites: 

• The legal name and the correspondence address of the institution (see below).
• The main constitutional documents in force currently.
• The names of the institution’s trustees (members of Council) on 31 January each year, together with a list of all other charities (if any) of which each trustee is then also a trustee.
• The full audited consolidated financial statements for at least five years.
• The main constitutional document of the HEI, the Royal Charter, versions published from the 2009/2010 academic year onwards.

The University of Kent is an exempt charity in accordance with Schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011. The Order in Council came into operation on 1 October 1965.

The University’s legal name and correspondence address is:

The University of Kent
The Registry
Canterbury
Kent
CT2 7NZ
United Kingdom

Queries about the above should be sent to the Director of Governance and Assurance (Jo Wright) at the above address.

To contact us about anything Governance matters please email councilsec@kent.ac.uk