#Kentfacts Twitter campaign highlights University's positive and varied impact

Campaign underlines the variety of ways in which the University, its staff and its students contribute to Kent and the wider South-East.

In order to highlight the variety of ways in which the University, its staff and its students contribute to Kent and the South-East, the #Kentfacts Twitter campaign highlighted some of the eye-catching facts and figures about the University and its day-to-day operations. We’ve rounded up the campaign posts below.

1. Students who left in June 2018 donated an incredible 7.832 tonnes of items to the British Heart Foundation – this is the equivalent weight of an African Elephant. #kentfacts
2. Donations from the University of Kent to the British Heart Foundation in Kent during the academic year 2017-2018 helped to raise just over £30,000 for the charity (based on each bag being worth around £14). #kentfacts
3. A huge 44.283 tonnes of furniture was reused under the Warp-It scheme in 2017-2018. We estimate savings from the start of the Warp-it programme has reached £546,638 with a goal to reach £1m by the end of the academic year. #kentfacts
4. The University is working to incorporate food grown on campus into its menus and phase out the use of palm oil in cooking. #kentfacts
5. The University sold over one million meals over the last academic year from its various restaurants across our campuses in both Medway and Canterbury. #kentfacts
6. Student staff have worked more than 100,000 hours in our restaurants, cafes and bars across our campuses in Medway and Canterbury. #kentfacts
7. We sold over 500,000 Fairtrade teas and coffees in the last year – we suspect a fair few biscuits got dunked along the way too. #kentfacts
8. Dolche Vita sold 9,312 Katsu Chicken curries in the last year. Yes we’re counting. #kentfacts
9. The University has won the Group Travel Organiser Best University Accommodation for Groups award 11 (yes, eleven) years in a row. #kentfacts
10. Visitors who stay in our accommodation during the summer love what we offer. Turing College has an average score of 8.4 on Booking.com and Keynes College 8.5. Fast WiFi, ample parking, lovely grounds…what’s not to like. #kentfacts
11. We really proud of the fact that Kent Union volunteers logged over 90,000 hours both on campus and in the local community during the 2016/17 academic year. #kentfacts
12. From June to September 2017, the University’s Conference Office hosted 4,595 events, contributing over 200,000 overnight stays to the tourist economy of the region. #kentfacts
13. The Canterbury campus is home to a wide variety of species including a number of protected species, the most notable of which is the Great Crested Newt. #kentfacts
14. The University has a team of 12 grounds staff who oversee our 300-acre campus, which is home to a wide variety of landscapes, including woodlands, fields, hay meadows and seven ponds. #kentfacts
15. The Templeman Library on the Canterbury campus, which is open to the public, is home to over a million books and journals and covers 18,750m² – equivalent to over 95 tennis courts. #kentfacts
16. There are of 12 miles of shelves holding books and journals in the Templeman Library – that’s further than from Canterbury to Faversham. The library is available to members of the public at all times. #kentfacts
17. The Templeman Library, which can be used by the public too, was increased in size by 5,000 square meters during refurbishment work and now has 1,670 study spaces. #kentfacts
18. The Drill Hall Library in Medway is 184 meters long, thought to be the longest library in Europe. In total it contains 2.7 miles of shelving. #kentfacts
19. In 2017 the Templeman Library was open for 355 days and on an average day around 9,000 people use the library, including members of the public who can access its resources free of charge #kentfacts
20. There have been 12 million visits to the Templeman Library over the last 10 years from staff, students and members of the public. #kentfacts
21. Over 117,000 people attended more than 1,000 arts and culture events on campus in the last academic year. #kentfacts
22. The University has been shown to have an economic impact of £907m in the south-east, supporting 9,448 jobs. #kentfacts
23. The Gulbenkian attracts 100,000 visitors to its events each year, ranging from films and theatre shows to comedy nights and political debates. #kentfacts
24. The Gulbenkian has a big focus on engaging young people in the arts, with over 3,000 children and young people taking part in creative learning programmes hosted by the theatre. #kentfacts
25. The Gulbenkian will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2019, with exciting events planned around the anniversary date of June 10. #kentfacts