Joint statement from Student Hubs and Kingston University

Since 2014, Student Hubs and Kingston University have worked together to deliver place-based social action activities for Kingston students through our Kingston Hub, expanding to in-curricular delivery since 2017. In those nine years, we’ve shared fantastic success through our impact on students, the local community, and the wider university. Over our time together, we are incredibly proud to have engaged over 5000 students in social and environmental action through in-curriculum Community Engaged Learning modules, practical volunteering opportunities, and skilled placements, as well as meeting community needs through the development of new initiatives such as Empower.

In light of a new strategic direction both from Kingston University and Student Hubs, a difficult decision has been made to end our partnership in its current structure, which means the closure of Kingston Hub. 

The legacy of our partnership with Student Hubs can be seen in the new strategic direction taken by both our organisations. The value of community-engaged learning within the curriculum and creating opportunities for students to engage in experiences that align with their own purpose and values has been proven through the various programmes we have piloted together over the past nine years. We look forward to upscaling these further through our Town House Strategy and the Future Skills student journey, and I am grateful to both Student Hubs and to the many staff, students and community partners that have contributed to our partnership.

Ali Orr, Director of Student Development at Kingston University

It’s been a pleasure working alongside Kingston University for almost a decade. In this time we’ve seen many changes to the higher education landscape and what students need to thrive during their journey, and together we’ve been able to pilot new initiatives which actively meet these needs in novel ways. We look forward to seeing how Kingston continues to drive this work forward under their new strategy.

Simran Dhanjal-Field, CEO of Student Hubs

The wrap up of Kingston Hub will take a few months as we ensure our students, community, and partners are well supported to flourish going forwards. Our partnership in its current format will run until the end of October 2023. There will be more details to follow as we map out our approach to this process. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our students, community members and organisations, and staff at both the University and Student Hubs who have contributed to Kingston Hub’s success over the past nine years. We will be in touch directly with partners to provide a clear offboarding process from current activities and to share more about our plans for the future. 

If you have any questions, please see the relevant contact details below: