Position Details

College of Medical and Dental Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £29,762 to £32,411 with potential progression once in post to £36,333

Grade 6

3 positions available

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 1st June 2023

Role Summary

Our mission is to work in partnership with students to empower them to get involved, achieve their goals and grow at university.

These are our priorities:

• Community - We believe that every student, no matter their background, should feel welcome and included at their university.
• Feedback - We believe that students should be partners in their learning and have a say in their experience at university.
• Development - We believe that university expands your horizons. We're here to give students the opportunity to build useful skills and develop themselves as people.
• Communications - We believe in the importance of keeping students informed on the things that matter to them in ways that are useful and engaging

It is important that students have a positive and distinct experience at each step of their University career. The post holder is therefore responsible for enhancing student engagement, driving continuous improvement in the student experience, and ensuring that students are appropriately supported throughout their journey to graduation and beyond.

Whilst some of these improvements to the student experience and engagement will be informed by student feedback, the post holder will adopt a proactive approach, engaging with students and staff on a day-to-day basis and also looking at best practice across the University and the wider-sector to continuously review, evaluate and enhance services, support and teaching and learning.

Working with academic and professional services colleagues within the College of Medical and Dental Sciences, and across the University, the post holder will: develop and coordinate the delivery of an annual programme of activity to support students; manage student feedback mechanisms in order to identify opportunities to enhance student experience; and, deliver a range of dynamic communications to all students.

Main Duties

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Working with key staff and students, develop a culture of inclusion and community within programmes, and the wider college and university, with a focus on underrepresented students.
• Working with academic leads and professional services staff, develop and coordinate the delivery of an annual programme of student engagement activities (from Welcome, student induction/re-induction through to graduation and alumni engagement) which support and enhance the student journey; acting as the first point of contact for staff, student societies and groups and supporting the development of student led activities e.g. networking events.
• Ensure the effective operation of a range of student feedback mechanisms e.g. student surveys, focus groups, module/programme review, Staff Student Forums, Student Reps etc., providing professional services support for the development and coordination of the delivery of action plans in response to the student feedback received to ensure the continuous enhancement of the student experience.
• Develop and deliver a range of dynamic communications to all students and staff around student engagement and enhancement activities and key messaging, continuously reviewing and improving the effectiveness of these communications.
• Working with the appropriate professional services and academic leads, contribute to the development and delivery of a Student Experience and Wellbeing Strategy and related policies, processes, ensuring these are periodically reviewed to remain up-to-date and relevant.
• Contribute to the delivery of a number of College and University wide projects e.g. UoBe Festival
• Working with colleagues across the institution and the Guild of Students, assist in the planning, promotion and delivery of student experience and enhancement initiatives and activities
• Support equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.

Person Specification

You will need to evidence:

• Educated to degree level, or relevant experience in a similar role
• Considerable experience of supporting students in higher education (either in a voluntary or paid capacity)
• An understanding of undergraduate, postgraduate, international and Distance Learning education and the student lifecycle and specifically, issues affecting higher education (nationally and internationally) and the importance of the student experience.
• An understanding of the importance of student feedback systems.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a p roven ability to work with a range of stakeholders including students, academics, and senior managers, across the institution and a high degree of personal accountability with the ability to influence, motivate and win support.

You will be:

• Proactive, highly motivated, and well organised, with the ability to work on own initiative and prioritise workloads in order to set up and coordinate new activity or initiatives with a flexible, creative and proactive approach to problem solving
• Willing to do things differently, with experience of delivering projects and initiatives with measurable outcomes and deliverables
• Able to analyse data and to use the outcomes to inform action planning
• Committed to team working
• Experienced in delivering an excellent customer experience
• Proficient in IT, with an aptitude for learning new packages to support analysis, presentation and communication of information (including VLEs, social media and other digital communications)
• Willing to work flexibly, occasionally outside of normal working hours
• Committed to continuing professional development and training

In addition to the above, you should be able to demonstrate and/or evidence the following:

• A good understanding of how to deliver excellent customer service.
• The ability to interact with individuals at all levels of internal and external organisations.
• Exemplary attention to detail and the ability to work confidentially, use judgement and make appropriate decisions within the constraints of the role.
• Experience of supporting committees in a secretarial capacity.
• The ability to cope with change in a fast moving, dynamic environment where change is often required immediately.
• An understanding of the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
  

Further particulars can be found here

Informal enquires to Rebecca Varney, email: r.c.varney@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working .