University of Stirling Hiring for Academic Quality & Governance Officer Job at Stirling, Scotland Full Time

Full time, Open ended

The closing date for applications is midnight on Sunday 09 January 2022
Interviews are expected to take place on Thursday 20 January 2022

This role is not eligible for sponsorship. Applicants require to have existing right to work in the UK.

The University of Stirling recognises that a diverse workforce benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers and welcome applications from those who would contribute to further diversification of our staff and ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is woven into the substance of the role. We strongly encourage applications from people from diverse backgrounds including gender, identity, race, age, class, and ethnicity.

The Post

The post of Academic Quality and Governance Officer is part of Academic Registry and sits within the Academic Quality and Governance area of the team. The team is responsible for three key areas of operation: Academic Quality Assurance and Enhancement, Academic Governance, and Student Appeals, Complaints, and Discipline. The team reports directly to the Academic Registrar and supports and provides expertise to the Academic Registrar as required in order to support the successful achievement of Academic Registry objectives. Expertise and support is also provided by the team to University Senior Officers in these areas of operation, such as the Principal, Deputy Principals, University Secretary, and Deputy Secretary. The team also works collaboratively with the University’s Faculties, Divisions, and Professional Service Units to achieve institutional objectives in respect of academic quality and governance.

The Academic Quality and Governance Officer provides key operational support across the Academic Quality and Governance area’s responsibilities in order to support effectiveness and efficiency in operations, the maintenance of up-to-date records, data and management information, and communication with the area’s internal and external customers and stakeholders.

Description of Duties

• Contribute to the operation of the University’s academic quality assurance arrangements, facilitating consistency, robustness, timeliness and completeness of activity. Within this, for example, coordinate the administrative operation of annual programme monitoring and act as Review Manager for some Learning and Teaching Reviews
• Maintain accurate and effective records and data, in line with specified templates/databases/systems, in relation to the University’s curriculum
• Contribute to academic governance arrangements by supporting the effective operation of committees managed by Academic Registry. This may include tasks such as agenda preparation, minute taking, report/papers preparation, engagement with committee members. Within this, contribute particularly to the operation of the Academic Panels to support robustness of approach.
• Support the robust operation of the University’s academic appeals policy and procedure, facilitating effective considerations of appeals at all stages of the procedure, effective record keeping and communications to students. Align this work with that relating to the operation of Academic Panels, in the context of Academic Panels acting as a point of decision-making in respect of appeals
• Provide support to complaints/student discipline handling, e.g. maintain accurate and up to date case handling information used for management purposes, note-taking, communication with complainants/students/staff and setting meeting dates, day-to-day monitoring of case handling timelines, identification of potential risks and escalation of these to colleagues within the team as appropriate
• Carry out administrative work associated with external examining, e.g. liaising with Faculties to ensure the timely submission of taught external examiners nominations, assessing the nomination forms against University criteria, processing external examiner appointments, arranging access to the University VLE for taught examiners, conducting Right to Work checks, receipt of external examiner reports, processing external examiner payments and expense claims, maintaining core external examiners records on SITS in accordance with the Data Retention Schedule, preparation and maintenance of guidance on external examining
• Support the preparation and maintenance of key dates such as semester dates, graduation dates, and administrative operating dates, working in conjunction with Academic Registry colleagues including the Academic Registrar, and with colleagues in Faculties and other Professional Services
• Support ongoing development and review of University academic policy and regulations, consultation process, the publication of policy and other documents, and associated communications with colleagues across the University
• Support the University’s preparations for, and management of, reviews by the QAA, and support reviews by other external or professional and regulatory bodies as required
• Act as a consistently professional and solution-focussed ambassador for Academic Registry as a whole
• Contribute proactively to the ongoing development of business processes, procedures and working practices within the team to support continuous improvement and optimum efficiency
• Undertake any other duties as may be required, in line with the grade and nature of the role, as directed by the Academic Quality and Governance Manager or the Academic Registrar

Essential Criteria

• Educated to degree level, or employment experience in related fields
• Experience of working in the area of quality assurance or academic governance within an HE environment
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to effectively coordinate a multi-task workload
• Strong administrative skills
• Experience in managing multiple logs of data and information
• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels, both orally and in writing
• Extensive experience of preparing committee reports and papers
• Experience in minute taking at committee and management meetings
• Ability to work independently and with initiative, but to also operate successfully in team and wider collaborative contexts
• Ability to work with strong attention to detail, accuracy, and within specified deadlines
• Experience of maintaining confidentiality in all areas of work
• IT skills, including proficiency in the use of the Microsoft Office suite

Desirable Criteria

• Experience in supporting committee management
• Experience in the presentation of statistical information

Behaviours and Competencies

The role holder will be required to evidence that they can meet the qualities associated with the following behavioural competencies, as detailed within the AUA Competency Framework.

The University

The University of Stirling is a leading UK teaching and research-intensive university, created by Royal Charter in 1967. Since its foundation, the University has embraced its role as an innovative, intellectual and cultural institution with a pioneering spirit and a passion for excellence in all that it does.

In 2016, the University launched its current Strategic Plan https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/our-vision/our-strategy/ (2016-2021), with targets to: be one of the top 25 universities in the UK; increase income by £50 million; enhance its research profile by 100 per cent; and ensure internationalisation is at the heart of everything it does.

With three-quarters of its research ranked world-leading and internationally-excellent (Research Excellence Framework 2014), the University’s groundbreaking, interdisciplinary research makes a difference to society and has a positive impact on communities worldwide. Stirling’s research is making a positive impact on people’s health, education and wellbeing, with key strengths across our research themes of: Cultures, Communities and Society; Global Security and Resilience; and Living Well. The University collaborates with international governments and policymakers, businesses, industry, and charitable organisations, to tackle and provide solutions to some of the toughest global societal challenges.

For more information on working at Stirling, please visit https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/work-at-stirling/.

The University offers great benefits such as generous annual leave and membership of the Universities Superannuation Scheme. Additionally staff can benefit from a reduced membership rate at the University’s excellent Sport Centre facilities.

A full list of FAQs can be found here, we recommend you read these before making your application.

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Terms and conditions of this post can be found here.

After the closing date, this job advert will no longer be available on the University of Stirling website therefore please keep a copy for your records.

Job Reference: SERV01389