Job Description

We are seeking an experienced, enthusiastic, proactive manager who is committed to providing an excellent programme management provision. The role sits in the Faculty Education Services department and is responsible for professional, high-quality service provision to both the students and academics of the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine.

The post holder will lead the Programme Management team in delivering a professional and service centric provision, ensuring the Programme, Placement & assessment (PPA) Team is consistently welcoming and proactive in supporting students and academics across the large suite of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught programmes of study in the School of Bioscience Education.

The post holder will be responsible for managing end-to-end programme administration across all Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught programmes; ensuring systems, process, procedures and data management are effective, accurate and auditable.

The post holder will manage the effective coordination of student administration across the range of programmes, from enrolment through to annual progression, attendance monitoring, course completion; ensuring that procedures and policies routinely meet the university regulations and all other statutory compliance obligations, such as those of the OfS, QAA and UKVI.

This role sits within the Faculty Education Services in FoLSM at our London Bridge campus – visit the King’s HR pages for more information:  www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/index-new.aspx

Benefits

King’s provides an extensive and varied range of career-focussed training and on-the-job learning. We support staff to maintain a work/life balance, offer flexible working and parental leave opportunities, reduced membership rates for staff at gyms at three of our campuses, an Employee Assistance Programme which provides free, confidential advice on both home and work concerns as well as 27 days annual leave (plus Christmas closure days), an occupational pension scheme, season ticket loans and being part of the cycle to work scheme. Find out more at  www.kcl.ac.uk/hr/staffbenefits/index

This post will be offered on a fixed term contract until February 2027.

This is a full-time  post.

Key responsibilities

• To lead the programme administration across all Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught (non-PSRB) programmes in the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. Proactively managing all operational aspects of the cohort of programmes including enrolment, timetables, module information, programme handbooks, engagement monitoring, progression, attendance monitoring and changes in circumstance, occupational health and completion.
• Responsible for delivering a robust planning cycle that supports competing operational routines; ensuring limited administrative resources are deployed across varying priorities and are able to be flexible across the annual cycle. Finding solutions to often business critical problems at short notice 
• Responsible for all matters relating to staff employment and performance; recruitment, selection, induction, retention, equality, management of leave and sickness procedures. Ensuring all staff receive an annual personal development review with appropriate training and support, to encourage a successful and effective contribution to the department and that supports succession planning 
• Line manage two operational managers across the programme cycle; enrolment, timetabling,  engagement monitoring, module evaluation, annual progression, changes in circumstance, course completion. Ensuring a solution-based approach to the management of team workload.
• To ensure the PPA team deliver a high quality administrative provision to all students and academic colleagues; embedding a service centric ethos that is at ease with change and comfortable with the principles of continuous review, innovation and enhancement. Proactively driving efficiencies across administration, in particular ensuring the PPA supports development of technological solutions.
• To plan and manage student communication and the efficient coordination of busy generic mailboxes. Working with colleagues in the Faculty Communications team on other student communication as required.  
• To ensure published programme information is maintained and up to date across all media; working closely with the Digital Education Team (DET) team and academic leads to make sure KEATS information is accurate and regularly refreshed to meets student needs  
• To be fully conversant with College, programme and, where applicable, accrediting body regulations in order to provide authoritative advice and guidance to staff and students.  Supporting academic colleagues with specific complex case work as required, seeking university advice where necessary. Proactively identifying and escalating areas of risk to student experience or institutional reputation where appropriate.
• Accountable for the data quality of the student record, ensuring record keeping is accurate, up to date and is of a highly organised standard, able to withstand audit scrutiny and support accurate statutory returns at short notice.  This high standard extends across all record keeping whether on spreadsheets, paper, SITS student record or other system
• To manage collation of data for routine statutory returns and external reporting, as well as providing management information to required timelines to support committee work, management of student life-cycle processes and enrolment requirements.
• Ensure local programme or School policy and procedural documentation is able to stand up to scrutiny of statutory compliance and in accordance with university standards of best practice. 
• To ensure the PPA provides professional servicing for School of Bioscience Education committees/   sub committees and Management Groups. Working with academic programme leads to deliver well-managed servicing routines in accordance programme governance structures.
• To instigate operational service and process reviews; leading on embedding a culture of continuous improvement and enabling all PPA colleagues to be empowered to deliver enhancements; supporting with College initiatives and attending College meetings/ working groups as required.
• Proactively work in partnership with colleagues across the Faculty Education Services, the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, and with other university departments, building positive working relationships and an effective internal and external network to support strategic and operational imperatives.
• Work collaboratively with the Head of Assessments to ensure inter-dependent processes are seamlessly coordinated; particularly where student enrolment status record management needs to inform progression or Board decisions and conversely where progression and Board decisions need to feedback to the student record.  
• Work collaboratively with the Head of Student Support to deliver a highly coordinated structured approach to the management of complex student casework.
• To support the Quality Assurance Manager and academic colleagues when reviewing module and programme specification; using the relevant university systems to support ‘minor’ and ‘major’ modifications.  Ensuring these are managed in good time and have auditable approval via the appropriate Committee and quality management processes. Ensuring SITS and/or other system data structures are modified accordingly in conjunction with approved programme amendments.
• Working with Faculty Education Services colleagues to ensure the provision of a high quality Student Hub that meets the needs of a changing student environment, utilises current best practice and offers consistency with other university services (e.g. libraries and Student Services).
• To act as a representative of the PPA at Faculty and College meetings, and to lead by example to ensure that colleagues within the PPA routinely participate and engage with university wide events, such as enrolment, examinations and graduation. Deputise for the Associate Director of PPA (Bioscience) as required. 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria

1. Degree or equivalent qualification or experience of working in the Higher Education Sector
2. Excellent communication and presentation skills; demonstrable ability to present information clearly, accurately and concisely to diverse audiences
3. Ability to organise, delegate and plan effectively across competing priorities
4. Ability to develop and motivate a successful team; setting and delivering objectives, managing performance whilst building succession planning
5. Excellent attention to detail, with methodical, exacting standards of accuracy and an analytical approach to problem solving
6. Ability to form strong professional networks and contributing positively to both implement and influence change
7. Ability to make timely informed decisions and independently resolve problems
8. Excellent IT skills across all MS packages with significant experience of databases (student records systems) and reporting
9. Evidence of experience of production of policy, contribution to regulatory review and providing procedural systems
10. Experience of undertaking a service or process review and implementing change; supporting a team through resultant change
11. Evidence of capability to interpret and apply College and programme regulations maintaining up to date knowledge of statutory compliance, both internal and external (e.g. UKVI, CMA)
12. Able to negotiate and influence across organisational boundaries to deliver a timely, positive outcome diplomatically
13. Demonstrative enthusiasm, drive and initiative; adopts a proactive approach to excellent service provision
14. Desire to work to high professional standards with integrity, honesty and confidentiality
15. To be incisive and apply resourcefulness and sound judgement
16. Awareness if actor challenges and student expectation

Desirable criteria

1. Previous experience of administration in a Higher Education environment with in-depth knowledge of the student needs and the events of the student life-cycle
2. Evidence of continued professional training or development
3. Evidence of membership of a professional body (e.g. AUA)
4. Experience of programme governance and delivering professional committee servicing

Further information

Interviews are provisionally scheduled for week commencing 2nd January 2024.