King's College London

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About King's:

The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Our ambitious Education Strategy sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us.

The Associate Director of Student Conduct and Appeals leads one of four Student Support & Wellbeing sub-divisions, alongside Disability, Support & Inclusion, Counselling & Mental Health Support and Advice, Wellbeing & Welfare. This role was initially advertised on a fixed term contract due to an internal secondment by the current previous holder – this has now been made permanent and so we are offering this role on an indefinite basis.

The Associate Directors work within and across teams and functions, engaging with a wide-range of colleagues across King’s to drive a positive and transformative impact on the student experience. This includes ensuring: 

•         that services are delivered efficiently and consistently across King’s;

•         the mutual role of service users and those delivering services are understood so that the services deliver value and impact;

•         the key measures of service effectiveness reflect the reality on the ground;

•         the mutual dependencies of services across and within functions are managed to embed a culture of service, transparency and continuous improvement across King’s.

We are part of the Students & Education Directorate, a collection of wide-ranging professional services in place to support King’s students and their education. As a directorate we manage the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond, to ensure a coherent and seamless student experience and effective administrative processes, working closely with King’s faculties to do so.

About the role:

The Associate Director Student Conduct and Appeals (SC&A) will lead a team in the key strategic areas of student conduct (academic and non-academic), academic appeals, student complaints, Report + Support and Support to Study. 

They will have overall responsibility for the SC&A team, and take the lead on both large and complex projects, and sensitive cases, overseeing their management and escalation within King’s.

The Associate Director will have lead responsibility for policy and practice in these areas, and will work closely with other Associate Directors in Student Support & Wellbeing Services (e.g. in relation to the Student of Concern and Support to Study) processes, as well as with colleagues across Education & Students and with Faculty colleagues.

The postholder will also have responsibility for our ‘lessons learned’ approach, developing policy and practice as appropriate, in line with both institutional priorities and sector-wide best practice (e.g. in line with the guidance of the Office for Students and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator).

We are looking for an individual who shares our aspirations and our values, who is comfortable working strategically and operationally, who understand how to deliver support and services to students and other end-users, and who is equipped to work in a high volume, complex and fast-paced environment.

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to support this essential service area and who wish to utilise their skills and expertise in academic policy, regulations and in supporting students.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a contract on an indefinite basis.

About you:

Essential criteria

• Relevant work experience and/or education: We think a wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you to be successful in this role. Relevant work experience would include at least four years of experience managing student conduct and appeals.  Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in law or a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training.
• Experience of professional services leadership in Higher Education or in an equivalent setting of similar scale and complexity.
• Experience of drafting policies and procedures, reviewing these from a legal perspective, and ensuring that such documentation aligns with institutional priorities and sector-wide best practice
• Familiarity with the higher education regulatory environment, particularly in relation to the Office for Students and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator
• Experience in research and data analysis and the development of large-scale communication plans with excellent writing skills and the ability to incorporate feedback from multiple sources and diverse perspectives.
• The proven ability to lead and support a team managing complex case work, including embedding arrangements for supervision, learning lessons from complex cases, and peer-to-peer support
• Ability to engage in collaborative working across King’s professional services, other Faculties, academic and student communities, with a meaningful and visible commitment to Diversity & Inclusion policies and practices.

Desirable criteria

• Experience and/or qualifications in an area related to law/regulatory environments – for example, as a lawyer or other professional within the justice sector (civil or criminal).
• Experience of identifying and supporting (either directly or through leading teams with case working responsibilities) safeguarding, welfare and wellbeing issues.
• Experience of complex risk assessment frameworks and of balancing competing risk indicators (e.g. individual/group/organisational needs).

Further information:

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.