Director of IT Innovation and Programme Delivery
Candidate Pack
The University of Law (ULaw) is one of the world’s largest law schools. With an impressive history dating back to 1876, the University employs over 900 staff and has over 14,000 students studying on their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, along with an alumni network in excess of 100,000. They were the first-ever independent institution to be granted degree awarding powers and in 2012 gained university title. With a rich heritage and a reputation for innovation and contemporary teaching practices, the University continuously focuses on developing the best legal and business minds. In 2016, they opened their leading Business School, further enhancing their reputation as a full service legal, business and educational training specialist, operating from campuses throughout the UK, Berlin and Hong Kong and an Online campus. What really sets them apart from other universities is the guiding principle that future lawyers and business leaders should learn in a realistic, professional and contemporary context, with plenty of practical interactive engagement. That’s why they keep their contact hours high and their teaching groups small. Over the past 5 years the University has doubled student enrolments and continues to grow. They are extremely ambitious and plan to expand and diversify both in the UK and worldwide. As they have grown, the continuing enhancement of their brand and reputation for teaching quality and student satisfaction has been at the core of everything that they do. Whilst their legacy and identity as a specialist legal education provider remains central to who they are, they have successfully diversified their offering into business and accounting dis- ciplines, with a rapidly expanding suite of programmes delivered in their UK and overseas campuses. They plan to expand their portfolio into new applied and professionally accredited disciplines. As a pri- vate university, they are agile and innovative, anticipating the future needs of their students, their client firms and society as a whole. In 2020 their student recruitment exceeded 10,000 for the first time in their history and, whilst they remain a predominantly postgraduate university, their undergraduate numbers are also growing strongly. In 2020 they were ranked 1st for overall student satisfaction in England in the National Student Survey. Their success is driven by their reputation as a specialist university of the highest quality, offering students a unique and practice-led learning experience.
BACKGROUND
Vision and Strategic Plan
Vision and mission
In 2025 we will be the leading global university of law, business and the professions with a network of online and worldwide locations. Digital technology will enable us to offer unparalleled flexibility, based around cutting edge facilities and environments, further removing geographical barriers to education. We will offer the same quality of teaching and learning experience, with the convenience to study where, when and how our students want. At the heart of this are our people and values. Many of our staff, stakeholders and students helped to shape our new vision and strategic plan.
Vision and Mission
Strategic Plan
Strategic Plan
Caring for our students is at the heart of everything we do. We stand shoulder to shoulder with them, supporting their ambitions and ensuring they are respected and valued. We are deeply committed to delivering a high-quality service and education. We support and accept appropriate and managed risks, in the pursuit of growth and progress whilst maintaining quality.
We are dynamic and future-focused, anticipating and embracing change with creativity and motivation.
We are agile and adaptable, leading change and meeting the changing demands of our students and employers, all the while updating our knowledge and practice to improve our performance and the student experience.
We embrace our challenges as learning and growth opportunities and prepare our students, with confidence and resilience, to do the same.
We work together in a collegiate way, challenging one another whilst treating each other with dignity and respect - embracing diversity of experience and background that allows people to do their best and thrive.
We have a global outlook and connect across different cultures. We are a diverse, inclusive community where everyone is welcomed and valued, and our differences are a source of strength.
Our diversity and inclusion initiatives are at the heart of our strategic plan to empower our staff and student community.
Vision and Strategic Plan
Core components of our Strategic Plan
Our Learning Journey
Building on our heritage of outstanding teaching and support for our students, we will deliver excellent standards in innovative learning, teaching and applied research that transforms lives and is globally recognised However, our learning journey does not end in the classroom, and we will continue to grow our support services and technologies, deepening our care for our students and offering ever closer support networks. We were ranked top university in England for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2020 and also achieved top ten placements amongst other universities for eleven further categories across the UK including: ‘The Teaching on my Course’ (4th), ‘Student Voice’ (4th), and ‘Assessment and feedback’ (7th). And in the latest Teaching and Excellence and Student Outcome Framework we were awarded silver for our teaching, learning and outcomes. Our performance in the critical categories of teaching excellence and academic support for students is sector leading.
Core components of our Strategic Plan
Our Learning Journey
Our Learning Environment
Our International Community
Our People
Our Impact
Our Learning Environment
We will transform our study and work settings through the use of the most advanced technology and resources. By combining our physical and online campus environments and infrastructure, we will create adaptable and flexible spaces for learning and support.
Our International Community
We will establish new, and strengthen existing, pathways for international students to join us - including through our oversees campuses and our strategic partnerships.
We will embed inclusivity and multicultural values into the curriculum and develop new modules to define and address ethical issues and the rights of minority and protected groups.
Through collaboration with our international partners we will create global learning and employability opportunities.
Our People
We will develop, retain and recruit the highest calibre people, increasing the ethnic representation to reflect the diversity in our students.
By uniting academic and business professionals, we will innovate and personalise our students’ future teaching and learning, bringing knowledge from the front line of practice.
Our Impact
Graduates will leave ULaw with the experiences and skills to drive change, helping to transform the future of society and the professions.
They will have not only a world class qualification, but also a sense of purpose and empowerment that they can have a positive impact on their environments.
Through our pioneering Employability Service we will shape our graduates into the next generation of professionals. They will be digitally confident, have broad project management skills, and strong leadership potential.
CAMPUSES
1.
Birmingham
2.
Bristol
3.
Chester
4.
Guildford Campus
5.
Leeds Campus
6.
London Bloomsbury Campus
7.
London Moorgate Campus
8.
Manchester Campus
9.
Nottingham Campus
10. The University of Law at UEA in Norwich 11. The University of Law in Exeter 12. The University of Law in Liverpool 13. The University of Law at Reading
14. Hong Kong Centre
All of our campuses are in thriving commercial areas and offer the same fully-resourced facilities, including well equipped IT suites with PCs for DVD and i-Tutorials, comprehensive law libraries with all the latest legal texts, quiet study areas and places to relax.
15. Online
16. The University of Law at Chester
17. GISMA Berlin
18. Sheffield
Birmingham
Nottingham
Hong Kong
Guildford
Moorgate
Bristol
Our Digital Transformation
The University of Law is entering a pivotal period of transformation; accelerating growth in an ever more competitive world to attract students globally, with intensive imperatives on widening access and reducing differences in outcomes related to our students’ backgrounds. Naturally, student expectations are rightly rising with ever heightened perceptions of how their money is being used and what they want for it. At the same time, the University is quickly adapting to changes in the Higher Education sector around regulatory regimes and funding. One of the University’s strengths is its focus on internationalism in our education and employability offer and also the focus on cutting-edge facilities and environments, blending our physical and online learning and working environments. Delivering world-class digital services, skills and capabilities is an integral part of the University of Law’s ambitious strategy for the next 5 years, underpinning every stage of the student journey from recruitment through to teaching and learning to graduation and beyond. Sector-leading IT tools and solutions enable our academic and professional services teams to deliver high quality, flexible learning experiences with the convenience to study where, when, and how our students want. Over the next two years, IT will transform our digital landscape, replacing legacy solutions and implementing innovative new technologies. The Director of IT Innovation and Programme Delivery plays a critical role in this, shaping and leading the transformational programme to deliver new capabilities across every area of University life including: • Course structure modularisation – fundamental changes to the entire lifecycle of course management from course creation through to assessment which underpins the University’s growth strategy. • Teaching and Learning – wide variety of projects from new technology to support hybrid learning through to evolving the approach to student assessments • Digital enrolment re-development– reshaping the process of how students become part of the University to create a seamless experience
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Admissions projects including UCAS and VISA improvements – increasing student recruitment to the University by removing barriers and introducing flexible new options Substantial Infrastructure programme including foundational IT investments such as cloud strategy, cybersecurity improvements and network topology change which will ensure the University’s technology landscape is fit for the future CRM exploitation – support students even more effectively through further rollout of case management technologies, livechat and chatbots Regulatory projects including HESA Data Futures and Data Strategy, ensuring that the University has the right information at the right time for the right people. Communication and engagement transformation – further development of our student mobile app, streamlining email template management and establishing targeted communication channels
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Working as a key member of the IT Senior Management Team, this role will define and deliver the programme, leading the team of project managers, business analysts and business intelligence experts to work closely with stakeholders across the University to understand needs, design fit for purpose solutions and implement them effectively. Alongside this, the Director will work closely with the CIO and peers to transform the IT capability and achieve the vision defined in our IT strategy.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title: Director of IT Innovation and Programme Delivery
Career (R&R) Level: Director
Department: IT Reporting to CIO
Location Guildford / National
Direct Reports Projects Team
Main Function of Job:
Main Function of Job
Responsible for:
• Conceptualising, driving and leading IT innovation in conjunction with ULaw’s 5 year strategy and beyond. • Leading the transformation of ULaw’s IT System landscape to ensure delivery of new and planned strategic diversification strands. Horizon-scanning new and emerging IT advancements, utilising these to drive forward technical advantage in the sector. • Creating and maintaining a fit-for-purpose, reportable system that provides clarity to the business on the status of projects and other IT demand requests, including any associated business risks. • To provide strong leadership, advice, guidance and direction of IT strategy in support of the University’s business and ambitious development aims. Demonstrate a pioneering approach to delivering IT Solutions, and challenging the status quo for the development of the University to achieve efficiency/ cost effectiveness/ flexibility and scalable solutions. • To deputise for the CIO whenever required. • Stakeholder Management, ensuring all stakeholders are kept informed of progress of projects and acting as an escalation point for business. • Overall management of the IT programme of projects, to ensure delivery on time, on budget and to business requirements, highlighting risks and issues to stakeholders and ensuring these are mitigated effectively. • IT Demand Process, ensuring all requests (projects and change requests) are logged, prioritised and assigned. • Managing the IT Projects team, recruitment of new resources, allocation of work, mentoring and development of team members. • Work with the Head of IT Solution Delivery to ensure accurate forward resource planning on projects. • Working within the IT management team to ensure IT strategy and deliverables align with the Business Strategy and needs and to deliver the IT department objectives set out in the strategy.
Reporting Line:
•
This role reports to the CIO
JOB DESCRIPTION
Specif c Responsibilities i
Programme Management
• Produce High level programme and resource plan for next rolling 12 months. • Produce detailed programme and resource plan for next quarter. • Ensure project status updates produced on a monthly basis for the IT Advisory Committee and Exec Board highlighting any associated business risks. • Prepare and present slides to the monthly IT Advisory Committee, showing progress on existing projects, highlighting any risks and issues, decisions to be taken, raising resource constraints and ensuring priorities are agreed, recording actions and decisions and sending out minutes after the meeting. • Ensure Projects team and Head of Solution Delivery are made aware of any priority changes agreed at the meeting.
Specific Responsibilities
Demand Management
• Own the IT Demand Management process, reviewing regularly to identify improvements and ensuring it is still fit for purpose. • Regularly review and categorise new requests by needed resources, liaising with the Head of Solution Delivery to ensure requests are correctly categorised. • Prioritise requests based on prioritisation matrix and in consultation with Senior Management. • Liaise with business requestors to produce Project Request Form where required. • Present new requests and business cases to IT Advisory committee for approval and report back to business stakeholders on approvals / rejections from IT Advisory Committee.
Team Management •
Provide effective leadership and management of the IT Projects team through: • Planning and scheduling the Team’s workload. • Monitoring performance through regular meetings. • Undertaking performance reviews. • Identifying training and development needs. • Giving and receiving feedback in a positive way. • Recruitment and supervising the induction of new staff. • Managing leave entitlements, absences and time-keeping. • Respecting peoples’ differences within the team. • Deliver the changes to IT Projects ways of working as outlined in the objectives in the IT Strategy. • Manage IT Projects team processes and policies and ensure they are understood and adhered to by all members of the team. • Working with team members, to coach and drive enthusiasm in order to maintain commitment and change delivery. • Act as a role model and be keen to ‘go the extra mile’ when required, leading by example so that members of the team demonstrate similar commitment. • Raise the profile of the teams through the use of communication and leadership whilst influencing and supporting University initiatives.
Business Focus / Stakeholder Management
• Develop an understanding of the business and how it functions keeping up to date with changes to business strategy, functions and processes. • Promote and sustain a constructive, supportive and friendly working relationship with all customers, external and internal, immediate and senior management and other work colleagues. • Drive innovation and change in conjunction with business stakeholders. • Represent IT as a senior member of the IT Management team at Business meetings. • Ensure effective cross-function team work to enable successful project delivery. • Take responsibility for the work you or members of your team produce ensuring high levels of quality. • Communicate and obtain feedback from relevant stakeholders following delivery of projects and change requests, analysing comments and requests, and prioritising if action is appropriate.
In addition to the responsibilities listed above, the job holder may be required to perform other duties as assigned by the CIO or University of Law Exec Board from time to time.
PERSON SPECIFICATIONS
Training & Education
Essential •
Degree level or equivalent in relevant subject Project Management qualification such as Prince 2
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Education
Desirable •
Experience
Business Analysis qualification, Diploma or equivalent.
Special Skills & Knowledge
Experience
Behavioural Skills
Essential At least 5 years recent experience in an IT management or PMO role, including the following:
Special Circumstances
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People Management (Recruiting, managing and mentoring staff)
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Programme Management
Project Management
Stakeholder Management
Worked in an educational establishment
Desirable •
Worked in a professional services environment, particularly legal.
Skills & Knowledge Essential •
Clear ability to demonstrate strong commercial, financial, and analytical skills – from identifying opportunities (internal and external), to securing approval/buy-in (from the Executives to the Board) and through to successful implementation. • Proficient on Microsoft packages including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel • Project financial analysis capabilities.
Behavioural Skills
Essential •
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to be diplomatic when required • Passionate commitment to see tasks to completion • Positive (“can do”) and helpful attitude • Extremely Organised • Methodical; attention to detail • Analytical • Patient and sympathetic • Works well under pressure - stays calm • Logical and adaptive • Reliable and trustworthy Special Circumstances
Essential •
May be required to travel to other ULaw campuses on occasions
Application Process
The University is being supported on this recruitment campaign by the search consultancy The Management Recruitment Group (MRG) .
To arrange a brief conversation please contact our advisor Sian Gardiner of MRG on 020 3962 9900 / 07932 717 458 or at sian.gardiner@mrgpeople.co.uk.
Applications should contain a CV and Covering Letter and should be sent to Sian Gardiner at the Management Recruitment Group sian.gardiner@mrgpeople.co.uk.
Closing Date is Monday 2nd May 2022.
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