Director of Student Futures Candidate Information Pack
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Welcome.
As the Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Northampton, I am delighted to extend my warmest greetings to you. It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the role of Director of Student Futures. Student Futures are at the heart of our mission; they drive all our work. This is a new and exciting position which we have created to extend even further the opportunities for those who study with us, to serve our region, and to shape the future of work. We have recently completed a reorganisation which has enabled the formation of the new Directorate of Student Futures. It unites areas that support students’ progression and careers into a single Directorate, and allows us to reimagine the future of work and careers, and do our best to help students develop the skills, confidence and networks they need, to imagine and plan for their futures, and prepare for work which doesn’t yet exist. The new Directorate unites our Careers and Employability Service, our Changemaker team, Alumni and Supporter Relations, Placements and Work Based Learning, Employer Relations, and Unitemps, our student and graduate recruitment service. The new Student Futures Directorate reports to the Deputy Vice Chancellor, alongside the Directorate of Research and Knowledge Exchange, and the three academic Faculties: the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technologies, the Faculty of Business and Law, and the Faculty of Health, Education, and Society. This new structure will bring Employability, Enterprise and the Faculties closer together, and emphasises the relationship and the importance of employability reaching all students and informing portfolio and curriculum design. We are looking forwards to exploring the potential for synergies,
shared vision, and mutual support amongst the Directorates and Faculties, to create the best possible environment to support our graduates’ futures. If you want our students to define graduate success in a way that is meaningful for them, if you believe they can achieve their dreams, if you are excited at the prospect of building coalitions from UON Faculties and Directorates to improve graduate outcomes, and if you are enthusiastic about strengthening our communities of alumni, supporters, and employers so they share their insights and provide our students and graduates with opportunities, we would love to hear from you. At the University of Northampton, we take immense pride in our commitment to providing exceptional education and a nurturing environment for our diverse community of students and staff, and transforming the lives of those who study with us. If you want to be part of our community, we’d love to hear from you. I encourage you to explore this candidate pack and envision yourself as a crucial component of the University of Northampton’s continued growth and success.
Executive summary About us Student Futures The role Working at the University of Northampton How to apply
Warm regards,
Professor Shân Wareing, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Northampton
“Only when you
experience a place do you learn how to make it your own.”
About us.
The University of Northampton is one of the youngest universities in the UK, gaining full university status and research degree awaring powers in 2005. Whilst we may be a ‘new’ University, we have made our impact in the Higher Education sector. We are committed to doing things differently; for example, we were the first University in the UK to be named as a Changemaker Campus in 2012 and are dedicated to creating social impact in all that we do. Our overt focus on positive change was spearheaded by our relocation to Northampton town centre with the opening of our Waterside Campus for the 2018/2019 academic year. The impetus of this bold move was to create a
learning experience based on how our students want to learn, rather than how it is expected, whilst also securing the sustainable future of our University. Since 2018, we have embraced our purpose- built state-of-the-art campus, being witness to many day-to-day interactions/experiences of our University community within our new physical estate. Listening and learning from those experiences, has allowed us to identify further opportunities to evolve. Against a backdrop of sustained growth in student numbers, with 2022 marking our current record year, this is an exciting era for the University of Northampton. Our recent achievements can be viewed at northampton.ac.uk/about-us/our-achievements/
Becky Bradshaw, Chief Operating Officer
The Student Futures Team
Chair of the Board
Vice Chancellor & CEO
Deputy Vice Chancellor
Dean of Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology
Dean of Faculty Health, Education & Society
Director of Library, Learning & Student Services
Director of Student Futures
Dean of Faculty of Business & Law
Deans of Research & Knowledge Exchange
Library & Learning Services
Alumni & Supporter Relations
Institutes
Student Services
Graduate School
Careers & Employability Team
Research Support Team
Placements & Work-based Learning
Research & Innovation Funding
Changemaker
Knowledge Exchange & Enterprise
Employer Relations
Unitemps
Apprenticeships
The role.
Job Title
Director of Student Futures Deputy Vice Chancellor
Principal duties & responsibilities • Develop and lead the implementation of a strategic and ambitious Graduate Employability plan, informed by sector best practice, theory and evidence, and working with the full range of internal and external stakeholders. • Through influence and collaboration with academic staff, embed the University’s Graduate Employability plan into the curriculum and students’ course experience. • Ensure the University’s employability services continually evolve to meet the needs of students, alumni and key employers, to optimise graduate employment and further study for all students. • Address and mitigate differentials • Strengthen and maintain an excellent extended extracurricular employability offer. • Adopt a proactive and strategic approach to strengthening a network of external relationships with employers to enhance the student experience and graduate employability. • Provide regular evidence-based reports on progress, including across the range of relevant students EDI metrics, to university committees in student outcomes related to demographic characteristics. • Use impact evaluation to build a continuous cycle of enhancement.
Responsible to
Overall purpose To optimise the opportunities for UON students to achieve their potential in graduate employability, start-ups, and further study. To lead the teams of staff who contribute to student careers, employability, and other positive outcomes, and to build coalitions with the academic faculties and other stakeholders who contribute directly to students’ careers.
Core people management duties and responsibilities • Ensure high functioning, appropriately skilled, employability teams, with staff
with the appropriate skills, experience and attitude deployed in the appropriate roles and at appropriate scale. • Maintain a high performance and strong customer service culture to enable delivery. • Provide strategic and operational leadership to
the immediate staff team and to the wider university community in relation to the strategic areas of the job. • Ensure all appropriate HR policies are followed (including PDR and Probation). • Promote a positive health, safety and environmental culture and manage health and safety performance.
Generic duties and responsibilities • The post holder will be expected to undertake other responsibilities and tasks as reasonably requested by the Deputy Vice Chancellor. • The post holder will be responsible and accountable for ensuring all em- ployment legislative requirements are adhered to including equality and diversity and health and safety issues. • The job description may be altered at any time in the future in line with the level of the post to meet changing institutional requirements, but only in full consultation with the post holder.
Person specification.
Qualifications Essential: • Educated to Master’s level in a relevant sub- ject area or relevant work experience Desirable: • Suitable professional qualifications related to the job Personal qualities Essential: • Ability to clearly articulated a vision for student success • Ability to build high performing teams and to develop others • Self-awareness and self-control • Evidence of strategic, tactical and systems thinking • Communications skills for the range of settings associated with the role • Ability to lead and to adapt to organisational change • Evidence of commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion
Skills, knowledge and experience Essential: • Proven track record of developing others and creating opportunities for them to thrive and flourish • Proven ability of developing and delivering strategic activity within a Higher Education Institution • Proven ability to establish teams and raise to a high performing service oriented culture Desirable: • Experience in multi-agency working to create opportunities for income generation and collaborative working • Experience in engaging external stakeholders strategically on social and economic development work • Knowledge and experience of developing an entrepreneurial culture to create both commercial and social ventures and scale existing enterprises • Knowledge of the regulatory framework of HEIs with a focus on the KEF
Community, bringing together teams from across the University to support, improve and promote the wellbeing and physical and mental health of those living, studying and working here. • We have trained over 130 Mental Health First Aiders to ensure we have a network of staff who have the knowledge and confidence to recognise the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues and can signpost you towards the right support • We have a number of staff networks to support you including New Parents, LGBT+, GEM (Global Ethnic Majority) and Women • Our Employee Assistance Programme which is provided by our Occupational Health partner includes advice and counselling services to offer support through times of difficulty. Work - life balance/smarter working We want you to be able to carry out your work in a way that best supports UON and our students, but also you as an individual. We understand what that looks like will vary between different areas of the University as well as from one person to another. With Smarter Working you can work with increased flexibility, if you would like to, to facilitate greater freedom, autonomy and to better support each of us as individuals. Should you have family/caring responsibilities, we also have a whole package of family-friendly policies that provide for flexible working, maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave, and leave for family emergencies. Environment We have reaffirmed our commitment to combating climate change and have pledged to become net zero carbon by 2030. We have also retained our green accreditation in Investors in the Environment.
Pension scheme The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is the main scheme for professional services staff and is worked out every scheme year and added to your pension account. The pension added to your account is equal to a 49th of your pay in that year. At the end of every scheme year the value of the pension in your account is adjusted to take into account the cost of living (as currently measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). After you retire your pension will also keep pace with cost of living increases. It also includes immediate life cover and a pension for your husband, wife, civil partner or nominated cohabiting partner and eligible children in the event of your death and, if you ever become seriously ill, and you've paid in for at least 2 years, you could receive immediate ill-health benefits. Health insurance Health insurance is provided for single, individual coverage. There is also the option to purchase cover for a partner and/ or family at your own cost. Career development Since education is part of our core business, we care deeply about career and personal development. You’ll benefit from: • a structured induction programme for new starters, to make you feel welcome and part of our team • an annual performance and development review, to help identify your career aspirations and structure your individual development plan • access to an extensive programme of courses, designed by our in-house Staff Development team, for all career stages • access to LinkedIn Learning – a library of high quality training videos that cover a wide range of subjects. Employee wellbeing At the University of Northampton, we believe in the importance of health and wellbeing and we aim to ensure it underpins the staff and student experience at all stages. With this in mind we have introduced the Waterside Wellbeing
Working at the University of Northampton. Our mission is to transform lives and inspire change. We aim to ensure you have a positive experience of working with us by providing a supportive and caring environment. We also have a unique commitment to social impact which means we support our staff and students to
Generous benefits package
Our job opportunities all include an excellent benefits package that includes many features that are hard to find in the private sector: • Generous annual leave allowance, including Christmas/New Year closure - 35 days plus bank holidays and University closed days • Pension scheme membership to provide benefits for you and your family • Generous sick pay • Employee Assistance Programme with advice line and counselling • Learning and development opportunities; • Cycle to Work Scheme • Long service awards • Staff discounts on a range of products and local services including the ability to purchase a TOTUM student discount card which gives you access to over 350 student discounts.
For a confidential discussion to learn more about the role and opportunity, please contact the University of Northampton’s appointed recruitment partner Sian Gardiner of MRG University People: sian.gardiner@universitypeople.co.uk Applications should consist of a CV and covering letter and should be sent to northampton@universitypeople.co.uk Closing date for applications is Sunday 10th September 2023. Final Interviews will take place at our Waterside Campus on Monday 16th October 2023. The University of Northampton is committed to providing a vibrant, ethical and sustainable work, study and living environment that values equality, diversity and inclusion. This commitment, along with our legal and moral obligations, provides an inclusive environment for staff, students and the public who may be affected by our activities. Together @ UON confirms our commitment to equality and inclusion, underpinned by our belief in taking action. We are dedicated to creating an environment that celebrates equality and harnesses the power of diversity. Together @ UON demonstrates our pledge to our staff, students and partners to nurture and develop an environment where equality and inclusion can thrive whilst we Transform Lives and Inspire Change How to apply.
northampton.ac.uk
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