Deputy Head of Admissions Candidate Pack
BACKGROUND
The University of Law, a private university, (formerly the College of Law), is one of the UK’s leading and longest established providers of legal education and training with origins dating back to 1876 with the formation of the leading tutorial firm Gibson & Weldon and later on, with the establishment of The Law Society School of Law. In 1962 the two were amalgamated to establish The College of Law. The University was the first ever independent institution to be granted degree awarding powers, gaining University title (The University of Law) in 2012 before being bought by Global University Systems in 2015. Working right at the heart of the legal profession, the University brings together teaching of the highest quality, a focus on practical skills and innovative learning styles to deliver perfect preparation for life in legal practice and ongoing professional development. The University is in an ongoing, exciting period of growth and expansion with more than 10,000 students, circa 800 staff and 14 campuses across the UK and Hong Kong. Alongside its Legal education and training, it is also expanding its Business school offering both in the UK and in Berlin. All campuses are close to thriving commercial centres, leading law firms and have strong transport links. Each campus is a modern, well-equipped professional law school providing a comfortable and stimulating learning and working environment. The University has ambitious plans for the future and anticipates a significant increase in the number of applications in 2020/21, this is on top of two previous cycles of significant applicant growth. The post holder will be a crucial senior member of staff within the Admissions function as a whole and will be expected to support other senior staff within the department ensuring that the team works in a close and collaborative manner. The Deputy Head of Admissions will help support the growth of the department whilst maintaining impeccable levels of service delivery.
VISION, CORPORATE PLAN & STRATEGY
Vision and mission To be the global university of choice for the professions, by driving innovation in applied education to deliver outstanding employment outcomes. The University of Law exists to serve its students and their future employers by being global leaders in providing applied knowledge and skills.
Vision and Mission
Strategic Aims
Drawing on our heritage as one of the UK’s longest established law schools, we strive to build on our success through the ethos of IDEAS:
Student Focus
Widening Participation
• Innovation - for our people, campuses, technology and business practices
Innovation and Growth
• Diversity - continuously improving the quality, quantity and flexibility of our courses
People
• Employability focus - ensuring our students are in demand by firms and businesses
• Ambition – inspiring the best in our students and society
• Success - academically and professionally for all
Strategic Aims
Student focus • The quality of the student experience is key to our ethos, reputation and our ability to recruit and be commercially successful We were ranked in the Top 10 for 5 core categories in the National Student Survey 2019 and in the same year were awarded Silver in the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework for our teaching, learning and outcomes. Our performance in the critical categories of teaching excellence and academic support for students is sector leading.
Widening participation We are committed to widening participation and diversity across all of the University’s programmes. • The University submitted its first Access and Participation Plan for 2019/20 • Key focus for Admissions is on the rollout of contextual admissions and the proactive identification of widening participation characteristics during the application process. Innovation and Growth • Our programme portfolio is constantly evolving to remain innovative, topical and relevant • Our reach is being extended through the creation of new campuses and partnerships • Our reputation, and the global importance of the English legal system, position us well to increase overseas recruitment beyond our traditional UK-focused student base Student Recruitment • Our reputation, and the global importance of the English legal system, position us well to increase overseas recruitment beyond our traditional UK-focused student base • We continue to grow student recruitment and develop our brand • We aim to provide a seamless approach to recruitment, ensuring clarity of offer and a genuine engagement with applicants throughout their application process • We continue to strengthen our ties with Alumni, celebrating their success and using our shared history to further enhance the student experience
People We strive to:
• Support the development of colleagues to enable the delivery of an even higher quality service • Recognise and reward strong performance
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 (new for 2019)
10. The University of Law at UEA in Norwich (new for 2019)
11. The University of Law in Exeter
12. The University of Law in Liverpool
13. The University of Law at Reading
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.
14. Hong Kong Centre (new for 2019 )
Birmingham
Nottingham
Hong Kong
Guildford
Chester
Bristol
Deputy Head of Admissions
JOB DESCRIPTION
Main Function of Job
The post holder will balance ownership of a particular admissions work stream with the additional responsibilities of deputising for the Head of Admissions. As part of this role it is expected that the Head of Admissions will delegate various projects or responsibilities to the Deputy Head each cycle to aid their development and to broaden the overall range of skills, knowledge and experience within the team.
Main Function of Job
Reporting to Head of Admissions Location London, Moorgate Direct Reports Admissions Officers
The post holder will take full responsibility for the day to day workflow of Admissions Officers in their workstream, ensuring resources are always utilised to their full capacity to achieve set targets.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Specific Responsibilities
• Represent the Head of Admissions as and when necessary both internally and externally • Support the Head of Admissions in managing and co-ordinating the work of the Admissions team throughout the annual admissions cycle including team members in multiple locations • Take on senior projects and responsibilities as delegated by the Head of Admissions that may include but are not limited to; • Team management, structure and budgeting • Statistical insight • Stakeholder management • Team KPIs • Associated admissions policies and protocols • Improving conversion • Improving service delivery • Audit and compliance Team Management • Manage the day to day work flow of the Admissions Officers ensuring resources are utilised to their full capacity at all times to achieve set targets • Oversee (via management of Senior Admissions Officers) the workload of any temporary staff added to the Admissions team to help deal with peak periods • Manage, develop and support staff through ongoing coaching and 1-2-1’s, ensuring staff are empowered and enabled to deliver world-class customer service • Lead by example, demonstrating good management principles for all to follow • Develop good relationships with all stakeholders and promote and support a working environment where staff are happy to come to work • Provide regular pipeline updates on applications, offers, service level agreements, targets and key performance indicators to the Head of Admissions as required • Ensure a thorough knowledge of all products offered and ensure this knowledge is transferred to the Senior Admissions Officers and Admissions Officers as required via delivery of relevant training • Delegate tasks to the Future Students Team as necessary during each application cycle
Specific Responsibilities
Admissions Policy & Protocols • Develop and maintain admissions procedures and practices • Create a service level agreement for your admissions work stream and oversee the team’s delivery against the agreed service level • Oversee the management and coordination of international admissions including first stage academic review and verification linked to Tier-4 visa administration • Take responsibility for the selection and coordination of Academic review processes. • Ensure accuracy and consistency within offer making by checking decisions and offers processed for the relevant courses • Take responsibility for agreeing late start protocols for each intake with academic staff and communicating these deadlines to marketing and conversion teams
Market Expertise • Maintain a full understanding of all higher education and professional qualification application boards and regulatory bodies, including UCAS, CAB, BSB, SRA and UKVI and their associated policies and systems, in order to proactively manage the impact of any changes to both the institution and the wider HE sector • Maintain a full understanding of core academic eligibility guidelines for the institution, with particular emphasis on English Language requirements Conversion • Work collaboratively across all operational areas of the institution to ensure student applications, offers and enrolments are maximised • Work with the Admissions Development Manager to continuously review processes within admissions, with the aim of supporting the customer, looking at both systems based and procedural improvements to increase efficiency • Support the ongoing review, analysis for commercial viability of existing and future courses and programmes along with the capture of all relevant Management Information • Work with the Head of Conversion and Admissions Process Officer to produce a Product Matrix for each intake that features all deadlines necessary for conversion work and product management
Delivery • Work with the Admissions Process Officer to ensure that all products and courses can go live on time, in accordance with the Core Product Schedule, through proactive, timely intervention and in partnership with key business owners • Act as key admissions contact for programmes and changes to existing programmes, to ensure that all initiatives are delivered with minimal impact to customer experience and operational integrity • Work in conjunction with other senior staff within Admissions to support new & amended product release across the institution including requirements writing, UAT, sign off and support for roll out to live environments Customer Focus • Champion process efficiency within the customer facing functions and act as a key custodian of ‘the customer’ experience • Promote and sustain a constructive, supportive and friendly working relationship with all customers, external and internal, immediate and senior management and other work colleagues • Deal with feedback from unsuccessful applicants and any informal complaints regarding Admissions
In addition to the responsibilities listed above, the job holder may be required to perform other duties as assigned by the Director of Admissions, Access & Participation and members of the Executive Board from time to time. The job holder has a duty to take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and of other persons with whom they come into contact at work. The job holder also has a duty to co-operate with the University in complying with any statutory duty or requirement concerning health and safety at work. In particular, they must familiarise themselves with the Health and Safety Policy and its safety and fire procedures.
This job description is to be read in conjunction with the relevant Roles and Responsibilities Career Level document.
PERSON SPECIFICATIONS
Training & Education Essential • Educated to graduate level or equivalent or have a significant level of experience in a similar role
Training & Education
Experience Essential
Experience
Skills & Knowledge
• Working in Higher Education in an admissions focused role • Leading small teams, managing staff and pipelines of work • A proven track record in delivering to targets and deadlines. • Assessment and recognition of qualifications globally that lead to Higher Education study • Benchmarking admissions approaches against competitors • Performance management • Effective relationship building with internal and external stakeholders • Developing entry criteria and process within a Higher Education context • Dealing with peak periods by adapting resource levels and priorities • Administering policies and protocols and developing these over time • Using CRM and Student Databases to communicate with customers and internal stakeholders. • Setting KPIs and objectives using management information to monitor progress against these • Auditing work and providing coaching and development plans to staff Desirable • Experience of QAA, UKVI and OfS audits • Student recruitment, widening participation or marketing experience • Working with and developing offshored resources • Working in an institution with an international focus • Selling ideas to management and presenting complex information and statistics
Skills & Knowledge Essential • Knowledge of Higher Education and academic and professional qualification application boards and regulatory bodies • Strong administrative and analytical skills in management of tasks, policies and protocols • Detailed understanding of student databases/CRM Solutions and the flow of information across university systems • Detailed knowledge of educational frameworks and their application in an admissions context • Adept at assessing academic documents from a range of nationalities • Excellent communication skills both written and verbal; able to deal with stakeholders of all seniorities • Adept at understanding diverse business requirements and applying them to a varied mix of student caseloads • Ability to work to targets and drive team performance to meet set objectives • Ability to exercise judgement in line with organisational strategy prioritising work as appropriate
Desirable • Project management skills • Different CRM platforms (ULaw uses Microsoft Dynamics) • Different Admissions platforms (e.g. Tribal, Elllucian, Unit4, Capita, Oracle etc) • Adept in producing management information in a variety of formats • Adept at producing reports and dashboards to monitor performance
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Behavioural Skills Essential • A calm and positive attitude; able to lead the team with confidence and clarity • Student focused with a passion for customer service and for continued improvement. • Empathetic to contemporary student issues • Strong interpersonal skills able to act as a bridge/conduit between the team members and the Head of Department • Ability to delegate effectively and to utilise the skillsets of different team members to achieve team goals • Deadline, solutions and results driven • A strong role model who is able to lead peers by example • Strong listening skills; able to identify solutions for students quickly and clearly • Proactive and capable of taking ownership of a student query until resolution • Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to establish good working relationships, both internally and externally • Thorough in their approach to work with a meticulous eye for detail • Ability to continuously embrace change in a professional environment Desirable • Able to identify talent within the team and ensure that development pathways are established to improve and retain talent Special Circumstances Essential • Able to regularly attend meetings across various university campuses either in person or remotely as the need arises • Willing to travel overseas and within the UK to deliver on key elements of the role • During peak periods it is anticipated that flexibility in working additional hours in evenings and at weekends may be necessary to achieve business objectives and will be administered in accordance with the University’s overtime policy
Behavioural Skills
Special Circumstances
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 consist of a comprehensive CV and covering letter.
The closing date for applications is Sunday 9th February 2020.
MRG will undertake preliminary meetings with selected candidates during the week commencing 13th February 2020 .
Final stage interviews will take place at The University of Law week commencing....
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