Widening Participation Evaluation Officer 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
Widening Access and Participation
At The University of Law we take our responsibility to widen access and participation within legal and business education seriously, and we are currently entering an exciting new period of widening participation work. The recently appointed Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students has outlined a new approach to access and participation work within universities, and ‘evaluation, evaluation, evaluation’ is key to this. We are looking to recruit a Widening Participation Evaluation Officer to take responsibility for the evaluation of our widening participation work, to ensure that it is evidence-based and that we know if what we are doing is working. You will work with colleagues involved in widening participation work across the university to integrate evaluation within their projects from the outset and to empower them to undertake their own evaluation work using your expertise and skills. You will help to develop the evidence base to demonstrate process and impact against widening participation targets within the University and with the Office for Students. Reporting to the Head of Access and Participation, you will have experience in leading on the planning and implementation of evaluations, and using monitoring and evaluation tools to gather evidence on outcomes and impacts. You will have analytical, creative and pragmatic problem solving skills and the ability to present and summarise key information to senior stakeholders. This role is an excellent opportunity to work in a sector-leading Higher Education organisation with a real commitment to widening participation and it is ideal for candidates who have evaluation experience and are interested in applying them in an EDI context.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title: Widening Participation Evaluation Officer Reporting to Head of Access and Participation
Direct Reports N/A
Location Remote or Any UK Campus
Main Function of Job: Responsible for: i F ti f J :
You will support the delivery of the University’s Widening Participation (WP) and Diversity and Inclusion agenda, through specialist monitoring and evaluation (M&E) expertise and skills. You will help colleagues develop M&E and impact assessment plans for a variety of WP projects.
You will work with others to develop the evidence base to demonstrate progress and impact against WP targets.
You will also undertake high level analysis of student and staff datasets and presenting the findings to a range of stakeholders, to inform strategic, operational planning and policy development.
Reporting Line:
•
Head of Access and Participation
JOB DESCRIPTION
Specif c Responsibilities i
• Build staff capacity for effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of WP activities by providing tailored training, guidance, advice and support to enable them to:
Specific Responsibilities
»
Understand the importance of high-quality M&E for effective WP activities. Develop appropriate M&E plans for their WP actions.
»
»
Use evidence to demonstrate impact.
•
Developing resources and tools for staff to use in the monitoring and evaluation of WP interventions.
• To be able to work autonomously and undertake data analysis by interrogating existing data sources to obtain data in order to produce written reports. This includes but is not limited to student applications, admissions and attainment data as well as staff profile data by protected characteristic. • To produce reports and present findings to relevant Working Groups and Committees, as appropriate. • Undertake the generation and analysis of qualitative data. For example, on-line surveys and focus groups. • To assist in the provision of data monitoring and analysis functions to ensure that the university fulfils its statutory obligations under relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. • To provide Campus Deans with timely and accurate data and help to collate benchmarking data. These will be mainly specific annual reports but also occasional ad-hoc reports. • To undertake desktop research as required. For example, sector-based research on specific topics (the awarding gap of different student groups). • To carry out data analysis and evaluation work for the wider Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team.
• 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. This job description is correct at December 2021. It may vary in consultation with the post holder to reflect changes within the market place, in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Department and the University.
PERSON SPECIFICATIONS
Training & Education
Essential •
Relevant qualification and/or experience in statistical and qualitative analysis.
Education
Experience
Desirable •
Experience of working in a higher education setting
Special Skills & Knowledge
Experience
Behavioural Skills
Special Circumstances
Essential •
Experience of leading on the planning and implementation of evaluations in complex environments Experience of using and adapting quantitative and qualitative M&E tools and methods to gather evidence on outcomes and impacts.
•
• Experience of using IT skills to a high level, and experience of using Microsoft Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint, to produce documents, spreadsheets, databases, training materials etc.
•
Experience in participating and advising at meetings, regarding monitoring and analysis functions.
• Advanced Excel skills, including the construction and use of pivot tables, to produce accurate and well-presented quantitative data.
Desirable •
Experience in the use of statistical software. E.g. SPSS.
Skills & Knowledge
Essential •
The ability to work on own initiative and manage own workload. Excellent organisational skills and the ability to meet deadlines.
•
• Sound analytical, creative and pragmatic problem solving skills. • Well-developed oral, numerical and written communication skills, particularly the ability to summarise concisely key trends or information, and confidence in presenting to senior stakeholders
Behavioural Skills
Essential •
Must demonstrate a commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
Special Circumstances
Essential •
Travel between campuses as required.
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.
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