Director of Student Success

Full Time - Permanent - High Wycombe

Renumeration – Competitive

BNU is a modern university, with a proud 130-year heritage of transforming our students' lives. Our richly diverse student body has a high proportion of students drawn from ethnic minorities and from areas with low participation rates in higher education. We build social capital as well as skills and competences to help our students reach their full potential and succeed in their chosen careers and professions. We offer a distinctive, high-quality education coupled with well-developed regional, national and international partnerships. Our staff are adept in using employment-focused and skills-based teaching in a learning community which features small class sizes with highly interactive research-informed teaching and employment-related practice.

Like other institutions in the sector, our external environment poses significant challenges, however we have demonstrated an ability to achieve significant advances in league table position, student satisfaction, and financial position in such conditions. We are proud of our fourth successive year-on-year improvement in the Guardian University Guide, our 2022 NSS results which placed us 5th in the UK overall for student satisfaction, and our positions in the Times University Guide as 10th for teaching quality, 15th for social inclusion, and 19th for student experience.

This is an exciting time to join the University as we commence with our Thrive 2028 strategy; and as we continue to invest in the success of the University, we are now recruiting a permanent placement to the Director of Student Success position. The Student Success Directorate forms the backbone of our support and wellbeing service to students, ensuring our students continue to gain the maximum value from their experience at BNU.

Qualified candidates for this position will have a commitment to service excellence at their core, a flair for creativity and innovation, proactive and approachable leadership and management capabilities, and an ambition to create a sector-leading reputation for excellent student success services. We are seeking an inspirational leader who will develop a vision for the directorate work collaboratively with colleagues to deliver our targets.

How to Apply

For a confidential discussion regarding this position, please contact our search advisor, Alex Albone, at Berwick Partners (an Odgers Berndtson company) via [email protected]. Further information, including a candidate brochure, can be found at www. berwickpartners.co.uk/88973.

Applications should consist of a curriculum vitae detailing relevant qualifications and experience, full employment history and achievements. CVs should be accompanied by a covering letter describing briefing how you feel you meet the criteria outlined in the Job Specification, your achievements, why the appointment is of interest, and what you'd like to achieve in the role.

Closing Date: Wednesday 14 th June 2023 (17:00 GMT)

Location

High Wycombe

Contract Type

Permanent

Salary Range

Spot salary

Hours per week

37

Closing Date

14/06/2023

Ref No

1254

Job Description

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Director of Student Success

Directorate: Student Success

Grade: SPOT

Location: High Wycombe

Hours: 37

Responsible to: Pro Vice-Chancellor

Direct reports

Head of Students and Wellbeing

Student Hub Lead

Library and Learning Resources Manager

Student Accommodation Manager

Student Engagement and Retention (including Student Learning and Achievement) Lead

Careers and Placement Support/Employer Engagement Lead

Disability and Inclusion Lead

Job Purpose:

As a member of the University Management Group (UMG) you will provide strategic direction, management and operational delivery of the Directorate for Student Success.

You will oversee the development, co-ordination and monitoring of a comprehensive plan for student success; to ensure that BNU Students gain maximum value from their experience, demonstrated by student retention, success, timely graduation and graduate level employment.

Service excellence will be at the core; delivered by a team of highly motivated professional staff. You will demonstrate your strategic capacity to partner with stakeholders to provide a seamless offering to our students.

In this role you are expected to demonstrate creativity and innovation as you consistently strive to deliver an excellent service which is highly regarded elsewhere in the sector.

You will engage in thematic work relating to institutional priorities as determined in conjunction with the Pro Vice-Chancellor.

Given the particular nature of this role, you are required to act as a senior leader with primary responsibility in an out of hours for students/student related incidents.

Act as the Safeguarding Lead fir the University

Main Duties & Responsibilities of the role:

Student / customer, user and digitally led philosophy to ensure contemporary, fit for purpose, ubiquitous service to students. Lead the directorate to achieve this vision; identifying emerging student issues and enhancing service support by harnessing the power of student interest and the needs and expertise of staff.

Provision of high-quality advice, guidance and support to students

Responsible for strategic matters relating to student support to include; safeguarding, mental health, sexual violence / safe healthy relationships, disability support and pastoral care.

Strategic leadership and management of the access and progression of disadvantaged and under-represented learners as part of inclusion priorities. Contribute to meeting the commitments of the University Access and Participation Plan.

Contribute to persistence, retention and success outcomes

Take operational lead and co-ordinate support in relation to challenging student incidentsEnsure the effective running of student accommodation services

Provide library and learning resources to enable student success

Ensure best professional standards and practice are applied and the service offered is fully compliant with regulations and legislation

Provide institutional support to academic leaders across the university; effectively engage students to realise individual and institutional aspirations

Agility and teamwork with University colleagues e.g. University Executive Team, Academic Leads, stakeholders and the Students' Union.

Utilise research and analytics to drive forward student success

To promote and support the institutions engagement with employer organisations, particularly in relation to student placements, and graduate employability.

Ensure the Directorate is continuously responsible to its users and to collect and analyse appropriate data to achieve continuous improvement in the performance and development of the service e.g. through a regular cycle of feedback from Schools, student partnerships, service level targets and key performance indicators

Respond proactively and creatively to changing and external environments to ensure continual review, development and delivery of services which meet the need of students, academic staff and external stakeholders

Line manager to staff, fulfilling all the duties as articulated in University policy. Including health and safety, managing staff performance, sickness

Manage the budget and allocated resource in line with University financial regulations. Responsibility for developing and delivering policy and practice that will ensure value for money services with reference to staff and recurring budget

To act as the designated Safeguarding Lead for the University

Actively promote equality and diversity

Build and maintain effective working relationships, collaborations and partnerships with senior staff and key stakeholders both within the University and with external organisations

Responsible for representing the Directorate on University Committees and groups, and for external representation at a regional, national or international level in relation to student wellbeing and success.

Comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR; Health and Safety; and Equality and Diversity requirements and legislation in all working practices.

Such other duties temporarily or on a continuing basis, as may reasonably be required.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

E – Essential D = Desirable A = Application T = Test I = Interview

Education, Qualifications & Training

E / D

Means of Testing

PhD or equivalent

D

A

Relevant teaching Qualification and/or Awards

D

A

A professional qualification in one of the key areas of student services or equivalent professional experience

E

A

Knowledge & Experience

E / D

Managing a range of student support services and improving the student experience

E

A/I

Initiating and implementing processes, policies and improvements relevant to student services

E

A/I

Leading organisational approaches to student safeguarding and wellbeing

E

A/I

Leading and managing significant strategic change to improve the user experience

E

A/I

Understanding of the learning and teaching landscape within the HE sector, legal or regulatory priorities relevant to the role (e.g., student finance, safeguarding)

E

A/I

Creative and innovative service provision

E

A/I

Substantial knowledge of the UK HE education systems and associated policies

E

A/I

Experience of developing and embedding customer service excellence

E

A/I

Experience of leading multi-faceted teams

E

A/I

Experience of evaluating service delivery and successfully reforming business process to improve outcomes

E

A/I

Experience of managing large departmental budgets

E

A/I

Skills

E / D

Successful track record of leading high quality student facing services

E

A/I

Excellent leadership skills and evidence of leading teams to produce successful outcomes

E

A/I

Excellent written and oral communication, presentation and networking skills, to enable trust and establish credibility with students and staff at all levels

E

I

Ability to operate strategically and operationally simultaneously

E

I

Ability to co-ordinate and manage complex activities effectively

E

I

Ability to network with other HEIs, service providers, student forums

E

I

Excellent problem-solving skills and able to work on own initiative

E

I

Excellent ICT skills and experience of using new technologies to enhance efficiencies

E

A/I

BNU BEHAVIOURAL FRAMEWORK

DELIVERING EXCELLENT SERVICE

Setting appropriate boundaries and managing expectations.

Listening, questioning and clarifying in order to understand your customers/student/ stakeholders' needs.

Delivering consistent service standards

Interpreting rules and regulations flexibly to balance customer/student/stakeholder and organisational needs.

Defining excellent service for internal and external customers

ENGAGING WITH THE WIDER CONTEXT

Demonstrating University values through the ways that you work

Creating momentum and enthusiasm about the role of the team within the wider University

Scanning the wider environment to seek opportunities to develop the University

ACHIEVING RESULTS

Planning and organising workloads to ensure that deadlines are met within resource constraints

Maintaining a high standard of work even when under pressure

Winning support of key colleagues and other stakeholders

Location

High Wycombe

Contract Type

Permanent

Salary Range

Spot salary

Hours per week

37

Closing Date

14/06/2023

Ref No

1254