Student Services Officer

Advert

Student Services Officer

The School of Computer Science and Informatics is seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and self-motivated individual to provide comprehensive administrative support to the School’s Student Services team, managing a team of administrators.  This is an exciting role which will allow the successful candidate to work across a breadth of activity including student experience, placements and education.  The school’s industry connections play a crucial role in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, career events and academic research. The post-holder will have an awareness and support industry and externally facing activities central to the School’s mission.  The role holder will lead a cross-functional team to support the work of the wider Student Services Team, leading on process review and improvement.  In addition to working closely with existing Professional Services team with the School, the Student Services Officer will work closely with a variety of academic colleagues and other departments across the University, to provide a high-quality student and staff experience.  The role holder will be computer literate, have excellent problem-solving skills and an ability to review, create and develop processes.  The role holder will have the opportunity to work across multiple teams and be involved in activities across the whole of the undergraduate and postgraduate taught student journey throughout the School, including the National Software Academy and the Data Science Academy.  The role holder will play a part in all student centred processes – from enrolment to supporting placement and student experience events, through to end of year results processing.

The Student Services Officer will be responsible for working closely with team leads across the full Student Services Team, working on a series of projects and tasks across the breadth of student services.  The post holder and their team will provide support where there are peaks of activity, such as induction and module selection and end of year results processing. The Student Services Officer will review existing processes, making recommendations for improvement and working alongside team leads to implement those changes.  In order to effectively carry out the role, the post holder will be proactive, enjoy working both independently and as part of a team and possess excellent communication and organisational skills. 

Cardiff University has a successful School of Computer Science & Informatics with an international reputation for its teaching and research activities. We are a research-led School with a longstanding, international reputation for applied research activities, and collaborate with more than 100 UK and international academic and industrial partners. For more information on the School please visit our website: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/computer-science.

This role is eligible to be offered on a blended working basis, meaning that as well as spending time working on campus you can also choose to spend some time working from another location, e.g. your home. The University is committed to offering this flexibility, wherever the role and business need allows, supporting work-life balance.

As the biggest university in Wales – and a major employer, with more than 7,000 staff – we are an ambitious and innovative university located in a beautiful and thriving capital city. We can offer you the chance to work in a vibrant organisation, with great benefits and opportunities for progression.

This position is full-time (35 hours per week), open ended and available immediately.

Salary:  £32,332 – £34,980 per annum (Grade 5), with 4 annual increments up to £34,980 per annum (final salary at top of grade).

For an informal discussion of the post please contact Lucy Burns, Student Services Manager by email at [email protected]

Informal enquiries in relation to the recruitment / application process can be sent to Simon Hogg, HR Administrator – [email protected] .

Date advert posted: Wednesday, 10 January 2024

Closing date: Wednesday, 31 January 2024

Please be aware that Cardiff University reserves the right to close this vacancy early should sufficient applications be received.

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds.  We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age.  In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Job Description

Student Services Officer

Key Duties

• Provide professional advice and guidance on the full range of student services functions, processes and procedures to internal and external customers, using judgement and creativity to suggest the most appropriate course of action where appropriate, and ensuring complex and conceptual issues are understood
• Investigate and analyse specific issues within the student lifecycle, creating recommendation reports, supported by advances within the Student Services team
• Ensure that the provision of the student experience is delivered to the institution, proactively changing the delivery, according to customer requirements
• Collaborate closely with the Student Services manager in order to make recommendations for developments of established processes and procedures
• Establish working relationships with key contacts, developing appropriate communication links with the University’s Schools/Directorates and outside bodies as required
• Create specific working groups from colleagues across the University to achieve school objectives
• To support the coordination, communication and delivery of an extensive calendar of events related to learning, teaching, student engagement and the student experience across the school.
• Coordinate the development of template messages to students, ensuring an effective, engaging and positive tone is consistently employed.
• Line manage colleagues within the Student Services team and supervise specific project teams on an occasional basis to accomplish key objectives
• Develop and deliver training within the team and wider School in effective communications with students, staff, and industry.
• To liaise with the central Communications team and colleagues within the School to plan and coordinate the development of the Student Newsletter, working with teams to ensure relevant, effective and engaging content is shared regularly with our student community, which includes undergraduates, taught postgraduates and postgraduate research students.
• Undertake a variety of administrative duties to support the Student Services manager and the wider team, including the National Software Academy and the Data Science Academy.
• Assist with the coordination and monitoring student feedback within, for example, the Student Experience Team, ensuring effective communication with wider teams and reporting to relevant committees / working groups.
• Proactively work with colleagues to transition from old systems to new ones (for example, with the development and maintenance of a School SharePoint)
• Maintain effective communication channels with both staff and students within the School, streamlining and optimising the dissemination of updates and important messages.

General Duties

• Ensure that an understanding of the importance of confidentiality is applied when undertaking all duties
• Abide by University policies on Health and Safety and Equality and Diversity
• Perform other duties occasionally which are not included above, but which will be consistent with the role

Person Specification

We want to employ people with a wide variety of experiences. We welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age. We are particularly seeking applications from candidates who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented at the University, including people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

We are looking for a team player who will work with colleagues to provide a great service to staff and students. You don’t need to have worked for a University before; this is an opportunity to show your potential and start or continue your career at Cardiff University.

This role may be an opportunity for you to build on your experience from working in a previous administrative role or environment with particular interest in student services functions within a school, showing your transferable skills and aptitude to be successful in the role. You should be enthusiastic about developing your knowledge and skills to become a valued member of the team.

Your application will be assessed against the following essential and desirable criteria for the role. Please copy and paste this section into a new document and give clear examples of how you can evidence meeting each criteria by writing under each one. You can draw on elements from any aspect of your life (e.g. work, home, education/qualifications or community life) as long as you focus on their relevance to the role.

Please save your supporting statement in a separate document with the title [YOURNAME-BR NUMBER-JOB TITLE] and attach it to your application in the recruitment system, available here .

Please note that these are also the criteria shortlisted applicants will be assessed against at interview and/or by other means (e.g. a skills test).

Essential Criteria

Qualifications and Education

Degree/NVQ 4 or equivalent Professional membership/experience

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Substantial experience of supervising a team and managing the work of others.

Able to demonstrate professional knowledge of the student lifecycle, to give advice and guidance to internal and external customers

Excellent IT skills and the ability to set up procedure and standard office systems using software such as Microsoft SharePoint (or similar tools) and proactively make improvements

Customer Service, Communication and Team Working

Excellent writing skills with the ability to communicate conceptually detailed and complex information effectively and professionally with a wide range of people

Evidence of ability to explore customers’ needs and adapt the service accordingly to ensure a quality service is delivered, with a focus on improving student experience and engagement

Planning, Analysis and Problem solving

Evidence of ability to solve expansive problems using initiative and creativity; identifying and proposing practical solutions and resolving problems with range of potential outcomes

Evidence of demonstrable knowledge of key advances within student experience and effective communication

Evidence of ability to work unsupervised to deadlines, planning and setting priorities for own work and that of others and monitoring progress.

Other

A willingness to undertake further training and development

Desirable Criteria

Postgraduate/Professional qualification

Experience of working in a Higher Education environment

Fluency in Welsh, written and oral

Additional Information

HOW WE WILL SUPPORT YOU IN PERFORMING THIS ROLE

We want to support and develop you in the role, using a combination of the following to help you reach your full potential.

Regular one-to-one meetings with your team leader and key academic colleagues.

An experienced and supportive team around you.

Variety of development opportunities within the breadth of Student Services, for example, Student Experience, Placements and Education.

Support to undertake job-relevant training and development, as identified by your Line Manager.

A staff mentoring scheme.

Support to learn Welsh or to update language skills.

Job Category

Admin / Clerical