Undergraduate Programme Officer

Advert

Undergraduate Programme Officer
School of Dentistry
College of Biomedical and Life Sciences

You will be part of the education team, which is the ‘hub’ for student and academic support and advice.  This is a well-established post, working with an experienced team who work in similar areas related to undergraduate and postgraduate education.  You will be providing administrative support to students and academic staff, supporting UG programme related activity.   

You should have significant recent experience of working in an office environment.  There are some things that you must have before you can start this role (see ‘essential criteria’ below’), but other things can be developed through training and general on-the-job experience.  We want to support and develop you once you have started in the role, using a combination of the following:  Regular one-to-ones with your line manager and team meetings; an experienced and supportive team around you; support from other colleagues doing your role in the School and across other Schools through the timetabling network and other groups ; supporting you through job-relevant training and development that you may require; access to mentoring schemes and more. 

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Fiona Kiely on [email protected]

Cardiff University offers many excellent benefits, including 40 days annual leave (including bank holidays), local pension scheme, a cycle to work scheme and other travel initiatives, annual increments within the pay scale, and more. It is an exciting and vibrant place to work, with many different challenges and is a proud Living Wage supporter.

The majority of roles at Cardiff University are currently operating under “blended working” arrangements, with staff having the flexibility to work partly from home and partly from the University campus depending on specific business requirements. Discussions around these arrangements can take place after the successful candidate has been appointed.

Important note: 
It is the University’s policy to use the person specification as a key tool for short-listing. Candidates should evidence that they meet ALL of the essential criteria as well as, where relevant, the desirable. As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide this evidence via a supporting statement.  Please copy and paste the criteria into your Personal statement and ensure that the evidence you are providing corresponds with the numbered criteria. Your application will be considered based on the information you provide under each element.
Ensure you attach a supporting statement (separate to your CV) to your application profile, please ensure that you name it with the vacancy reference number, e.g. Supporting Statement for UG Programme Officer, Dental 

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

The post is based at the Heath Park Campus, Cardiff

Salary: £26,444 – £29,605 per annum (Grade 4)
Appointments to roles at Cardiff University are usually made at bottom of scale unless in exceptional circumstances

Date advert posted: Friday, 20 October 2023

Closing Date: Friday, 3 November 2023

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

Job Purpose

Provide comprehensive professional administrative support to the School, supporting UG programme related activity and providing a customer focused and professional timetabling service to students and staff. Based on the Heath Campus in the Dental School and moving to blended working once familiar with the role.

Duties and Responsibilities

Key Duties

• Working with the School’s academic, NHS and central timetabling teams to co-ordinate the timely drafting and development of timetables in line with School, NHS and University process, including booking of NHS clinical chairs.  
• Efficient timetabling of programmes, ensuring the best use of available teaching space.
• Providing advice and guidance on timetabling, using judgement and creativity to suggest the most appropriate course of action where appropriate, contributing to the resolution of more complex issues. 
• Actively take part in timetabling related projects, such as review of student placements and curricula review. 
• Collaborating with others to make recommendations for developments of established processes and procedures such as liaising with other timetabling staff and the academic team if you’re of the view that a current process isn’t effective.
• Lead the organisation and planning of School committees, attending and taking minutes.
• Support UG programme related activity, assisting with the preparation for School Enrolment of students; maintenance of class lists; and the organisation of School induction events.
• Using School and University systems (such as SIMS) to maintain student, programme and placement records.
• Assisting with other undergraduate and postgraduate activities (as part of a wider team), such as exams, open days and other School events.
• Establish working relationships with key contacts to help improve service levels, developing appropriate communication links with the University’s Schools/Directorates and outside bodies as required.
• Undertake a variety of administrative duties to support the Education and Student office.
• Gather and analyse data to inform decisions, establishing basic trends and patterns in data and creating reports as appropriate.

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

Essential Criteria 

1.    Ability to communicate in writing clearly, concisely, and effectively to provide detailed advice and guidance to students, academic staff and all other stakeholders.
2.    Evidence of a good standard of numeracy and IT literacy.
3.    Experience of working in an administrative role or environment and ability to set up standard office systems and procedures, making improvements to these as appropriate.
4.    Ability to communicate specialist and complex information effectively and professionally to a range of customers with varying levels of understanding.
5.    Ability to advise and influence key stakeholders in your area of work.
6.    Ability to explore customers’ needs and adapt the service you provide accordingly to ensure a quality service is delivered.
7.    Ability to use your initiative and creativity to solve problems, respond to queries and make recommendations, identifying and proposing practical solutions.
8.    Ability to work unsupervised to deadlines, planning, setting and monitoring your priorities and those of the team.

Desirable Criteria 

1.    Experience of working in a similar role or environment, e.g. Higher Education, NHS.
2.    Experience of working in the area of timetabling/scheduling.
3.    Ability to speak/understand Welsh or a willingness to learn.

Job Category

Admin / Clerical