Apprentice Senior Administrator (Projects and Events) - College of Social Sciences - 105571AP -[...]

University of Birmingham; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 30,000

Job description

Position Details

College of Social Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary £23,718 per annum, rising to £29,647 per annum after 12 months service

Apprentice Grade 5

Full time / Fixed Term for 18 months

Apprenticeship Standard: Business Administrator Level 3

Training Provider: HIT Training

Closing date: 23 April 2025 - please upload a CV with your application.

Eligibility: The training delivered in apprenticeships is funded through the apprenticeship levy which is subject to Department for Education funding rules for apprenticeships. When reviewing applications the University and the training provider will be checking candidates meet this eligibility criteria. Further information is available on our webpage.

You have normally been a resident in the UK for the last 3 years. For exemptions please refer to the government funding rules for apprenticeships.

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high-quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham.

Background

The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage, and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.

The College of Social Sciences comprises four Schools; the Birmingham Business School together with the Schools of Education, Government, and Social Policy. The College has the largest student population in the University and its academic vision is driven by the University’s enduring purpose as the UK’s first civic university, undertaking education and research that transforms the lives of our students and our communities.

The College is committed to supporting the development and wellbeing of its staff through the Birmingham Professional and Wellbeing Taskforce. We seek to build an inclusive and supportive working environment and encourage applications from under-represented groups.

Apprenticeship Context

The role of Apprentice Senior Projects and Events Administrator is a great opportunity to develop your career in Higher Education administration. The College Hub plays a vital role in the life of the College, providing support to members of the College Senior Leadership Team and managing a broad range of college-wide projects, events and administrative tasks. As a valued member of College Professional Services staff working in a supportive team, you will learn to provide crucial support to the work of the College in a variety of ways, including:

• Providing high quality administrative support for College-wide projects and initiatives
• Taking a proactive and enthusiastic approach to event management and on-the-day support
• Information maintenance, including taking a proactive and creative approach to writing and updating College SharePoint pages
• Delivering effective and engaging College-wide communications
• Executive support for our Senior Leadership Team
• Management of confidential information
• Financial processing and ordering
• Facilities and IT management
• Providing first-rate customer service

You will have access to mentoring and performance and development support, together with a comprehensive range of on-line and in-person training opportunities through the University’s People and Organisational Development programmes.

Job summary

As an Apprentice Senior Projects and Events Administrator within the College of Social Sciences you will provide support for a broad range of administrative duties, some of which may be complex. You will be involved with College projects working with colleagues from across the College including supporting the projects and workflow from College Board members. You will be able to learn and then use a wide range of skills, both technical and administrative, and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks within a team.

Main duties you will learn

1. Providing administrative support for the Hub, which could include arranging travel, servicing and arranging meetings and diary management.
2. Organisation of events including booking a venue, sending invitations, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, manage bookings, co-ordination of colleagues, advertising, collating feedback and reporting back.
3. Manage the administration of smaller projects on your own initiative, but also carry out desk research and source data from internal and external sources in order to contribute to the development and delivery of wider projects and to their evaluation.
4. As required, provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings.
5. Maintain high-profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate.
6. You will be expected to exercise your judgment on the answer to queries or on the direction of work within parameters set by your manager.
7. Coordination of communications, web pages, and newsletters as appropriate. Researching and writing copy for presentations, communications and websites, which will include you regularly reviewing pages and ensuring content is suitable for target audiences.
8. Provide advice and training to colleagues on area of activity, acting as a role model for the hub team.
9. Process more complex data (which may be financial, HR, student-related or other), monitoring accuracy, chasing up missing information, and resolving any issues as appropriate.
10. How to deal with complex systems and procedures and will be expected to offer advice on these, including deciding on the response to more complex queries.
11. You may be required to be responsible for the following:

• monitoring budgets including processing payments, authorising expenditure, raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget,
• procuring goods and services through the University system,
• providing a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings,
• updating and writing contents for the department’s communications, eg SharePoint pages,
• responsible for the regular review and update of key documentation,
• dealing with health and safety and facilities issues,
• monitoring internal procedures/compliance and ensuring these are followed and disseminated as appropriate.

Support equality and value diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.

Undertake any other duties, projects or special tasks as may be assigned from time to time by your line manager or the Deputy Director of Operations.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to A level standard, or equivalent level 3 qualification such as a level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma or relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
• Minimum of grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent.
• Basic understanding of an office working environment
• Good IT skills, including MS Office suite of programmes including excel and PowerPoint, and some experience of using an enterprise resource planning package. The post holder should also be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• Able to plan ahead and anticipate requirements, proactively planning own (and sometimes others’ workloads) to manage time effectively, progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines.
• Good verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines.
• Good interpersonal skills. The post holder must provide excellent customer service at all times.
• A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
• A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach.
• Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation.
• Ability to understand policy and procedures and how to apply these.
• Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

View our staff values and behaviours here.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy.You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.