Student Experience Coordinator - Academic Services - 101620 - Grade 7

Position Details

Academic Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £35,880 to £45,163 with potential progression once in post to £47,874

Grade: 7

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 2 February 2025

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.

Background

Achieving the global ambitions of our university depends on our people - and we are proud of our highly talented and engaged colleagues. Our culture is ambitious and high performing, ensuring we deliver outstanding, impactful student experiences. Essential to this is how we support our students’ employability needs, reinforcing the transformational nature of the UoB experience, engaging our students to realise the unlimited potential and value of their degree in linear or non-linear careers.

Employability is an enduring principle that ensures our students have the resources and competencies to maximise all their future career opportunities and choices. This new role will support the university’s innovative employability strategy, designing and delivering experiences which allow our students to explore their futures beyond university life.

Careers Network

This role is located within the Careers Network team, which exists to help students and graduates realise the potential of their University of Birmingham experience and degree, helping them to positively shape the world around them. The team comprises circa 60 staff, across several specialist areas, supporting employability, enterprise, and entrepreneurship within and beyond the curriculum, engaging with employers, alumni, and external partners to support this endeavour.

Role Summary

As the Careers Network Student Experience Coordinator, you will be responsible for the development and implementation of plans that tailor student experiences to their stage and career aspirations. This new role will be pivotal in helping the service to signpost students to relevant employability offerings, creating compelling in-person experiences and programmes that drive performance for key target student groups.

Working closely with the Student Engagement Group you will liaise with the wider Careers Network service, often working with multiple colleagues simultaneously to co-ordinate activity for key target student groups and campaigns. As such you will have excellent interpersonal skills, the ability to communicate effectively with different stakeholders and be a highly effective team player in a fast-moving environment.

Main Duties

Lead and develop Student Experience Plans

• Working closely with Careers Network Student Engagement Group, co-create ideas for engaging in-person live experiences as part of the major student engagement campaigns undertaken by the service.
• Working closely with Careers Network Student Engagement Group lead the design of engaging in-person experiences to support the major campaigns undertaken by the service.
• Recruit, manage and motivate a set of paid student experience team members, working with this team to co-deliver in person student experiences that are part of the major campaigns undertaken by the service, as well as key University events such as Welcome Week.
• Working with colleagues across the whole service, for select student groups identify touchpoints for enhanced student experiences to meet their career aspirations.

Project Management

• Forecast and manage the budget for in person student experiences that are part of the major campaigns undertaken by the service.
• Produce and manage a project plan for all the live experiences that form part of the major campaign series for the service, supporting the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Co-ordinate all live experiences briefing colleagues as required as well as managing all resources and the people needed to deliver live experiences.
• Set a clear measurement plan with well-designed benchmarks and targets to effectively measure all live student experience activity.

Research and Evaluation

• Leverage all readily available HE, and wider experience research and insights, to inform the design of a compelling and innovative student experience that is aligned to university’s employability strategy.
• Using knowledge of excellent employability practices and the HE sector, map specific student journeys to provide insights to student segment owners, highlighting opportunities for greater student engagement. This work should recognise protected characteristics and promote equality and diversity amongst the key target groups.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to Degree level, or equivalent qualifications. Where no equivalent qualification is held, considerable, practical relevant experience and expertise will be considered.
• Excellent experience management skills to build effective student engagement.
• A good understanding of Higher Education and the issues impacting on student employability.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage all stakeholders via excellent written, oral communication and presentation skills.
• Evidence of creating engaging and impactful experiences, both digitally and face to face.
• Extensive project management experience, managing multiple projects to deadlines and budgets.
• Ability to analyse and communicate data appropriately.
• Demonstrable understanding of inclusive practices in relation to service delivery, and the ability to foster, champion, and drive equality and diversity in the student and graduate experience.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day-to-day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Core competencies/transferable skills

Working at this level you will be able to develop and demonstrate the following core competencies:

Planning and organising

• Contributes to the formulation of operational plans that improve the student employability experience.
• Analyses semi-complex information to prioritise and plan work effectively, balancing the needs of all stakeholders.
• Alongside the Student Engagement Manager, manages large whole of service campaigns to excite and inspire students.
• Ensures priorities are balanced with the needs of the students, the service and Careers Network Student Engagement Group.

Relationships and communication

• Maintains regular communication with the service, liaising with all teams within Careers Network to communicate experience plans as well as responding to target segment owner needs.
• Listens to and responds constructively within the CN Student Engagement Group, expressing ideas and building collegiate effective working relationships.

Innovation and creativity

• Strong sense of student centricity, demonstrating the ability to maximise results by using insights, innovations, and best practices to design compelling student experiences.
• Constructively challenges assumptions, seeing the value in taking an iterative perspective to continually innovate student experiences.

Informal enquiries to Natalie Partridge, email: n.j.partridge@bham.ac.uk

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.