Welfare, Learning & Support Officer

Job Purpose

The BIA Welfare, Learning and Support Officer provides professional and proactive administrative support to the extenuating circumstances, appeals, complaints, welfare and support systems within the BIA.
Working across the Academy’s suite of Foundation and Presessional English programmes, the role holder will have an excellent understanding of University regulations, policies and procedures and will be able to explain these confidently to students and staff. The role holder will work collegiately with specialist student support providers from across the University (e.g. Student Services, Legal Services etc.) to ensure that the relevant School’s students are pro-actively supported and learning opportunities maximised.

The post holder will be expected to contribute to other areas of the BIA (as and when required) in support of its strategic priorities. For example, the post holder will be required to engage with relevant committees and fora at Academy and University level. The post holder will build and maintain effective relationships across the BIA and University to facilitate delivery of effective student welfare support and in particular, will refer only those matters that require academic decisions to academic staff as appropriate.

Working as part of a wider team of Professional Services and Academic and Academic-Related staff, the post holder will provide comprehensive support to students with in the BIA and will be line managed within the Academy by the Director of Operations and Development.

Person Specification

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to at least degree Level (or equivalent qualifications or work experience) and hold at least a GCSE in Mathematics and English at C or above (or equivalent);
• Demonstrable experience of using Microsoft Office applications and the ability to learn new IT software;
• Excellent interpersonal, organisational, team working and communication skills;
• Ability and demonstrable experience of working accurately and paying close attention to detail;
• Demonstrable ability to prioritise own workload and to complete all tasks accurately even when working to challenging deadlines;
• Demonstrable ability to manage own workload autonomously and work as an effective team member;
• Demonstrable ability to provide effective, high quality customer service and to make suggestions relating to service enhancements;
• Experience of working with welfare related University processes and systems;
• Experience of dealing with student queries and facilitating resolutions in a confidential manner.

Desirable

• Experience of using an electronic database to manage and record sensitive information.
• Experience of working within a Higher Education and/or educational environment.
• Experience of working in a welfare /support services environment.

Planning and organising

• Experience of successful team working;
• Experience of working with confidential data and information;
• Ability to manage own workload autonomously whilst also working as an effective member of a team;
• Flexibility to manage working hours to include scheduled office hours according to business need;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Experience of using Microsoft Office applications and other IT software;
• Excellent IT skills, including Microsoft Office (especially Word, Excel & PowerPoint);
• Build and maintain effective relationships across the School, College and University to facilitate delivery of effective student welfare support;
• Report to the Senior Welfare tutors regarding the overview of Welfare Support and provide advice accordingly;
• Identify and establish policies, processes and systems for efficient management of the Foundation/Presessional English Welfare process and for effective delivery of these activities for the BIA.
• Monitoring and evaluating quality assurance of activities and interaction with students.
• Preparation for Welcome Week.

Problem solving and decision making

• Experience of managing sensitive situations with discretion and acting with integrity;
• Experience of working accurately and paying close attention to details;
• Assess the nature of individual requirements and make decisions/signpost/refer as appropriate.
• Refer Welfare Cases beyond immediate expertise which require sign posting to Student Counselling due to the particular nature of the issues;
• Assess Formal Student Complaints and refer as appropriate.

Internal and external relationships

• Provide regular analyses of received cases and provide accessible management information and trend data to BIA Directors as and when necessary;
• Provide regular updates regarding received cases, highlighting any unresolved issues or problems and prepare comprehensive, relevant documentation for the end of year Extenuating Circumstances panel;
• Liaise regularly with the relevant Academic staff to provide up to date information on received cases and outcomes/decisions taken and to refer students where highly complex problems or issues require further input;
• Work proactively as a member of the team, liaising as appropriate when gathering information, using tact and diplomacy at all times;
• Representing the BIA at Welfare meetings and other related activities as appropriate;
• Overseeing the construction and updating of the relevant BIA Welfare webpages and information.
• Excellent team working and communication skills are essential, in order to effectively influence at a range of levels;
• Ability to form positive working relationships with a wide range of contacts both within the School, College and the wider University, in particular, build a solid, professional working relationship with Student Counselling Service, enabling students to be referred appropriately at all times;
• Take a proactive approach to understanding customers and how best meet their needs;
• Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of contacts, face to face, in writing and on the telephone are required for managing communications confidently and diplomatically with audiences both within and outside the organisation, including senior BIA and Academic Services officers.