Director of Registry and Academic Affairs

Job Summary

The Director of Registry and Academic Affairs will provide institutional leadership for services that support the academic mission of the University during the period of student registration.

The role holds three substantive areas of responsibility:

(1) Leadership and management of the University’s functions grouped under the Registry Division – i.e. student records; quality; examinations; appeals; complaints; student discipline; degree congregations; attendance monitoring and reporting; student records system. This includes all aspects of associated policy and practice in addition to ensuring effective engagement outside the University across these areas of responsibility.
(2) Convening colleagues from across the department and the University to address institutional issues on behalf of the Academic Registrar in the Academic Affairs arena. This involves acting as a change agent to work with colleagues where the role holds no direct responsibility but instead must collaborate to achieve the goals. Groups formed to support the work will by their nature vary in composition, tenure and method and they will be comprised of staff at all levels including those senior and junior to this role. Core parties likely to be engaged with different groups from within Academic Services are the Centre for Learning and Academic Development and Learning Spaces, Birmingham International Academy (BIA), Library Services, and the Careers Network. The role holder will be supported in this work by a close working relationship with the Assistant Academic Registrar.
(3) In relation to (2), to provide expert advice and support to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and Academic Registrar in taking forward the Registry policy agenda. This will include acting as Secretary to appropriate senior committees of the University’s academic governance structure and providing institutional leadership of several initiatives arising from the Strategic Framework.
All members of the Academic Services SMT are asked to Deputise for the Academic Registrar as required.

Person Specification

• Excellent proven leadership skills
• Intellectual ability so as to make a major contribution to policy development and to command respect within the University
• A proven track record in strategic planning and management at institutional level
• A proven track record in the provision of quality services to a diverse range of users
• A proven track record in leading and motivating staff
• Proven ability to empower others and delegate effectively
• A proven track record of working collaboratively with colleagues, both administrative and academic, and with students
• Excellent oral, written, and presentation communication skills; in particular the proven ability to write very high quality papers for senior committees or boards on complex matters
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills and an ability to relate well to colleagues from differing backgrounds and at varying levels of seniority
• Up-to-date knowledge of IT developments, particularly as they relate to information delivery and the exploitation of IT to support learning, teaching and research
• Excellent organisational skills and an ability to prioritise and to schedule heavy workloads in the face of conflicting demands, and to deliver to tight timetables
• An excellent team player coupled with the ability to work under own initiative
• Excellent project management skills
• Ability to positively represent the University externally
• Demonstrable career progression built upon success.
• A strategic approach to quality assurance built on a thorough understanding of QA processes, preferably in more than one institution.
• A strong student-benefit focus
• Resilience, tenacity and through those the ability to bring forward results; especially in complex and ambiguous environments.
• Is a team player, engendering a culture of openness and sharing, with particular emphasis on working in partnership across teams.

Proposed Interview Date: 24/05/2017