Student Experience & Wellbeing Head at University of Birmingham is responsible to lead on strategy and high quality delivery of a range of services that promote and support student wellbeing, student development and an excellent student experience for all University of Birmingham Dubai students. The post holder will be responsible for continuing development and implementation of the Dubai Professional Services Enabling Strategy as relates to student experience and will lead and line manage a team of people in student experience and support related roles, ensuring the successful delivery of the agreed strategy. In addition, this post holder will develop and implement a plan for a range of partnerships and collaborations externally to enhance the co curricular, extracurricular and graduate experiences and outcomes for students. The Head of Student Experience and Wellbeing is responsible for the leadership and management of a range of functions which support the overall student experience and include:

• Welcome/Induction.
• Wellbeing and welfare support.
• Careers, Employability and Employer Relationship Management.
• Library service delivery, digital resources development and academic skills delivery.
• Liaison with the Student Association and Guild of Students to ensure collaboration in key University student experience operations, strategy, and partnerships, including UoB Sport and Student Leadership and Representation.

Duties of Student Experience & Wellbeing Head

• The post holder will be responsible for promoting integration and collaboration between Dubai service areas and the wider University of Birmingham. They will also lead on specific service projects and initiatives for the wider Professional Services team in support of the campus development agenda.
• They will be an experienced professonal in a relevant discipline that will help to embed their approach to wellbeing throughout the student experience. Report to the Deputy Director of Operations and is a member of the Professional Services Senior Management Team on campus. The post holder is responsible for the leadership and delivery of innovative, high quality, efficient, professional services ensuring that the service follows best professional practice, is compliant with legislative requirements, and other authority or professional regulatory body regulations.

Strategic Leadership and Management

• Line manage and provide professional leadership to staff responsible for supporting student wellbeing and experience services. This will involve supporting their professional development, focusing on delivery of objectives and on providing excellent customer service.
• Provide advice and guidance on new developments, significant staffing and structural issues and on budgetary matters.
• Develop strategies for the coordination and future development of experience and wellbeing services in line with sector best practice, changing student needs, advances in technology etc.
• Planning, prioritising, and allocating student wellbeing and experience support against agreed targets, and campus wide operations, collaborating closely with all other Heads of Service.
• Ensure effective service delivery to students, develop appropriate tools to evaluate service quality and provide key performance and management data, and ensure effective oversight of outsourced services and suppliers.
• Ensure that the teams effectively utilise digital tools to administer and manage casework and that service based systems are integrated with university systems with appropriate safeguards for confidentiality.
• Ensure that policies and processes meet statutory and regulatory requirements and lead on the development of new policies and processes to meet changing requirements at university, sector and UAE level.
• Provide reports for university committees as appropriate on the work of the Student Experience and Wellbeing Team.
• Leading with agility and resilience to enable reshaping of services as the university continues to grow and develop and to keep up with the changing academic context and learning frameworks.
•  Facilitating appropriate collaboration between the relevant Dubai team and Edgbaston colleagues, and ensuring alignment with key University policies, objectives and governance.
• Cultivate a network of external contacts and resources to enable observation of trends, and facilitate horizon scanning, helping to inform the University of developments of the Student Experience and Wellbeing service portfolio.

Student Wellbeing Services

• Support the Wellbeing and Experience Officers in assessing student cases, identifying and managing risk and safeguarding issues as needed.
• Supporting the management of relationships with external support partners and agencies in delivering wellbeing and experience services to students.
• To lead the work of the team in developing proactive and preventative wellbeing initiatives for delivery to students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, based on data driven decision making.
• To support the management of critical incidents.
• Lead the Extenuating Circumstance and Extension processes and to support with other processes which impact and support students’ wellbeing.
• To liaise closely with the Student Wellbeing Team at the University of Birmingham Edgbaston campus, ensuring the ongoing monitoring and analysis of trends, looking at service demands and resources and striving to keep them relevant and appropriate for their student population.
• To offer professional consultancy to staff of the University in relation to their pastoral role with students, and provide advice on how to manage the impact an individual student’s academic participation and performance.
• To remain up to date on local UAE legislation and development of regionally based support in the wellbeing space.
• Lead on the Reasonable Adjustment Process on campus and working closely with the relevant teams in Edgbaston and Dubai to ensure support is available and implemented for students of determination.
• Working with academic colleagues and other key staff to ensure that the campus and its learning environment and activities are inclusive and accessible.

Student Experience and Students Association

• Project management of key student experience events, including Welcome, festive celebrations and Student Leader Elections.
• Development and ownership of the student experience calendar, alongside other key stakeholders.
• Input into social media and other student facing communication channels to ensure engagement with events and key university information.
• Providing oversight and enabling the Student Leadership Team to act as a key part of the university infrastructure and figureheads of the student community.
• Supporting the Student Experience and Engagement Officer to work alongside academic staff in the recruitment, facilitation and delivery of the Student Representation system.
• Working with the Students Association, Guild of Students and UoB Sport to deliver an extensive and responsive network of student led clubs and groups.
• Encouraging students to participate in community engagement and community impact through volunteering and collaborative activities.
• Overseeing the deliver and facilitation of programme led social activity.
• Working with the Equality Diversity and Inclusion lead to ensure that the students are engaged in activities. Opportunities that foster and environment of diversity and inclusion.
• Working closely with campus operations to ensure that events and activities are delivered in line with health. Safety requirements and in line with external partners and contractors’ requirements whilst also delivering an optimal student experience.

Careers and Employability

• Working closely with the academic teams to understand the potential careers and employability needs of their industries. Develop aligned services and opportunities.
• Building relationships within the UAE labour market to bring in employability opportunities for students.
• Working closely with other key roles within the university to ensure cross university collaboration. Aignment, including DARO, Relationships Manager, Business Development Manager, Careers Network UK.
• Act key point of contact for the Careers Network UK to ensure the teams remain aligned in their strategic vision. In the sharing of resources and opportunities.
• Understanding local labour market trends as relates to employability and graduate market.
• Enabling the team to build and deliver a calendar of targeted careers and employability events that will upskill. Develop the student body and delivers in line with the Birmingham 2030 strategy.
• Leading in the development and facilitation of graduate support.
• Monitoring and reporting on relevant careers and employability targets and performance indicators. In line with quality assurance requirements and strategic objectives.

Library and Academic Study Skills

• Supporting the team to deliver library services that respond to the relevant needs of students and academic colleagues.
• Alongside the Academic and Digital Skills Officer. Develop an innovative programme of workshops and extracurricular activity that develops students’ academic skills.
• Ensuring that the library space enables and delivers an environment conducive to learning and innovation.
• Working with the library and academic skills team to ensure that the physical. Digital resources available to students are responsive to the needs of the programme portfolio.
• Providing accurate data and information about library services to required quality assurance processes.
• Working closely with colleagues in Edgbaston to ensure that campus libraries are aligned. Dubai remains strategically and operationally included.

Additional responsibilities

• To undertake such other duties may be required from time to time, to further the work of the wellbeing services. The development of the student experience, or the University.

Job Requirements of Student Experience & Wellbeing Head

• Educated to at least degree level, and significant relevant experience.
• Minimum 4 year experience in similar role.
• Evidence of ongoing training and development (CPD) relevant to the role.
• Previous experience of working in a Higher Education institution within related roles.
• Experience of estimating priorities and allocating available resources to fulfil defined targets.
• Experience of coordinating work between different teams, departments, or organisations.
• Demonstrable experience of using initiative and creativity to resolve problems.
• Experience of fostering partnerships with stakeholders to enable collaborative working.
• Excellent documentation and report writing skills, with experience of authoring documents to the high standard expected of University committees.

Skills & Knowledge Desired of Student Experience & Wellbeing Head

• Excellent inter personal and communication skills together with the ability to work with and influence senior managers.
• Proven ability to work on multiple projects and/or workstreams concurrently, managing workloads appropriately. To achieve specific deliverables within required timeframes and to required quality standards.
• Proven ability in managing, motivating, and developing a team of Professional Services staff.
• Has, and is able to demonstrate, the ability to work independently, accurately, and to deadlines within a team environment.
• Actively promotes and demonstrates a commitment towards equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Ability to think strategically and formulate operational plans to deliver the University’s strategic objectives.

Student & Programme Administrator Dubai Operations University of Birmingham

Vice Provost University of Birmingham Dubai

Head of Student Recruitment & Admissions, Ajman University UAE