Timetabling and Examinations Assistant - Academic Services - 7658 - Grade 5

As a senior administrator within a team/department you will provide support for a broad range of administrative duties, some of which may be complex. You may also be responsible for managing other staff or for supporting colleagues and sharing knowledge. You will be able to use your wide range of skills, both technical and administrative, and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks within a team. In order to flexibly use resources you may be given the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider University.

Senior Administrators may work in any area of the University; with large groupings in HR, Finance, and School/College Hubs. The post holder will take responsibility for their own work supporting the set up and creation of the taught timetable and centrally managed examinations for Colleges across the University. The role requires a keen eye for detail and confidence in manipulating/scrutinising data in order to problem solve, using own initiative to resolve issues pragmatically. As a subject matter expert, the post holder will ensure they work collaboratively and professionally with all stakeholders, providing an excellent service to students and colleagues. The post holder will be working as part of a team completing tasks in addition to the creation and distribution of the academic timetable and examination timetable and running of the examination period such as supporting on institutional and divisional projects.

Main Duties

• You will be able 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. Systems include but are not limited to: Timetabling & Examinations Scheduling engine, Student records systems, IT Service now products, Access, Excel and SharePoint databases.
• 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.
• On a day to day basis you will be expected to resolve more complex queries without necessarily referring to your manager.
• If you have a supervisory role, you will line manage your staff taking responsibility for co-ordinating and prioritising the work of others. You will be expected to act as a role model and coach members of the team, providing specialist advice and training to colleagues on area of activity.
• Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is collected from and disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate in order to manage the production and distribution of the teaching and examination timetables.
• Contribute to large institutional wide and smaller departmental projects where required, using specialist knowledge and experience to represent the views of the Timetabling & Examinations division, confidently advising, and implementing solutions.
• You will be expected to use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research, analyse and interpret complex data, producing bespoke reports as required. This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data.
• Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
• 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.
• You may be required to be responsible for one or more of 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, updating and writing contents for the department's communications e.g. intranet pages, dealing with health and safety and facilities issues, HR-related tasks such as managing staff absence, induction, or dealing with leavers, dealing with arrangements for international visitors, monitoring internal procedures/compliance and ensuring these are followed and disseminated as appropriate.
• Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
• You may be involved in organising events including booking a venue, sending invitations, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, managing bookings, co-ordination of colleagues, advertising, collating feedback and reporting back.
• As required, provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings.

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.
• Has a detailed understanding of Timetabling and/or Examinations and procedures at a Higher Education Institution with experience of complex scheduling software.
• Highly proficient IT skills, in particular the ability to handle complex electronic diaries and emails, the wider 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.
• Proven ability to plan ahead and anticipate requirements, proactively planning own (and sometimes others’) workloads to manage time effectively, progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. The post holder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and 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, and to develop a good understanding of how higher education institutions work.
• 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.