Senior Student Engagement Adviser

We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better. The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region. We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.

Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

About the College/Department

The Registry supports all aspects of the student journey, right from initial enquiry and application, all the way through to final award and student completion. We strive to provide an outstanding service to all our users and to be thought leaders in our fields of expertise, developing research informed practice. Registry teams work collaboratively with stakeholders to deliver a high-performance culture that promotes wellbeing, diversity and opportunity for all, supporting excellent student experience.

About the Role

As a Senior Student Engagement Adviser, you will be part of the wider Registry Team and lead in the identification early on of students at risk of disengagement, failure, or non-completion, be able to understand the student record and provide timely advice, support and guidance, and lead decision making to escape referrals to a range of specialist support services to satisfy regulatory and policy requirements throughout the academic year. You will liaise closely with Student Services, College Registry Operations, Student Hub, work alongside academic teams, external IT provider and IT Services/DS&S to develop and implement an improved engagement process delivering improved student outcomes and retention.

In this role, you will play a key role in addressing student progression, retention, and achievement, contributing to student success and a positive student experience. The role will involve the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the student engagement monitoring business process and its associated system tools and will require initiation and co-ordination of interventions and continuous improvement activities across a range of teams to improve the student experience and continuation on programme. You will become a recognised expert in the University for the student engagement process and a point of contact for all student engagement particularly for our foundation, first year and international student cohorts.

You will be responsible for ensuring data quality within a right first-time ethos for all data within your business area, supported by an awareness and understanding of the data processed within your area, particularly any data classed as personal or sensitive. Working together with colleagues in our academic colleges and professional services, we aim to provide a high-quality user experience for students and staff who support the student journey (admissions to graduation). You will also support our Student Hub offering advice and guidance to students, or referring to specialist teams on a variety of areas.

We are committed to excellence and continuous improvement in all that we do and aim to provide a service that is fair, compliant, professional, and dynamic. The role will be based at Kedleston Road although you may be required on occasion to work at our other campuses for student activity and work flexibly to support open days, enrolment and graduation events throughout the year alongside the wider Registry staff. This role is a fixed term contract for 18 months.

About You

We are looking for bright and innovative applicants with an eye for detail, you will work on new initiatives and projects with teams across the Registry and assist with core operational activities with the aim to support students and help improve student engagement. Being digitally focused you will be confident in working with a range of technologies, understand data and the use of technology to gather information and provide analysis. You will also have excellent communication capabilities. This will enable you to gain a clear understanding of the level of student engagement and performance on the programme with working knowledge of the wider services of the Registry to enable you to deliver a seamless service to students and staff.

The role will require a high level of adaptability and flexibility, with professionalism, empathy, strong communication skills, sound knowledge of university regulations, processes and student support. Registry staff display positive attitudes, behaviours and attributes which support excellence, innovation and achievement. This is an interesting and varied role and you will join a supportive collaborative team which has student support at its heart. This role will offer you the opportunity to increase your development and transferable skills for your future career prospects.

Key Contact

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Richard Tarplee, Assistant Registry Services Manager via r.g.tarplee@derby.ac.uk. For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk. The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers under the Skilled Worker route for this role; however, applications are welcome from candidates who are able to demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK. Please visit our website for more information.