Senior Student Support Officer in Islington, Norfolk

An excellent opportunity for a 12 month assignment providing essential administrative and student support duties in a capacity that positively affects the wellbeing and support to students in University. The ideal candidates will have very strong and detailed admin experience, have confidence communicating complex processes to a diverse audience and be able to analyse data. Previous experience working with students would be of benefit but not essential. Hybrid role. P/T applications considered.

The Student Support Officer sits within the Student Support Team (or equivalent) supporting attendance and engagement monitoring activity. The role is responsible for:

• Supporting student attendance monitoring
• Coordinating and providing early support for students whose engagement is a concern
• Supporting later follow up, triaging cases for escalation to specialised support staff as required
• Ensuring that attendance records meet UKVI and institutional requirements
• Providing first line wellbeing and signposting support
• Working closely with academic staff and professional services colleagues across Kings

The post holder will work as a conduit between central services, including the Student Support and Wellbeing Service, Visa & International Student Advice and Visa Compliance teams, Global Mobility Office, programmes teams and student support staff in the department, faculty, Senior Tutors, Personal Tutors and teaching staff.

The responsibilities of the role will vary depending on the Faculty/Department in which they are based, but will include some or all the below:

• Support department/faculty-wide tasks related to attendance and engagement monitoring, in line with Kings policy and procedure
• Work with large data sets and multiple systems, cross-checking student information and engagement to determine appropriate action
• Follow up students flagged as at risk due to low attendance as needed, in accordance with Kings procedure
• Provide timely, supportive outreach to students, offering advice, referring to relevant policies, academic staff and central support services, while tracking follow-up actions to ensure continuity of care
• Identify potential visa-related issues using system reports, and ensure appropriate follow-up in liaison with the relevant teams
• Maintain accurate attendance, absence and intervention records in Kings systems
• Manage and troubleshoot student and staff engagement with Kings attendance monitoring systems
• Act as a first point of contact for student and staff attendance and absence queries
• Review, process and record authorised short-term absence submissions
• Develop, review, and refine local process and workflows as needed to ensure procedure is followed and robust records are kept
• Maintain an up-to-date understanding of Kings and UKVI attendance expectations for international students
• Respond to UKVI compliance checks promptly and accurately
• Create and update guidance documents and contribute to staff information and training
• Create and update communications and information provided to students about attendance monitoring requirements
• Support or escalate improvements to digital workflows and tools to streamline attendance processes
• Prepare regular reports on attendance and engagement activity for staff as required
• Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of the data protection requirements and to support Freedom of information and subject access requests

Skills and Experience required:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to draft documents and correspondence for a broad range of audiences, dealing with a variety of people in a professional and assured manner
• Excellent attention to detail, with an ability to maintain high levels of accuracy when dealing with large volumes of documentation
• Strong IT and data analysis skills, with the ability to assimilate large and complex sets of information quickly and accurately
• Experience interpreting complex regulations and processes and explaining these to a varied audience in a straightforward and engaging manner
• Experience working collaboratively with a range of teams or stakeholders
• Strong organisational skills and ability to prioritise effectively
• Confidence using digital tools for record-keeping and reporting

Desirable:

• Experience working in higher education in student support, engagement, pastoral or administrative roles
• Understanding of UKVI attendance expectations
• Understanding of safeguarding principles, especially for under 18s
• Experience using systems such as SITS, KEATS, digital attendance tools (QR), Microsoft Forms and Power Automate