Regional Admissions Lead - 12-Month Contract

Duration of the contract: 12 Months

Job Purpose: Responsible for leading the admissions area for designated regions. This will involve assessing applications and documents, applying entry criteria from a variety of markets, working closely with counterparts and colleagues based overseas and, in the UK, liaising with faculties and schools where required and contacting applicants and third parties to progress applications to ensure the swift issuance of an offer letter and other related admissions documents in line with Service Level Agreements (SLA’s), progressing students through to enrolment. You will have comprehensive knowledge of regional qualifications in addition you will have a detailed understanding of our application pipelines, the number of applications on each status, and ensuring applications are proactively processed from a pending status to a final decision. The post holder will be first point of contact for recruitment staff for queries and you will proactively help drive students through their admissions stages.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Responsible for first contact resolution, ensuring queries that arise within the regions are handled fully first time – preventing the need for future contact to be made on the same issue.
• Responsible for the timely and effective management of applications through to offer, meeting conditions and CAS stage.
• Assisting in ensuring compliance with University admissions entry policies and procedures and UKVI regulations.
• Work to the professional standards, boundaries, guidelines and general responsibilities articulated in the UKCISA/AISA Code of Ethics for those advising international students, as well as under the OISC guidelines and any OIEG or University policies and procedures.
• Engage effectively with applicants, recruitment agents or other nominated third parties by telephone, email, face to face or other methods of interaction so that they understand clearly what is required to progress their application through to offer and other necessary admission related documents.
• Communicate with the relevant Admissions Tutors/Managers of Faculties/Schools/Campuses to secure a timely decision in respect of non-standard applications in line with agreed SLA’s.
• Support in the leadership of overseas Admissions Officers to ensure all applications are processed within SLA, processed accurately and all information is recorded on the necessary system accurately and is up-to-date at all times.
• Responsible for training overseas Admissions Officers when amendments to entry criteria for regional area are amended and changed, ensuring that all applications are retrospectively assessed and re-evaluated accordingly.
• Have a solid understanding of how many applications from the prescribed region and number of applications associated to each status at any given time, being accountable for progressing applications from a pending state to a final decision.
• Be able to report on the number of applications within each status, the amount of time an application has taken to process along with other key metrics to colleagues in the prescribed regional team, the Senior Leadership Team and present these in regular meetings.
• To proactively look for improvements or efficiencies in systems and procedures to constantly drive an increase in productivity thus improving customer service and recruitment performance.
• To keep up to date with regional qualification changes, sector development changes, legislation changes e.g. CMA, UKVI, GDPR and other necessary regulations to ensure compliance at all times.
• Assist with any other such duties within the scope and spirit of the job title.

Planning & Organising:

• Plan and manage own workload to ensure that SLA’s are achieved at all times. This will include the need to prioritise own workload on a daily basis, expediting and chasing urgent cases with colleagues across the business when necessary in pursuit of SLA’s.
• Support in the planning and development of the Regional Recruitment, Admissions and Conversion Strategy with other colleagues from within the prescribed region.

Relationships & Communication:

• To build strong internal working relationships and establish regular lines of communication with Admissions Officers based overseas, Regional Managers & International Officers, International Student Advisors, Admissions Tutors in faculties and campuses, Business Development Officers, International Conversion Officers as well as with the Head of International Conversion and Head of International Admissions.
• Regular communication with applicants, agents and other nominated third parties in order to support in making a decision on a student’s application, related admission documents and the release of a CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies).

Person Specifications:

• Legal requirements: Eligibility to live and work in the UK, Satisfactory Enhanced DBS Disclosure.
• Education / Qualifications: Educated to Degree level or equivalent, A second language (Desirable).
• Knowledge & Experience: Experience of working in a process driven environment, Experience of working in a customer focused environment, Delivery of customer service excellence, Detailed knowledge of managing a complex customer journey, Experience in reporting against metrics and presenting to peers, Knowledge of CRM and Admissions systems (Desirable), Experience of working within an admissions function (Desirable), Experience of working with colleagues across multiple locations (Desirable).
• Skills & Abilities: Ability to work well under pressure in a fast-paced target driven, service focused environment, IT literate with good numeracy skills and attention to detail, Ability to work within clear process guidelines but have the ability to make sound decisions where there is no set process, An appreciation of other cultures; the global reach of OIEG and its international agenda, Appropriate international and cultural awareness skills and sensitivity.
• Personal attributes: A strong communicator, comfortable with stakeholders at all levels, Be able to solve problems and make decisions, Results orientated, ambitious and highly self-motivated, Be able to provide and receive constructive criticism to and from peers, Able to empathise with colleagues, customers and other stakeholders.
• Other requirements: A flexible approach to working hours and location, including a willingness to travel, locally, nationally or overseas, as required.

Disclaimer: This job description is provided as a guide to the role. It is not intended to be an exhaustive description of duties and responsibilities and may be subject to periodic revision. Oxford International is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service. This role involves working with children and is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Oxford International is an equal opportunity employer. Every applicant and employee has the same opportunities regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date should we receive a high volume of suitable applications. We therefore encourage interested candidates to apply as early as possible.