Student Programme Administrator (Dubai) - Dubai Professional services - 102057 - Grade 5 in Birmingham

Position Details

• Discipline: Dubai Operations
• Salary: Competitive
• Grade: 5
• No. of positions: 1
• Full time
• Duration: 3-year fixed contract (renewable at the University’s discretion)
• Location: Dubai, UAE
• Closing date: 8th March 2026

University of Birmingham Dubai

Having established ourselves in Dubai International Academic City in 2018 we have now moved to our new state-of-the-art campus which opened in Sept 2021. These posts represent an excellent opportunity to join an ambitious World Top 100 University as we continue to grow our long-term strategic mission in Dubai, the UAE and the wider region. Our campus reflects the very best of Birmingham through our presence in Dubai.

Professional Services Ethos

Our ethos as a Professional Services team has been developed in line with the principles of being a Birmingham Professional. In particular here in Dubai this means that all Professional Services colleagues seek to collaborate effectively to ensure the needs of the whole campus community and our stakeholders are met. It also means that we work constructively together to provide a flexible range of service and support that adapt to the changing needs of the Campus as we grow.

There are specific focal points in the academic cycle when all Professional Services team members will be expected to contribute regardless of their primary role, for example Welcome or Graduation. In addition, the duties listed below are illustrative of the general nature and level of responsibility of this post which is likely to change over time in response to the needs of the Campus and as you develop your experience and skills.

You will have the opportunity to develop and may also need to specialise your duties further, over time, in agreement with your manager. In order to contribute to the success of the team and the University’s vision for the Dubai Campus the Professional Services team will be seeking to continue to recruit and develop colleagues who display:

• a high level of intellectual aptitude.
• strong agility and a portfolio of skills that can adapt to meet changing circumstances.
• an innovative and creative mind-set; and
• both an enterprising and entrepreneurial nature to support our growth and pursuit of excellence.

Department Overview

The Services and Support thematic area will focus on providing all students at the University of Birmingham Dubai with a wide range of high-quality services and support. This will also support the University and our academic colleagues in the delivery of our academic mission in respect of both Education and Research including:

• Welcome and induction activities;
• Programme administration support and services;
• Research administration support;
• Visa and immigration services;
• Information advice and guidance services;
• Academic Skills support;
• General student administration through to graduation support.

Job Summary

This role reports to the Student & Programme Administration Office. You will join a professional services team which is passionate about providing excellent administration support for students and staff. Duties may vary between teams, but you will have the opportunity to contribute or take a lead in all aspects of student and programme administration ranging from registration throughout the student journey to graduation.

You will work closely with a diverse group of people including managers, academic staff, PS staff and students to deliver the annual cycle of teaching and learning administration related activities, looking after the administration processes for our academic programmes including marking, supervision, feedback and submissions. You will lead the administrative processes and systems for this area and will be responsible for supervising a team of Student Administration Officers on a day-to-day basis and making sure the function runs smoothly and delivers excellent experience to students and staff.

Main Duties

• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Actively manages equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.
• Undertake continuous personal and professional development.

Job Specific Duties

The post holder will be responsible for the smooth running of customer interaction points within the Campus, providing excellent customer service, initial guidance and support across a number of functional support areas, ensuring interactions are managed from first interaction to conclusion, including handling and resolving complaints. You will be able to deal with a range of complex systems and procedures and will be expected to offer advice on these, including deciding on the response to more complex queries. The knowledge of systems like BANNER, LMS etc will be required.

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.

Dealing with a wide variety of administrative tasks relating to staff, students and campus services, including but not limited to obtaining and renewing all students’ visas and IDs, supporting student registration, maintaining student records including any changes throughout the year such as Programme Transfers, Leave of Absences, Appeals and Withdrawals, monitoring student attendance, as well as supporting assessments, exams, Exam Boards and graduation.

Using complex multi-user University systems, to support the operational management of student records from registration through to graduation for students on a variety of taught programmes at the University throughout the academic year; this will include all aspects of Exam Board processing in the Main, Supplementary and Dissertation assessment periods.

Provide administrative support for a wide range of activities in delivering the annual cycle of teaching and learning outlined in the role summary above; for example, recording minutes of meetings or preparing agenda documents as directed by the Head of Student & Programme Administration and/or the Student & Programme Administration Manager.

Regularly communicate relevant information to students, staff and external providers. Work with various departments and support to plan, organise, maintain and deliver activities, enabling the successful delivery of visits, events and/or programmes.

Make a substantial contribution to the management, development and implementation of operational processes. Prepare and deliver management and institutional reports; this will include responding to complex data requests involving the need to pull information from various sources. Compile, manipulate, analyse and interpret large and complex data sets, drawing up reports and/or identifying required actions as appropriate.

Contribute to periodic reviews of administrative processes and procedures with the objective of making improvements and sharing best practice across other areas within the wider University.

Contribute to providing frontline support to visitors and student interaction points within the Campus, providing excellent customer service, initial guidance and support as necessary. Providing a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings, where required. Manage all data in accordance with University policy and Data Protection Regulations.

Additional Responsibilities

• Supporting timetabling and room bookings activity, as required.
• Manage all data in accordance with University policy and Data Protection Regulations.
• Undertake such other duties as may be prescribed from time to time by the Head of Student & Programme Administration and/or the Student & Programme Administration Manager.
• Undertake continuous personal and professional development.
• Conduct financial and Health & Safety duties in line with statutory and University’s policies and procedures.

Person Specification

You will need to evidence:

• Substantial experience in an administrative support role preferably with experience of Higher Education;
• Experience of using complex multi-user systems is essential;
• GCSEs to a minimum of grade C in English and Mathematics (or equivalent qualifications) and A levels or an equivalent level 3 qualification, such as a Level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma.

You will be:

• Comfortable in a role where you take significant responsibility and where you are expected to proactively propose new ways of working;
• Familiar with the administrative duties within a busy higher education or corporate environment;
• Comfortable working on your own initiative to complete tasks and projects without close supervision;
• Able to become authoritative quickly on complex systems and be able to advise colleagues on these;
• Able to set the standard for other colleagues, acting as a role model and coaching staff as appropriate;
• Able to communicate and delegate effectively as required;
• Well organised with the ability to prioritise work (your own and the work of others) proactively, independently and as part of a team.

In addition to the above, you should be able to demonstrate and/or evidence the following:

• The ability to work to tight deadlines in a collaborative team environment;
• The ability to supervise and support the work of other team members;
• A good understanding of delivering excellent customer service and the ability to influence others to deliver it too;
• The ability to interact with individuals at all levels of internal and external organisations;
• Experience using and maintaining complex work systems e.g. student databases/record systems/finance systems or equivalent.
• Basic understanding of Power BI and Power Automate will be an added advantage.
• Exemplary attention to detail and the ability to work confidentially, use judgement and make appropriate decisions within the constraints of the role;
• An understanding of 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.

Problem solving and decision making

You will be working under the direction of senior managers (The Head of Student & Programme Administration and the Student & Programme Administration Manager), but with considerable autonomy to deliver the outputs required. You will be working within the framework of existing policies, processes and procedures for the University, as well as locally developed ones in Dubai, but there will be plenty of scope to review and shape processes. You will take day to day decisions on some of the more complex tasks in the team’s remit including identifying next steps as appropriate.

Internal and external relationships

This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and stakeholders, external stakeholders as well, sometimes with customers who have issues with the service, with an expectation on maintaining good working relationships with all.

This is not an academic role.

In return, you will receive a competitive package and play a key role in our ambitious University’s expansion as we enhance our international reputation and global footprint.

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy.