Job Description

:

Grade and Salary: Grade 5, Salary: \xc2\xa325,138-\xc2\xa328,759

Annual Leave: 28 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days

FTE and Working Pattern: 35 hours weekly, open-ended hybrid role (minimum 3 days in the office)

Detailed Description

The post holder will support the Postgraduate Research Team (both administrative and academic) as well as liaising with support services across the University to ensure the student experience is a positive one.

The role holder must have effective organisational, interpersonal, and communication skills which are vital to this role, as are numeracy and IT (Microsoft Office) skills.

Applicants should also have experience of working in a customer-orientated role. This post will suit a self-motivated individual who is able to work flexibly as one of a team within a challenging and changing environment. Experience of working in a similar role within a Higher Education Institution and knowledge of the postgraduate research student lifecycle would be a distinct advantage.

The work will be varied and will require the successful candidate to provide a fair, friendly and timely service to staff and students to meet our commitment to pursuing service excellence. To achieve this commitment, all support staff need to be adaptable and prepared to support other members of the team in order to meet the needs of academic staff and students.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Main Duties will include:

• Acting as the first point of contact for visitors, students and staff entering the office; this will also include applicants who contact us electronically, by telephone and in person.
• Provide expert advice and guidance on PGR procedures and processes across departments, leading the application of the University\'s Code of Practice for Postgraduate Research Students
• Provide administrative support for all postgraduate research activities within the PGR Office in the areas of application and recruitment, admission, enrolment, annual appraisal and general student support.
• Take a lead role in administering School PGR scholarship processes, communicating with relevant academic departments and central services as required to ensure effective communications and operations.
• Lead regular and proactive monitoring of PGR data across the School including reports to the relevant School and University committees.
• Play an active role in PGR networks in the University in order to maintain an up-to-date understanding of the national policy context related to PGR provision and compliance with those requirements.
• Providing support and deputising for the PGR Support Manager
• Assisting with the postgraduate recruitment process; this will include contacting students upon application, requesting evidence from them to support their application, working on the student database (Banner) and internal monitoring systems.
• Co-ordinating the Annual Appraisal Process, including issuing the appraisal timetable and forms to staff and students, providing staff with detailed information regarding the requirements for their students, recording receipt of documentation, and entering progression codes to the relevant databases.
• Managing the process for payments of external examiners, including ensuring HR paperwork has been issued, completed and liaising with HR/finance regarding payments.
• Assisting students upon arrival, ensuring that their registration and induction is undertaken smoothly.
• Management of student records, issuing certification letters, filing thesis-related forms, archiving of student records appropriately
• Monitoring attendance of foreign national postgraduate research students in line with student visa requirements and ensuring that the student records are filed as required for UK Visa and Immigration purposes.
• Organising and circulating agendas, taking and circulating Minutes for the Research Education Committee

Education, Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Literacy and numeracy skills equivalent to SCQF Level 5 (Standard Grade Intermediate/Credit or similar
• Experience in the use of Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel and experience of working with database systems
• Effective oral and written communication skills: in person, over the telephone, in written and electronic correspondence.
• Ability to communicate appropriately and establish a working relationship with a range of people from a variety of backgrounds.
• Ability to work effectively in a team.
• Demonstrable provision of excellent customer service
• Able to exercise initiative and responsibility, and to use own judgement in solving problems.
• Reliable, methodical and well organised and to be able to work under own initiative.
• Able to keep accurate records and prioritise workload in order to meet strict deadlines and work under pressure.

Desirable

• Educated to SCQF Level 6 (Highers) or equivalent qualification
• Experience of working within a similar environment as outlined above
• Knowledge of the postgraduate research student lifecycle
• Be cognate of the issues affecting the student population

About the team

The School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society (EGIS) is one of the UK\'s leading institutions for multidisciplinary research and teaching in areas critical to economic development and societal equity.

Our postgraduate research student community plays a central role in the research life of the School. Postgraduate research students (PGRs) undertake their own programme of research, supervised by an academic team, and also contribute to the wider research culture, output and impact of their group, academic discipline and department. The Senior Administrative Assistant (Research Support) works closely with PGR students, with the academic leadership of the School and with other key Professional Services colleagues. The post is key to ensuring that PGRs have access to first-class support, excellent academic provision and that processes and procedures enable them to progress through their programme of research.

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on Tuesday, 12th September 2023

Please must submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system (1) Cover letter describing your interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV

We anticipate holding interviews on Wednesday 20th September

For informal discussions about the position, please contact Susan Smith (PGR Support Team Manager) Susan.Smith@hw.ac.uk

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers .

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.

Use our total rewards calculator: to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and leading-edge, relevant research, which has made it one of the top UK universities for innovation, business and industry.

Nearly 30,000 students study with Heriot-Watt across business, engineering, design and the social, physical, biological and sports sciences. Our student body is roughly split evenly between the UK, our two campuses in Dubai and Malaysia, and online, with the latter being distributed across almost all the countries of the world. We also have many partnerships with other institutions world-wide who award Heriot-Watt degrees.

Heriot-Watt University