Job description  

The Senior Programmes Officer (Assessments) is a vital member of a university-wide function for Education & Students Support. The post-holder will support the consistent management and delivery of teaching and learning provision, assisting with complex day-to-day issues, responding in line with university Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) and, assisting the Programmes Manager (Assessments) with long-term planning related to assessments and examinations.  

The role holder will oversee and co-ordinate the work of a small team of Programmes Officers to ensure that their activities are carried out efficiently and that administration of all matters relating to the examinations and assessment processes of the Faculty are carried out to a high-level of accuracy and consistent standard.  

The key relationships for the post holder will be with Chairs of Examination Boards, the central Examinations team, Programme Officers, External Examiners and Academic colleagues. The role holder will also be a representative of the Faculty at Service Management Groups (SMGs), meetings with placement providers and other higher education institutions (HEIs).  

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract 

This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent

Key responsibilities

• Facilitating Assessment Boards ensuring board paperwork is accurate and timely. Maintaining current knowledge of both university and programme regulations and relevant external PSRB standards in order to provide authoritative guidance to both students and academic staff.
• Providing a highly responsive, dynamic and positive presence within the Nightingale Student Hub. Supporting the shared commitment to service-excellence driven by professional services staff working to deliver a world-class student experience. Affirming a service-ethos based the university’s Principles in Action.
• Working with relevant colleagues to deliver and continually improve all assessments and examinations processes throughout the academic year, identifying priorities and demonstrating flexibility throughout the cycle, recognising when priorities change, amending plans and adjusting work patterns accordingly.  
• Overseeing the day-to-day running of the Faculty’s assessments and examinations, in line with university deadlines and regulations, Faculty KPIs and SLAs, as well as external requirements from key National Stakeholders.  
• Coordinating assignment submissions and collection, including Mitigating Circumstances Forms, Appeals, Fitness to Practice and both physical and electronic submissions and maintaining a responsive and supportive student enquiry service with a coordinated approach to communications and production of publications, such as handbooks, marking criteria, and information of assessments (e.g. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs)).  
• Working in collaboration with other departments and colleagues, such as Academic Services and Graduation Office, and Admissions and Registry Services more broadly, to support the ongoing development of processes and resources relating to the Education & Students function and service-delivery. 
• Contributing to planning and service enhancement for examinations and assessments, including examination timetabling and the Faculty’s assessment schedule, ensuring the Faculty’s procedures reflect any changes in university regulations.  
• Monitoring and reviewing assessment-related data to ensure it is accurate and, where necessary, providing management information to deadlines for internal and external use, including quality assurance data for the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) and Health Education England (HEE). 
• Overseeing enquiries from academic staff and external examiners, assisting programme and module leaders by recording and communicating essential student data and assessment information.  
• Facilitating administrative support to relevant admissions and awards functions, including Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). This will include advising applicants of the accreditation process, accepting applications from students, distributing applications to appropriate members of the Faculty staff and collating reports for presentation at committee meetings.  
• Ensuring that quality assurance requirements and, where required, accreditation requirements are met for all provision. To service committees and other meetings as required. To oversee the cyclical archiving of examinations and assessments records in line with university retention policies.  
• Developing and enhancing the service by proactively seeking and responding to stakeholder feedback, identifying and suggesting service improvements and implementing new ways of working as directed. Supporting Faculty and university projects as necessary to further service improvement and Education & Students support functions.  
• Working flexibly as part of a team, supporting others in times of high-volume activity (such as Welcome Week and enrolments and submission periods). Participating in and coordinating new starter inductions and training. Covering staff absence and deputising for the Programmes Manager (Assessments) as and when required.
• Working with the wider university community to ensure up-to-date and consistent practices are followed when utilising systems (e.g. student records systems and virtual learning environments) to undertake both day-to-day functions and higher-level processes such as reporting and extracting data, ensuring accuracy of data and identifying and resolving issues. 
• Engaging with and triage students’ pastoral care needs, resolving straightforward issues where appropriate and escalating with, and informing, key stakeholders as per university frameworks. 
• Ensuring that a sense of collective accountability is maintained for student records data quality, ensuring records are accurately maintained in accordance with the agreed retention schedules. 
• Ensuring all work is carried out in a professional and timely manner, with appropriate confidentiality and sensitivity, maintaining an up-to-date knowledge of the data protection requirements and to support Freedom of Information and subject access requests. 
• Carry out other reasonable responsibilities commensurate with the grading of the post as required. 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.  

Essential criteria  

1. Excellent written and oral communication skills including the ability to draft documents and correspondence autonomously to a broad range of audiences. 
2. Strong numeracy skills and ability to analyse numerical data, with experience in the use of databases with a high level of detail and accuracy. 
3. Experience of administrating examination and assessments functions, preferably in a higher education provider or similar. 
4. Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. 
5. Experience in planning schedules of work against annual cycles; setting objectives, milestones and implementing regular reviews to evaluate progress. 
6. Experience of stakeholder management, ability to work with a broad range of stakeholders in a professional and assured manner, managing and delivering services and support, with a proactive, development focused and transparent approach. 
7. Experience of working in a customer facing environment with a knowledge of how to address complaints and service setbacks in a professional and efficient manner. 
8. Have a methodical but flexible approach to work, maintaining a high level of accuracy, collaborative, responsive, and relationship-oriented approach to teamwork, proactive approach, and the ability to work independently. 
9. Excellent time management and organisational skills and the ability to work to tight deadlines, exercising sound judgement when managing complex challenges, maintaining a solution-focussed approach while recognising when escalation is needed. 
10. Commitment to equality and diversity in the workplace. 

Desirable criteria  

1. Experience of using virtual learning environments. 
2. Experience of managing staff and supervising their work. 
3. Degree level or equivalent qualification or experience.  

Further information

This interview will include an assessment.  

The interviews are provisionally scheduled for the week commencing of Nov 22nd.