Student Engagement Officer

Job description

We are seeking a Student Engagement Officer to join our close-knit Professional Services team, working for the School of Education, Communication and Society at one of the most prestigious universities in the UK. 

This is a fantastic opportunity to develop creative engagement skills working across a multitude of formats including online and in person events, producing written communications, divising social initiatives and utilising social media to foster a student community. The Student Engagement Officer will work across all student cohorts – undergraduate through to PhD students, and from pre-application to alumni status.  

It is a relatively new role in the School and will be rewarding for someone with broad social skills looking to make a positive impact on the student experience both through community wide engagement and working with colleagues to support students on pastoral matters. 

This post will be offered on a full-time, indefinite contract.

Key responsibilities

• Work with student representatives and student societies, supporting and advising on their activities in line with priorities, encouraging the development of student-led initiatives, such as societies or mentoring schemes.
• Manage the student experience and student society budgets, in line with King’s Financial Procedures.
• Organise Welcome Week (student induction) for the School, including newsletters, events timetable, app updates and presentation slides as necessary. This will involve working closely with the College’s central Welcome team, King’s Venues and Timetabling.
• Manage and support the School’s Student Voice agenda and undertake specific student engagement projects as and when required; e.g Student Buddy System.  Working with academic leads to organise and service relevant committees and forums, and maintaining the Student Voice intranet pages.
• Organise and support enhanced student experience activities, for example student socials including winter party, student workshops, internships and seminar series.  This will also include undertaking relevant training to ensure and advise on inclusive practice such as mental health first aid, safeguarding, and equality, diversity & inclusion training.
• Working closely with the programme team and faculty wellbeing team to provide pastoral support for students, including contacting and meeting with students as needed and escalating complex support needs as appropriate.
• Involvement in attendance and wellbeing processes, including contacting students who have missed teaching and raising Student of Concern referrals as necessary.
• Support the PhD student cohort, working with academic chairs and supervisors, and community building.
• Working with the School Communications Officer, actively communicating with students, including via social media, regarding all forms of support, activities, events, or initiatives that will enhance their student journey.
• Developing and disseminating newsletters applicable to undergraduate and postgraduate students that contains details of all co-curricular activities as noted above, and working with the School Communications Officer to provide website and intranet content.
• Working with the Education & Students Directorate to improve widening participation, student transition, retention and success, student-facing events, engagement and communication and graduation.
• Liaising with the Careers & Employability Service on events and programmes, including promotion, logistics, guest lecturers, and speaker surveys.
• Co-ordinating alumni communications and activities, in collaboration with the relevant programme leads.
• Supporting outreach activities such as taster days, offer holder days, open days or evenings, and other events, liaising with academic staff and marketing as needed.
• Lead on the promotion of national and internal student surveys, such as NSS, PTES and online module evaluations, and take responsibility for follow-up activity and outreach-related action points”.
• Participate in relevant King’s networks and working groups and represent the School at appropriate internal and external meetings, project teams, or fora on topics related to the student experience.
• Act in a flexible, proactive way and be prepared to work with colleagues in other areas when needed.
• Any other duties as appropriate as requested by the School Education Manager.
• Strong commitment to equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Contribute to a positive, inclusive and supportive work and study culture within the School for the benefit of all staff and students.
• The role may require occasional evening and weekend work.

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.

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

Essential criteria

1.       Educated to degree level or equivalent (OR has relevant work experience) 

2.       Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate and build effective working relationships with students, academic and non-academic colleagues 

3.       Well-developed understanding of event management principles and the ability to plan and deliver a variety of events to enhance the student journey 

4.       Well-honed written communication skills, adaptable for both formal correspondence and social media communications 

5.       An understanding of the potential challenges facing students in Higher Education, and in particular students with additional needs. 

6.       Evidence of building community and/or supporting stakeholder management 

7.       Good IT skills (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, databases and social media) 

8.       Well-developed organisational skills with the ability to prioritise workloads. 

9.       Ability to demonstrate a flexible and proactive working independently to devise and progress new initiatives through the appropriate channels

10.     Ability to demonstrate empathy when supporting students in pastoral matters and providing advice 

Desirable criteria

1.   Experience of working within the Higher Education sector, ideally based within a faculty, school or department 

2.   Experience of working in a customer service focused environment 

3.   Experience of using different communication channels e.g. social media, print and web