Senior Student Engagement Officer

Job id: 086945. Salary: £37,332 – £42,099 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted: 25 March 2024. Closing date: 08 April 2024.

Business unit: Social Science & Public Policy. Department: Politics & Economics School Office.

Contact details: Becky Hart. Becky.hart@kcl.ac.uk

Location: Strand Campus. Category: Professional & Support Services.

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic team, supporting the delivery of the Student Experience Strategy within one of the high-profile schools within the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy, a large, diverse, and international community for social research and education.

The School of Politics and Economics includes the Department of Political Economy, the Department of European and International Studies and King’s Russia Institute and is dedicated to rich interdisciplinary scholarship on the links between politics and economics with internationally renowned research on European integration and governance and Russia’s society, policy, and economic impact on global affairs.

The Senior Student Engagement Officer will work across the School, reporting to the Student Engagement Manager, and will play a central role in assisting with the delivery of the strategy, operations and processes which enhance the student experience. The Senior Student Engagement Manager will:

Be responsible for ensuring an excellent student experience through the entire student lifecycle, from student recruitment to the transition into academic life, their time at King’s and when they become part of the School’s growing alumni.

Co-create across all cohorts – undergraduate through to PhD students – to build student communities, career-readiness and workshops, alumni relations and organising small to large-scale annual events.

Build on existing processes and to implement new ideas to improve the student experience, student voice and feedback mechanisms including NSS, PTES, PRES, and module evaluations

Be responsible for coordinating and delivering Welcome and induction activities across all Departments, to create a positive impact on student’s transition and start at university.

This role is suitable for someone with excellent organisation skills, attention to detail and the ability to prioritise and work under pressure. Interpersonal skills and the ability to work with different stakeholders and adapt to the everchanging Higher Education environment is vital for this role. This is a fantastic opportunity to collaborate across the whole School on event management, student-staff partnerships, and feedback initiatives.

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract.

This is a full-time post.

Key responsibilities

Responsible for the delivery of an engaging events programme both online and in person (for the entire academic year), being the first point of contact for internal and external event enquiries via email.

Responsible for the day-to-day operations of events including scheduling, bookings (travel, catering), liaising with speakers and chairs, room setup, staff briefings, risk assessments and post event analysis.

Supporting the Student Engagement Manager on strategic projects, including trackers to manage task progress and success.

Collaborating with Heads of Department and other academic colleagues in organizing both internal and external engagement activities.

Working with the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy and Students & Education Directorate to improve widening participation, student transition, retention and success, student-facing events, and graduation.

Supporting the Student Engagement Manager with departmental outreach activities such as taster days, offer holder days, open days or evenings, marketing collateral, liaising with academic staff and marketing as needed.

Leading the organisation and operational duties of Welcome Week including the induction timetable, organising academic and social events and induction communications.

Manage and support the department’s Student Voice agenda and undertake specific student feedback projects as and when required; including working with the Academic Leads and programme teams to organise the related SSLC meetings, agenda, minutes, and actions, setting up dates, inviting student representatives and ensuring that actions are followed up. Maintaining online School intranet pages related to the student voice.

Work with KCL Student’s Union colleagues to recruit Student Representatives to represent their course at relevant committees.

Support and encourage the development of student-led initiatives, which enhance the student experience such as student-staff partnerships, peer-led workshops, student working groups, student societies or mentoring schemes.

To participate in departmental or College-wide working groups, project teams, or meetings on topics related to the Student Engagement including Faculty and College wide Student Experience meetings.

Supporting the Student Engagement Manager in setting up, promoting, and analysing student surveys including module evaluations, NSS, PTES and PRES including a communications plan to support survey engagement.

Work closely with the Communications Officer to proactively communicate with students, including through newsletters, email marketing and social media, regarding all forms of support, activities, events, or initiatives that will enhance their student experience.

Liaising with the Careers & Employability Service and department careers leads in relation to department and School careers events and programmes, including promotion, logistics, guest lecturers and alumni panels.

Building good stakeholder relationships and networks internally and externally including Marketing, Careers & Employability Service, Wellbeing Officers, King’s Venues, King’s Food, AV.

Monitoring the effectiveness of events and projects, suggesting, and exploring ways of engaging with a diverse audience using innovative methods.

Work flexibly as part of a team, supporting others in times of high-volume activity. Covering staff absence and deputizing for the Student Engagement Manager as and when required.

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.Please note some activities will require the post holder to work outside of normal working hours but time will be offered back in lieu.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria

1. Educated to degree level or equivalent experience.

2. Excellent IT skills, including Office, Windows, databases, internet, and social media.

3. Excellent communication skills including well-honed use of English adaptable for both formal correspondence and writing for online communications.

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

5. Substantial experience in administration and event management from conception to delivery, with the ability to adapt to different formats (on campus, online programmes), preferably in an academic environment.

6. Well-developed organisational skills with the ability to prioritise workloads in a busy environment and an ability to demonstrate a flexible and proactive approach to work, taking the initiative to progress ideas and proposals through the appropriate channels

7. Ability to collate and analyse data and deliver provisions reflecting the outcomes of the data to key stakeholders.

8. Experience of managing feedback mechanisms including surveys, focus groups and evaluating responses.

9. Strong commitment and desire to improve the student experience with an understanding of equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Desirable criteria

10. Experience of working within the Higher Education sector, ideally based within a faculty, school or department and/or substantial experience of working in a customer focused environment

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