Ormskirk, England, United Kingdom
Higher education policy analysis and advice lead, delivering evidence based briefings, authoritative reports and aligned projects for a range of internal and external stakeholders. Responsibilities - Head of policy insights and intelligence, providing guidance to senior management on potential risks and opportunities within higher education. - Delivering regular, trusted, data-informed advice and presentations for university leaders, on developing areas of higher education policy. - Providing strategic direction for OfS and DfE regulatory requirement, recent examples including Lifelong Learning, Freedom of Speech and Access & Participation. - Collaborating internally and externally in steering policy direction on a sector scale, placing the university at the heart of these opportunities. Accomplishments - Providing strategic guidance in informing the University of the Future programme, a major institutional initiative reshaping organisational, academic and support structures to meet future student needs. - University lead for engagement with the Department for Education on the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, supporting national skills policy development through regional hack events, sector toolkit creation, and providing expert advice on implementation. - Co-author on the Student Working Lives research project, examining the prevalence and experiences of students balancing paid work alongside their studies. Collaborating with the Higher Education Policy Institute, Universities UK, and university partners to develop sector advocacy and policy reports, showcasing best practices, developing recommendations and driving change within the institution and across higher education. - Led the University’s response to new Freedom of Speech legislation, collaborating cross-organisationally, providing regular briefings and strategic advice to senior management on legislative developments and institutional implications.
Interim head of the University’s strategic data and analytics service, providing leadership and oversight of institutional performance analysis, management of Tableau and SSRS reporting systems, and ensuring alignment of internal metrics with external regulatory requirements to enable robust, evidence-based decision-making. Successfully led and managed the team through the pre-restructure phase, maintaining continuity and strategic focus.
Principal responsibility for the institutional understanding of higher education policy developments, producing evidence based analyses and authoritative reports for a range of audiences. Responsibilities - Regularly advising senior management on opportunities, challenges and risks to the University. - Delivering trusted, insightful briefing papers, accompanying data summaries and presentations, astutely relating sector policy to the University context. - Aligning strategic direction with OfS and DfE regulatory requirement, recent examples including Student Outcomes, Harassment and Mental Health. - Management of Policy Insight Analyst, demonstrating oversight, development and leadership effectiveness. Accomplishments - Supporting and guiding the institutional Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF2023) submission. - Establishing a university wide Policy Community Network with tangible outputs in developing business case project proposals and widening policy understanding. - Introduction of a fortnightly senior management Policy Update communication. - Regular contributor of written opinion pieces to sector think tank Wonkhe relating to Lifelong Learning.
Administration lead of the University’s largest academic division – Primary and Childhood Education. A key strategic member of the department’s senior management team. Responsibilities - Leadership and management of the Department’s Professional Support Team, consisting of ten administrators delivering the full breadth of the student journey. - Overall responsibility for academic members of staff workload plans, ensuring high levels of staff wellbeing alongside value for money for the University. - Personalised and strategic support for Head of Department, advising on future direction, external partnerships and university-wide initiatives. - Architect and surveyor of the annual departmental budget. Accomplishments - Introduction of the department’s first Administration plan, with measurable objectives that aligned with faculty targets mapped to student experience and resourcing goals. - Implementation of personalised timetables and attendance monitoring within the department for the first time. - Departmental operational lead for Ofsted preparation, responsible for preparation of documentation, schedules and ensuring a high attention of detail was maintained. - Acted as recruitment lead on an interim basis; formulating clearing strategies, developing virtual ITT interview procedures and coordinating open day events.
Lead timetabling partner for the Faculty of Education, with strategic focus on estate utilisation and the student experience.
Timetabling support for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, part of the initial wave of personalised timetables implemented across the University.
Support for a busy university Admissions department, including the running of interview days, regular communication with applicants and their parents, and management of staff within an intense clearing period.
Varied administrative responsibility covering the full student journey within the University’s Medical School, from initial interview, through to assessment board management.