Dean of Student Experience

Dean of Student Experience

Job Responsibilities

The College

UK Management College (UKMC) is a private, widening-participation higher education provider established in 2016, delivering degree programmes with an integrated Foundation Year in partnership with universities that act as the awarding bodies — the University of Wolverhampton (principal partner), Canterbury Christ Church University, Arts University Bournemouth and Health Sciences University — across campuses in Manchester (College House, Salford and Abarna Campus), Derby, Newcastle (North Shields) and Sunderland.

The College serves a predominantly mature, local and first-in-family student community, many of whom balance study with work, caring and financial pressures. Its student-support model is therefore central, not peripheral, to its mission:success is measured by retention, continuation, completion and progression, and the College’s support ecosystem — organised around quality, engagement, support, wellbeing, inclusion and employability — exists to deliver those outcomes for every student, at every campus, on equal terms.

Role Purpose

The Dean of Student Experience is the College’s senior leader for academic services and the student experience. The post holder holds executive responsibility for the departments and functions that surround and enable course delivery: the Wellbeing Department; the Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) team; student engagement (non-academic); academic language and learning; employability, careers and student outcomes; research and knowledge exchange; and academic integrity.

The purpose of the role is to ensure that every student — whatever their starting point, campus or mode of engagement — receives consistent, differentiated and effective support to engage, persist, achieve and progress.

The Dean of Student Experience reports to the Associate Provost / Provost and works in close partnership with the Academic Dean, who leads course delivery, and with the Quality and Compliance department, with whom the post holder shares responsibility for evidencing that the College’s support for students meets the requirements of the Office for Students (OfS), partneruniversities (awarding bodies) and other regulatory bodies.

The two Deans are jointly accountable for the College’s student outcomes: continuation, completion and progression at or above the College’s institutional targets, which are themselves set above OfS numerical baselines.

Reporting and Organisational Position

Reports to:

Associate Provost / Provost.

Line manages:  Head of Wellbeing;
Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) Manager;
Head of Student Engagement (Non-Academic);
Academic Language and Learning Lead;
Head of Employability and Student Outcomes (Student Engagement and Career Development);
Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange; and Head of Academic Integrity — together with the teams that report through them at every campus.

Works with:  The Academic Dean and the academic delivery structure (Associate / Assistant Deans, Course Directors, Academic Heads of Campus, Module Leaders); the Head of Quality and Compliance; the Academic Registrar and Academic Services; the Head of Planning and Student Systems; the Designated Safeguarding Lead; the Head of Human Resources; partner universities (awarding bodies); and the Student Association.

Committees:  Senior oversight of the Student Experience, Engagement and Employability Committee, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Research, Ethics and Knowledge Exchange Sub-Committee; member of Academic Board and the Faculty Committee; represents the student-experience portfolio at the Executive Board as required.

Key Responsibilities

A.  Strategic Leadership of the Student Experience

Provide institution-wide leadership for the student experience and academic services, ensuring a single coherent support ecosystem across all campuses in which every service is oriented to the College’s outcome measures: retention, continuation, completion and progression.
Lead, develop and performance-manage the Heads of Department and functional leads within the portfolio: agree annual objectives and departmental plans, hold regular…