Associate Dean - Foundation Year

At GBS (Global Banking School), we invest in our people and our students are at the heart of everything we do because we know education is transformational. Our mission is to change lives through education, and we take an inclusive approach to recruiting students, with an aim to widening access to higher education among groups currently under-represented in the sector.

We are proud to be a certified ‘Great Place To Work’ and have achieved outstanding results for the third year running in the National Student Survey, with an incredible 91% overall satisfaction rating in 2022.

GBS is a higher education provider offering a range of sector-relevant courses across eight campuses in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and beyond. Working in partnership with several of the UK’s leading higher education providers, we deliver vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in banking, finance, accounting, business, tourism, healthcare – and more. We are an approved institute on the Office for Students Register and have been reviewed and approved by the Quality Assurance Agency.

We are proud of our substantial growth and remain committed to success. We are seeking talented people to help us continue to grow our business and are now looking to recruit:

You will get your energy and motivation from helping to engage students in the learning processes to ensure student outcomes are maximised and will be responsible for the teaching and development of a range of subjects across the curriculum.

Working 40 hours per week.

Please note location is flexible at any GBS campus and we operate an on-site working model.

Main Responsibilities:

Purpose

• To provide leadership and management for higher education programmes validated by our collaborative partners and offered at GBS campuses, in particular to ensure that Foundation Year provision within the faculty provides our students with an outstanding start to their programme of study.
• To ensure that our collaborative partnership thrives and furthers the objectives and aims of GBS strategic planning, including implementation of our learning and teaching strategy.
• To ensure GBS maintains the highest academic standards and student-centred learning environment enabling our students to meet their educational and professional goals.
• To manage the Foundation Year delivery effectively and efficiently.

Key Responsibilities

• To provide leadership to all staff involved with the delivery of the Foundation Years within the faculty
• To ensure that all key performance indicators set for student attendance, student retention, student progression and student achievement are met
• To advise the relevant Dean and others in Senior Management on all resource requirements, ensuring that all such requirements, including staff, facilities and learning resources, are planned for and realised in a timely fashion
• To promote and further enhance the highest quality learning experience for GBS students on our collaborative programmes.
• To manage on a day-to-day basis the operation of the programmes delivered across the GBS campuses including travel to all campuses and collaborative partner sites as necessary.
• To ensure that students’ experience the highest quality teaching and learning, pastoral support and careers advice.
• To ensure that academic standards are met through the assessment process and that the marking criteria of our collaborative partners are consistently met by all teaching staff involved in the assessment of students.
• To be responsible for reports for GBS academic governance structures, partnership meetings, including quality reports to all stakeholders.
• To ensure that the quality assurance and quality enhancement requirements of the collaborative partnership are fully adhered to and implemented across all programmes.
• To liaise and act as a key point of contact with staff at the partner institution.
• To attend all partnership meetings and to ensure that reports for these meetings are produced in a timely manner and to the highest standards.
• To ensure that staff and students make full use of the learning resources provided by GBS.
• To deal with student issues in a timely and professional manner using the appropriate policies and procedures.
• To contribute to the efficient and effective use of resources provided by GBS across its campuses.
• To undertake other such duties and responsibilities in the spirit of the role of Associate Dean.

Requirements:

Essential Skills and Experience

• Applicants should have an appropriate qualification that can demonstrate very substantial experience as an academic manager and team leader.
• A substantial breadth of experience in the higher education sector as an academic leader at Head of School or above. The applicant’s personal academic discipline must be clearly linked to the work of the faculty.
• Substantial experience in planning and delivering challenging academic targets at Head of School level or above.
• To possess quality assurance (QA) experience at HE level encompassing programme development and annual monitoring reports
• Experience in quality assuring and enhancing HE provision
• A thorough knowledge of the operating environment for the institution with a well-defined vision for the Faculty.
• Evidence of a significant and sustained personal track record of success in developing and leading initiatives to achieve academic excellence at Head of School level or above.
• A significant record of success at a senior leadership, at Head of School level or above, of leading key academic and administrative staff and managing physical and/or financial resources. Applicants must also have a well-defined vision for the leadership ethos which should permeate all aspects of the faculty’s activity.
• Significant and measurable accomplishments in academic and business planning.
• Evidence of excellent and effective communication skills appropriate to operating at a strategic level.
• Evidence of the necessary interpersonal skills required to galvanise, revitalise and lead the staff of the faculty along with the skills to cultivate appropriate internal and external networks.
• Proven influencing skills and the ability to represent the University’s interests in policy debates and in dealings with Government Departments at local, regional, and national level.
• Evidence of the ability to deliver presentations demonstrating passion, enthusiasm, and in-depth knowledge of the subject area. Applicants must be able to clearly convey important messages, deliver a vision and fully engage the audience.
• Evidence of self-motivation with the ability and vision to shape the future direction of the faculty.
• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to provide positive strategic oversight and set and deliver a clear vision for the faculty.
• A clear personal enthusiasm and commitment to the four strategic priorities in the emerging strategic plan.
• Willingness to travel extensively regionally, nationally, and internationally when required by the role.

Desirable

• Senior leadership experience including experience of leading through a period of significant transformation.
• Senior leadership experience in teaching and administrative strategic priorities.
• Experience of sector networks and representative groups.
• Experience as an academic leader with identifiable responsibilities across the HE Sector.
• Success in shaping values and culture for a School or Faculty.
• Recognition as an academic leader with a published track record.
• Experience in leading a team of senior academic staff.

Other Information

In return we offer a great working environment, career progression and some great benefits which include:

• Highly competitive salary and bonus
• 25 days holiday (excluding Bank Holidays), raising by one extra day leave per year of service, up to a maximum of five additional days
• Matched contribution pension scheme
• Social events
• Access to a range of discounts to over 3000 retail outlet stores
• Opportunity to earn money back on your personal reward page
• Employee Assistant programme with access to 24-hour support
• Generous employee referral programme

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APPLY NOW via the ‘Apply’ button above!