Programme Director - (Partnership Programmes) - Manchester

Executive Academic Leadership: Driving Educational Excellence Across Strategic Partnerships

Role Overview & Academic Disciplines

• Academic Disciplines: Health & Social Care OR Business & Entrepreneurship (or cognate fields)
• Employer: Oxford Brookes University
• Employment Type: Fixed-Term (until August 2031)

Are you an established academic leader with the authority, regulatory expertise, and strategic presence to champion educational quality and student success across major university partnerships? 

Oxford Brookes University is appointing Programme Director to provide high-level academic leadership and quality oversight across our collaborative partnership campuses with Global Banking School (GBS).

Delivering widening participation programmes in Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and London, this established partnership brings together Oxford Brookes’ academic governance with GBS’s regional campus locations to offer transformative higher education opportunities for diverse student communities.

The Role & Employment Context

Employed fully by Oxford Brookes University, you will partner with the Academic Director (GBS Partnership) to realise the University's strategic objectives while acting with delegated authority as our senior anchor on-site.

This role is designed for an autonomous senior academic who will build constructive, collaborative relationships with GBS leadership, foster a shared culture of teaching excellence, and lead on-ground quality enhancement. While maintaining a strong, direct connection to central Oxford Brookes directorates, you will take full ownership of on-site academic standards, student experience, and governance, exercising expert judgment independently on campus.

About You 

• Qualifications: Master’s degree or higher in Health and Social Care, Business Entrepreneurship, or a cognate discipline.
• Teaching qualification for Higher Education.
• Academic Leadership & Management: Proven track record in HE programme leadership, change management, and academic staff line management or multi-disciplinary team direction.
• Quality Assurance & Regulatory Mastery: Comprehensive knowledge of HE quality processes, validations, periodic reviews, and regulatory standards, including the OfS Conditions of Registration.
• Relationship Management Capability: Sophisticated negotiation and relationship-building skills, with the diplomacy to foster positive inter-organisational collaboration while protecting institutional standards.
• Pedagogical and Andragogical Expertise: Demonstrated expertise in curriculum design, current pedagogy, and andragogy tailored to widening participation student demographics.
• Autonomous Decision-Making: High level of self-direction, with the capability to act independently, solve complex problems on-site, and recognise key strategic thresholds for escalation.

Closing Date: 21 November 2026

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