Administrative Officer

To provide a comprehensive professional administrative support to applicants and students within the School of Biosciences, providing support and guidance on a range of education support including, for example, recruitment and admissions, student administration, assessment, extenuating circumstances, quality assurance and timetabling., * To undertake a variety of administrative duties linked to student recruitment & admissions (undergraduate and postgraduate programmes ie Masters, MRes and PhD), student support, assessment activities that span the remit of the Education Office in the School of Biosciences, ensuring compliance with both School and University regulations, for example organising and assisting at Offer Holder Days, Open Days and the School’s Clearing Call Centre.

• Independently provide detailed advice and guidance on recruitment and admissions, and postgraduate taught (PGT) administrative support processes and procedures to staff and students, using judgement and creativity to suggest the most appropriate course of action where appropriate, contributing to the resolution of more complex issues.
• Collaborate with others in order to make recommendations for developments of established processes and procedures within the Education Office.
• Establish working relationships with key contacts to help improve service levels, developing appropriate communication links with staff within the School of Biosciences and within central University support, such as the central admissions team, PGR quality team in Registry and relevant project teams.
• Gather and analyse data to inform decisions, establishing basic trends and patterns in data and creating reports as appropriate.
• To support the work of the Education Office team, contributing to team meetings, developing good practice within the team and assisting colleagues to provide a customer focused service for both Postgraduate and undergraduate support as needed
• To provide support for the service of meetings and committees (in particular the Masters Board of Studies) to include collating and distributing papers, minute-taking and following up any necessary actions.
• To support the work of the Education Office team, supervising others where appropriate. To contribute to team meetings, develop good practice within the team and assist colleagues in their work; this might include tasks relating to in-course assessments, examinations, data analysis and student support.
• To occasionally deputise for the Education Office Manager (Postgraduate) as appropriate.

General Duties

• Ensure that an understanding of the importance of confidentiality is applied when undertaking all duties
• Abide by University policies on Health and Safety and Equality and Diversity
• Perform other duties occasionally which are not included above, but which will be consistent with the role

The School of Biosciences is looking to a recruit a first-class administrative officer with a positive, can-do approach, to be a professional and friendly point of contact for students and colleagues and a flexible member of the team. If you have strong organisational skills, are able to work quickly with a high level of accuracy, take responsibility for your own work and enjoy contributing to a positive working environment, we look forward to hearing from you. This role will focus both admissions (undergraduate and postgraduate) and postgraduate taught activities. This will include providing a comprehensive level of support and guidance on education support including, admissions, assessment, progression and extenuating circumstances. The exact nature of the tasks assigned may change over time to ensure consistent delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate administrative support within the Education Office team., IMPORTANT NOTE TO CANDIDATES: It is the University’s policy to use the person specification as a key tool for short-listing and we only invite candidates to interview who clearly evidence that they meet (or partially meet) each of the essential criteria. During the application process you will be asked to attach a supporting statement. This statement must outline how you meet the criteria below and we recommended formatting this by using each criteria as a sub-heading and providing your relevant experience/evidence below each sub-heading. It is crucial that you save your supporting statement with the vacancy number (eg. 1234BR) in the filename as failure to do so may result in it being omitted from your application., 1. NVQ 2/ GCSE level A-C equivalent Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Substantial experience of working in a comparable administrative role, ideally within a student facing role in a higher education context.
• A high level of IT competency working regularly with Microsoft packages (including Word and Excel) and complex databases.
• Evidence of experience working as part of a team in a busy office environment with competing deadlines, demands and a high level of interaction with users of a service whilst maintaining the highest level of accuracy and attention to detail.

Customer Service, Communication and Team Working

• Ability to communicate specialist and complex information effectively and professionally to both academic staff and students with varying levels of existing knowledge and understanding.
• Proven ability to advise and influence key stakeholders.
• Evidence of ability to explore customers’ needs and adapt the service accordingly to ensure a quality service is delivered.

Planning, Analysis and Problem solving

• Evidence of ability to solve problems using initiative and creativity; identify and propose practical solutions and to resolve problems where there are a range of potential options available.
• Evidence of ability to analyse current processes and procedures, particularly in a data management context, advise on improvements and implement changes as required.
• Evidence of ability to work unsupervised to deadlines, planning and setting priorities for own work, 1. NVQ3 / A-levels or equivalent qualification or equivalent work-related experience.
• Experience of co-ordinating the implementation of new processes and/or IT software into a wider team.
• Experience of working in a Higher Education environment.
• Fluency in Welsh, written and oral. 5. Experience of managing or supervising the work of others within a team, ensuring standard procedures were followed effectively and deadlines met

This is a full time (35 hours per week), open ended position.

Salary: £22,847 – £27,116 per annum (Grade 4).

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds. We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age. In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.