Role Profile Form
The University of Nottingham
Job Title:
Placement Project Administrator
School/Department:
Humanities
Job family & level:
Administrative, Professional and Managerial 3
Salary:
£22,249 to £26,537 per annum, depending on skills and experience.
Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance.
Contract Status:
Fixed term until 29 July 2016 (This fixed-term post is to cover a short
term requirement during a period of restructuring and will therefore
cease at the contract end date).
Hours of Work:
28 hours per week
Location:
University Park
Reporting to:
Taught Courses Officers, Departmental Careers Contacts and Faculty
of Arts Careers Team
The Purpose of the Role:
This is a temporary part time role, funded by the University’s Employability Enhancement Fund,
that will deliver a range of high quality support services to ensure the establishment and
development of an effective and efficient School Placements programme running across 7
departments. A key aspect of the post is to harness the potential for placement opportunities
arising from existing relationships between academic staff and external organisations. The role
holder will therefore have exceptional communication and networking skills and the ability to build
effective working relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders. He/she will be
comfortable working independently and taking the initiative, and will be expected to develop an
administrative system to record placements which are approved and active for the 2016-17
academic year.
Main Responsibilities
1.
To evaluate, develop and negotiate placements for Humanities
Students
To audit existing contacts and professional partnerships between academic
staff within the School and external organisations; to identify internal projects
and programmes where student placements may be possible and productive;
and to identify and propose external opportunities for new partnerships. To
evaluate, develop and implement approved placements for Humanities
students, ensuring all relevant checks have been carried out; in order to
develop and maintain a record of approved placement opportunities, including
contacts, role profiles, etc.
1
% time
per year
50%
Liaise with relevant university staff to keep up to date with legislation and
guidelines about student placements on a national level, draw on best practice
in other Schools and advise the School on any changes to procedures required
as a result.
2.
Design a process and set of templates
25%
Design a process and a set of templates to cover all aspects of the placement
scheme relevant to all stakeholders: the students, the hosts and the School.
This will include role profiles, host-agreements, service level agreements,
application and selection processes, pre-placement packs, a handbook of
expectations for student and employer use, health and safety materials
including risk assessments and post-placement packs. These processes and
templates will be developed in consultation with the Careers and Employability
Service, relevant administrative teams within the School and Professional
Service teams within the University, and in line with current University policy
on placements. Development of a Workspace section to make these resources
easily available in a user-friendly manner.
To attend meetings across the School presenting and explaining the process to
staff and answering queries as required.
3.
To address barrier issues for students and placements
20%
To review the literature on the benefits of placements, student engagement
with work placements, and the barriers and benefits, and to lead focus groups
of students regarding attitudes to placements and employability, all with a
view to making proposals on how to remove barriers and to market
placements to students and prospective students.
4.
Any other duties appropriate to the grade and role
5%
Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience
Qualifications/Education
Knowledge/Skills/Training
Essential
HNC or HND in a relevant subject, or
equivalent qualifications/certification, plus
considerable experience in a relevant
role(s),
preferably
within
an
HE
environment OR Broad substantial relevant
experience
demonstrating
general
knowledge of a technical, financial or
professional practice and development
through involvement in a series of
progressively more demanding, relevant
work.
Desirable
Humanities or
similar Degree
Excellent communication skills as
evidenced by experience of writing clear
informative documents, giving
presentations and successfully interacting
with people at different levels from
different backgrounds
An awareness of
issues facing HE
and the graduate
employment
market.
2
Excellent planning, organisational and time
management skills.
Excellent IT skills in a wide range of
software packages including Microsoft
Office.
Self-motivated, able to multi-task and work
in a busy environment with regular
interruptions.
Effective networking, negotiation and
influencing skills.
Initiative, resourcefulness, problem solving
skills.
Able to work autonomously with minimal
supervision.
Ability to take appropriate initiative and
responsibility.
Ability to manage a large amount of data
accurately
Experience
Relevant and recent administrative
experience, preferably gained within an HE
environment.
Experience of building new relationships
with internal and external stakeholders.
Proven experience of effectively prioritising
and organising own workload
Other
Excellent organisational and timemanagement skills.
Ability to maintain accuracy under pressure
Conscientious and flexible attitude and a
wish to achieve high professional standards
Ability to handle sensitive and confidential
information appropriately
Ability to work independently as well as
3
An understanding of
the key working
relationships
required with
colleagues at all
levels of an
organisation
An understanding of
the range of
professional routes
open to Humanities
students
part of a team
Appreciation of other cultures and
languages.
Committed to working as part of a team in
a shared office environment
Decision Making
i)



Taken independently by the role holder;
Day-to-day management of workload and delivery of timely goals.
Progression of projects attributed to post-holder’s management.
Implementation of new procedures to improve contacts with employers/manage a database of
contacts.
 Implementation of requisite compliance processes
ii) Taken in collaboration with others;


The role holder will work in collaboration with the placement provider and then the nominated
member of academic staff to clarify the content of each work placement.
An academic member of staff will be responsible for the final placements for the school and the
role/scope of the placement, however the Administrator will be required to research information and
contribute to the decision-making process with regard to new placements for the School, developing
checklists and other administrative processes to ensure that new and existing placements comply with
the necessary School and University requirements.
iii) Referred to the appropriate line manager by the role holder;
 Serious complaints from student and others.
 Personnel issues relating to other staff.
 Academic decisions
Additional Information: The School of Humanities is a complex multi-unit School. It was
originally created in 1998 when the Faculty was restructured into five Schools; it was restructured
again in 2011 when the School of History merged with the School of Humanities. The seven
departments now comprising Humanities are Archaeology, Classics, History of Art, History, Music,
Philosophy, and Theology and Religious Studies are housed across three separate locations. Five
of the 7 departments are located in the Humanities Building (building no. 55 on the University
Campus map), whilst Music and History are located on separate sites at the lakeside arts centre
(building no. 33 on the University Campus map) and Lenton Grove respectively (building no.5 on
the University Campus map).
The Humanities Building incorporates the main administrative centre for the School, however due
to the geographical location of the Department of Music there is a small administrative team who
are based at the Arts’ Centre.
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