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Role Profile

Job Title / Newton Fund and Higher Education Programme Manager
Directorate or Region / SSA / Department/Country / South Africa
Location of post / Cape Town / Johannesburg / Pay Band / 7 / Grade F
Reports to / Deputy Director / Duration of job / 3 year fixed term contract with the option to extend
Purpose of job:
To lead the planning, stakeholder engagement,delivery, implementation and monitoring of the British Council Newton Fund programmes and to manage the Higher Education portfolio in South Africa.
Context and environment:
In December 2013 the UK Government announced the establishment of a new £375 million five-year Emerging Powers Research and Innovation Fund, to promote scientific capacity building in emerging economies on a match-funding basis. The Fund forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment and its primary purpose is to use science and innovation to promote the economic development and welfare of partner countries.South Africa has been included within the list of countries to benefit from the Fund.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) which manages the fund for HMG, has appointed the British Council as one of the main delivery partners of the Fund, and approved six programmes under the British Council offer:
  • PhD Programme (including scholarships, placements and PhD partnerships, to be managed in partnership with RCUK)
  • Researcher Links – workshops and travel grants (as part of an overarching researcher mobility strand with the Academies)
  • Institutional Links – higher value awards to stimulate partnerships at the group, department or institutional level (as part of the overarching Research and Innovation Collaboration programme with RCUK and TSB)
  • Professional Development and Engagement (including skills training for researchers, support for research governance and management, and community engagement in research)
  • STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education
  • Technical Training and Employability
In SA we will be running Researcher Links, Institutional Links and Professional Development & Engagementin the first year (2014), with the potential option to include other areas subsequently dependent on demand.
The British Council Newton Team consists of a central Programme Management Team (based in the UK) and country officers based in each of the Newton Fund countries.
In South Africa, the British Council commissioned research to look at the state of higher education in SA which identified a number of key areas with PhD development, institutional transformation and Internationalization and open access to resources. In addition a piece of regional research is currently underway on Graduate Employability in five countries in Sub Saharan Africa.
There are synergies between the Higher Education and Science portfolio regarding the focus on researcher and institutional links between UK and SA, scholarship management and education marketing
With the British Council’s flagship International Conference on Higher Education, Going Global being hosted in SA in 2016, there are real opportunities to showcase current collaborative and innovative research and partnershipsbetween South Africa, UK and Africa on an international platform.
The British Council’s Services for International Education Marketing programme is a new response to the diverse international marketing needs of UK institutions through the provision of special support in South Africa. The aim is to increase understanding of UK universities in South Africa and to provide the following seven core services to UK and local educational institutions: in-depth research of the local education sector, face-face information sessions, educational consultancy, direct marketing, trans-national education opportunities and exhibition organisation.
Accountabilities, responsibilities and main duties:
The postholder will be accountable to Deputy Director SA and to the Senior Management Team more widely for the successful planning and development and implementation of the overall programme.
The postholder will be responsible for leading and managing a programme of projects within the BC South Africa portfolio. The role includes line management of the Project Managers within the Higher Education &Science Unit.
Specific duties will include:
  • financial accounting and planning for the overall programme, using the following tools:
-SAP financial reports to ensure that Project Managers verify charges and identify/correct mis-charges/omissions promptly, as part of risk control procedure
-SAP financial planning/forecasting functions to ensure that Project Managers maintain up-to-date forecasts of project expenditure and that their project budgets are properly and accurately managed
-monthly cash flow estimates which accurately reflect overall programme expenditure requirements over the next month or two
-approving purchase orders for operational expenditure items
  • ensuring that Project Managers establish project planning, monitoring and evaluation procedures, using the following tools:
-project logic models
-Gantt charts to reflect planned activity
-scorecard instruments (audience forecasts and actuals, quality of service questionnaires)
  • collating results at project level to programme level to provide a “big picture” of programme progress
  • ensuring that overall audience, quality and income outputs for the programme are delivered against agreed targets, and evidence coordinated in country scorecard returns
  • managing relationships with programme stakeholders and potential partners; representing BC programmes to other external stakeholders; supervising and contributing to database of contacts
  • act as an equal opportunities and diversity champion to ensure that the programme reflects key equal opportunities and diversity principles
  • marketing and communicating the programme to external audiences via web, blog, press releases, social media, …
  • representing any financial or non-financial risks associated with project managers to the Senior Management Team through participation in regular Financial Control Compliance Framework and Enterprise Risk Management Framework meetings
More specific areas of engagement :
  1. To lead the partner discussions, planning and initial implementation and monitoring of the British Council Newton Fund programme in SA. This will include:
Programme Scoping / Planning
  • Consult with Country Newton Team (FCO based) to confirm national priorities identified under the Fund, and agree approach to potential match funders.
  • Consult with country stakeholders around British Council programmes and identify potential match funders
  • Negotiate partner commitments to the match-funding obligations on a programme level.
  • Discuss programme requirements with partner funders, and negotiate details of the programmes within the framework set out by the central BC Newton Programme manager (e.g. agree national priorities for calls, any country specific eligibility requirements for calls; agree in-country selection process etc)
  • Work with BC Newton Programme Team to produce a country plan for BC Newton activity
  • Work with FCO to ensure British Council relationships and activity is complementary to other activity within the Newton Fund
  • Support other Newton Fund delivery partners to build relationships with key in-country stakeholders
Programme Implementation
  • Work with SIN and national partners to publicise the opportunities available under the Fund in country (including those offered by other delivery partners).
  • Participate in relevant fora / events in SA, (eg donors’ meetings, sectoral conferences, to promote awareness of the Fund and to ensure its coherence with other initiatives.)
  • Continue to explore / maximise opportunities for the leveraging of national co-funding for the programme with corporates.
  • Support UK and national stakeholders to engage withBC programmes
  • Agree necessary MOUs / operational alliance agreements with partner funders
  • Attend regular progress meetings with the BC Newton Programme Team (by teleconference, with an initial face to face kick off meeting in September 2014)
  • Manage country specific elements of the BC Newton programme (with support from BC Newton Programme Team). This could include: drafting terms of reference for consultancy/training opportunities; establishing country selection panels; drafting country specific calls for activity under the professional development, STEM Education and Technical Training strands
  • Negotiate and issue contracts(based on the global template) to beneficiaries in SA
  • Oversee the organising of events and meetings under the programme
  • Line manage a Pay Band 6 Project Manager post.
  1. To oversee the management of the Higher Education portfolio of BC SA together with project manager and officer.
  • To ensure that there is synergy between the Newton Fund portfolio of projects and the higher education projects, such as Research links, Institutional Links, Research projects and SIEM.
  • To support the planning and delivery of the BC flagship international conference, Going Global 2016.
Programme Monitoring
  • Monitor the progress of the country programme for SA, including the progress of individual activities, and raise any issues of concern with the BC Newton Programme Team
  • Monitor and gather assurance for the fulfilment of match-funding obligations, in line with commitments agreed for each activity, and for the programme in SAoverall.
  • Ensure that any matched funding (on-books, off books partnership, or off books in-kind contribution) is recorded appropriately on SAP ahead of corporate deadlines
  • Contribute to programme reports and reviews as required by the BC Newton Programme Team.
  • Contribute to the effective marketing and communications of the Fund’s achievements, in collaboration with the C Newton Programme Team and SIN/the British Embassy
  • Organise relevant review meetings with national stakeholders in SA.
Key external relationships:
  • SIN/BIS / UKTI / British Embassy
  • Government of SA. science and education ministries and associated agencies
  • Other Newton Delivery partners (RCUK, Academies, TSB where relevant)
  • Science and innovation stakeholders in SA
  • Research universities in SA
  • Science / education media in SA
  • Relevant corporates
Key internal relationships
  • Director / Deputy Director SA
  • Director Science UK
  • Newton Programme Manager
  • Marketing and Communications Manager SA
  • Other HE / science related teams, including project delivery teams in UK
Other important features or requirements of the job
Some national and international travel. Some evening and weekend working, especially attending events and programme related activities.
Please specify any passport/visa and/or nationality requirement. / Must be able to work in SA
Please indicate if any security or legal checks are required for this role. / No

Person Specification

Essential / Desirable / Assessment stage
Behaviours / Creating shared purpose Creating energy and clarity so that people want to work purposefully together (more demanding)
Connecting with others Actively appreciating the needs and concerns of myself and others (more demanding)
Working together Ensuring that others benefit as well as me (more demanding)
Being accountable Putting the needs of the team or British Council ahead of my own(more demanding)
Making it happen Challenging myself and others to deliver and measure better results(more demanding)
Shaping the futureExploring ways in which we can add more value(more demanding) / The following behaviours will be tested at interview:
Shaping the future
Making it happen
Skills and Knowledge /
  • Business management and development
  • Project & contract management
Development and delivery; business and systems procedures; monitoring, evaluating and reporting; tendering and procurement
  • Excellent communication skills including written and spoken English
• Financial planning and management
Planning and forecasting; risk management / Marketing and customer service / Short-listing and interview
Short-listing and interview
Interview
Shortlist and interview
Experience / Experience of working with governmental and non-governmental organisations / Experience of working with science / research organisations / Short-listing and interview
Qualifications / Relevant university degree or equivalent experience / Science qualification / Short-listing
Language proficiency / Must be able to work day-to-day in English language / Able to work day-to-day in English language / Short-listing
Submitted by / Jean September / Date / June 2015

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