BALLIOLCOLLEGE

OXFORD

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: / Outreach & Student Support Officer
Reporting to: / Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions, with day-to-day supervision from the Admissions Secretary.
Department: / College Office, under the direction of the Senior Tutor and Academic Registrar.
Hours of work: / 35 hours per week, with flexibility to work longer hours during specific periods.
Salary: / £23,121-£27,578 (University Grade 5, points 1-7).
Benefits: / OxfordUniversity Staff Pension Scheme - contributions being made by the post-holder and by the College. The College’s administrative and secretarial staff are normally provided with a two-course hot meal when the College kitchens are open. There is also a bus pass scheme.
Hours: / Normal hours of work are 9.00 am to 5.00 pm weekdays, with one hour for lunch, although the ability and willingness to adopt a flexible approach to working hours will be required.
Holidays: / The holiday year begins on 1 August. There is a paid entitlement of 30 working days during the complete holiday year. The College Office norm is to take 5 of these days at Christmas and 5 at Easter, but it is recognised that outreach work may affect leave patterns.
Start and end date: / 3-year fixed-term contract, starting 1 October 2012(or as soon as possible thereafter), ending 31 August 2015.

Principal responsibilities:

Reporting to the Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions and under the direction of the Senior Tutor,the post-holder will be responsible for thedesign and delivery of innovative access, mentoring and support programmes for students potentially applying to the College, for students conditionally accepted by the College and for students already at the College or recently graduated from the College, including – in consultation with subject tutors –developing customized bridging support to first year students. Regular reports and periodic reviews of progress will be submitted to the College’s Academic Committee. The successful candidate will be expected to assist, and thereby acquire expertise, in the annual undergraduate admissions exercise.

This new post aims to integrate three separate areas of current activity into a coherent and effective strategy for student support. These are access (widening the profile of undergraduate applicants to Balliol), outreach (building relationships with schools of all types and taking the Balliol ‘mission’ into the public arena), and undergraduate support (creating new systems for mentoring students before they arrive and for ensuring they reach their full potential, academic and personal, while they are here and when they leave). The precise division of time to be allocated to each area is not fixed, but a provisional ratio might be: 30: 50: 20.

Main duties

The new post-holder will have responsibility for developing, organising and participating in all levels of the Balliol student ‘package’. This will involverapid familiarisation with the wider Oxford University context for such work and the framework and protocols by which it is governed. It will also entail seeking advice from colleagues in the University Offices and the other colleges who have valuable experience in this field. Examples of likely activity include:

In respect of access and outreach,

  • maintaining and enhancing the College’s links to schools in Hertfordshire,[1](the regional area allotted to the College by the University) including its newly developedWomen in Science Day
  • increasing and diversifying the College’s access and outreach work via, e.g., road shows outside Oxford, or in-College hosting of Teachers Conferences, Study Days, Oxford Pathways Programmes and Taster Days;approaching sponsors of Academies (noting however the Oxford policy that neither the university nor its colleges act as sponsors of educational institutions);
  • building relationships with target schools, drawing on, e.g.Balliol’s Teach First connections;
  • approaching ‘beacon status’ colleges as a potential source of applicants;
  • exploring possible links with the Speakers for Schools programme;
  • facilitating relationships with and possible hosting of attendants at Oxford University’sfree residential summer schools (UNIQ), asa proven method of ensuring that UK state school students from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds gain places at Balliol;[2]
  • joining or creating networks within and between these different groups and organisations and, especially, the Balliol alumni working within them.

In respect of mentoring and bridging,

  • developing a Student Ambassador scheme, so that current Balliol undergraduates are trained and accredited to help lead outreach events, visit schools and/or help the College recruit from target schools – including volunteering for similar roles on the UNIQ Summer Schools;
  • developing a Student Mentor scheme, whereby our current Balliol undergraduates take responsibility for the pre-arrival mentoring of individual students who have gained places to read for undergraduate degrees at Balliol;
  • developing a system of Fresher Bridges, adapting the existing system of JCR ‘parents’ to First Years, and developing new schemes whereby Balliol graduates or 4th Year undergraduates offer bridging support in core skills to first-year undergraduates (e.g., in maths, for Science and certain Social Science freshers, essay-writing for Arts and Social Science freshers);
  • enhancing the educational experience, post-arrival, of those whom the College has admitted, by developing a quality-controlled Balliol graduate teaching network;
  • enhancing the overall experience, post-arrival, of those whom the College has admitted, to help undergraduates get the most out of their time at Oxford and to help them prepare for life beyond.
  • making and managing the officer-student relationships which will be essential to all such activity.

Administration

The post will involve attendance at relevant collegiate and/or university meetings, as well as efficient and accurate record-keeping and data entry, using college and university systems, in order to ensure:

  • oversight of the relevant college budget lines and spends;
  • compliance with university requirements to log and monitor college outreach activity;
  • awareness of how Balliol is positioned relative to OFFA Agreement targets and other regulatory frameworks.

Balliol College, Oxford

Further particulars for the post of
Outreach & Student Support Officer

BalliolCollege

Balliol was founded in 1263 and is now one of the larger Oxford colleges, with about 350 graduates and 400 undergraduates. The College takes academic work very seriously, but visitors are generally struck by the informal and friendly feel of the place and the enormous range of College and University activities in which it is possible to be involved. Balliol's student body is diverse, with an unusually high proportion from Europe or beyond. In the nineteenth century, Balliol led the way in turning Oxford from the preserve of the upper classes into a place of excellent academic standards open to all on merit. We are very proud of that tradition and remain committed to attracting the best students regardless of their social or educational background. In 2011, the latest year for which statistics are available, 70.5% of all Balliol’s UK-domiciled undergraduate applications, and 63.3% of its total acceptances for places, came from the maintained sector.[3]

Balliol is a constituent college of the University of Oxford and, with Drummond Bone, previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool as its Master, employs some 65 Fellows, 30 Lecturers and about 120 support staff. Further information about the College is available on the website:

Principal responsibilities

These are listed in the job description.

About the Post

How does the post relate to our current organisational structure?

The post-holder will report to the Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions. Thisis an officeheld by a senior member of the College's academic staff, who has oversight of all admissions and outreach activities, of Open Days, and of the undergraduate admissions process itself. The office of Outreach & Student Support is being created out of two existing part-time appointments, currently held by two other members of the academic staff, the College’s Deputy Tutors for Admissions, who divide between them responsibility for external activity inBalliol’s designated ‘regional area’ Hertfordshire; and forinternal activity withschool groups wishing to visit the College. Both these roles will be included within the portfolio of the new full-time Outreach & Student Support Officer.

What are we seeking to achieve?

A complete and integrated ‘package’, from pre-admission, through admission and pre-arrival, to on-course student support, which will enable us to go to target schools with the strong message that Balliol reaches out beyond itself and that students at Balliol are given a level of commitment that is second to none; that the College actively looks for and then promotes the very best academic performance in whatever circumstances it arises, and seeks to ensure that each student's potential,broadly defined, is fully realised in the course of an Oxford student career,. The successful candidate for the post will be able to convince students and teachers at schools that, given the talent and commitment, it is highly worthwhile students applying to Balliol, no matter the background from which a person is applying.

Outcomes: Access and Outreach

  • further diversifying the backgrounds of those applying to undergraduate courses at Balliol;
  • attracting the best applicants from the maintained sector;
  • improving and enhancing the College’s outreach work with all school types.

Outcomes: Mentoring and Bridging

  • mentoring, pre-arrival, those who have been offered undergraduate places, particularly those who come from less advantaged backgrounds;
  • supporting, post-arrival, those whom we have admitted, whatever their background.

Selection Criteria

In terms of the Balliol community and the educational sector, the successful post-holder should have:

  • the confidence to liaise with external representatives, from senior Balliol alumni to school officers and governors, taking advice from the Development Office and the Admissions Office;
  • the ability and desire to connect with school-age students, and with current undergraduates in ways that deliver clear academic benefits which tutors will recognise and respect and which will enhance their overall experience at university;
  • a commitment to working on a collegial and consultative basis, both in the College Office and in the three Balliol Common Rooms (of senior, graduate and undergraduate members).

Other qualities and qualifications:

  • Good undergraduate degree
  • Enthusiasm for the Oxford student experience and for its college dimension
  • Passion for widening access to and participation in that experience
  • Awareness of media context within which the post-holder will operate
  • Social entrepreneurship
  • Ability to be proactive and to work unsupervised
  • Ability to help young people and build and motivate student teams to help them too
  • Ability to speak and write clearly and concisely
  • Administrative skills
  • Attention to detail
  • Track record of prioritising competing demands and completing projects to deadlines
  • Technical skills competent to the efficient and accurate managing of data and its analysis (desirable), or ability and willingness rapidly to acquire them (essential)

The following would be additional desirable characteristics of the successful applicant:

  • Experience of working in acharitable or university or educational environment
  • Familiarity with Oxford admissions
  • Experience of alumni relations
  • Experience of making public presentations
  • Experience of Microsoft Office packages
  • Experience of working with databases
  • Clean UK driving licence

Job Context

Organisational Context

The post-holder will report to the Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions, within the College Office, which is under the direction of the Senior Tutor. He or she will have day-to-day supervision from the Admissions Secretary and will also be in regular contact with other departments and with College tutors and students.

Benefits

Salary: salary will be in the range of £23,121-£27,578 (University Grade 5, points 1-7), depending on experience (rising by the cost of living increase upon successful completion of the probationary period). The College operates a bus pass scheme.

Holiday: the holiday year begins on 1 August. The post-holder will receive a paid entitlement of 30 working days during the complete holiday year. The College Office norm is to take 5 of these days at Christmas and 5 at Easter, but it is recognised that outreach work may affect leave patterns. Please note that the College reserves the right to require staff to work any or all of May Day and the Spring and Autumn Bank Holidays, for which there is a day of paid holiday in lieu of each such day worked. The Senior Tutor must approve all leave.

Meals: the College’s administrative and secretarial staff are normally provided with a two-course hot meal when the College kitchens are open.

Pension: entitlement to join the Oxford University Staff Pension Scheme from the start of employment, with contributions being made by the post-holder and by the College.

Staff development: the University’s Learning Institute runs an extensive programme of training courses, and IT courses are provided by the University’s Computing Service. The post-holder will be encouraged to attend sessions as appropriate.

Sports facilities: free access to the College’s gym; subsidised membership of the University Sports Complex.

Probation and notice

The probationary period will be six months, during which time the length of notice is one month on either side, given in writing. The length of notice thereafter will be three months on either side, given in writing.

Appointment procedure

Applicants should contact the Personnel Officer, Ms Katherine Scheinkonig, Balliol College, Oxford, OX1 3BJ (email , tel. 01865 277712), and submit to her a curriculum vitae and covering letter,indicating suitability for the post, either by post or by email, by the closing date of Friday 17 August. Applicants should also ask two referees to write to the Personnel Officer by the same closing date. Where applicable, one of the references should be from a recent employer; in the case that an applicant has no work experience, academic references are acceptable. Interviews will be held in early September (date to be confirmed).

Prospective applicants wishing to discuss the position should contact either the Senior Tutor, Dr Nicola Trott, on 01865 277738,, or the Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions, Dr Sophie Marnette, on 01865 277739, .

Balliol College is an equal opportunities employer.

Please note that this post would not entitle the successful applicant to apply for a Tier 2 UK Visa, and thus any applicants should ensure that they have the legal right to work in the UK for the period.