Head: Academic at Vega School

The IIE's Vega School Pretoria Campus has a vacancy for a Head: Academic

Reporting to: Campus Head

Qualification:

• Minimum of Postgraduate Diploma/ Bachelors Degree/ Honours Degree in Teaching Methodology or Subject Specialisation.
• Masters Degree advantageous.

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years management experience with 6 years teaching or lecturing experience within a tertiary environment.
• Must have management experience in an academic setting and an understanding of the current regulatory framework and its impact on higher education and private colleges.

Duties and Responsibilities:
Academic Management

• Create, manage and implement the campus academic delivery plan with Module Leaders (MDL's), Lecturers, and Information Specialists. This will be achieved through the following:
• The achievement of greater student success (by achieving set targets) by ongoing analysis of academic results, examining evidence and reporting on and addressing areas of risk;
• The improvement of student retention rates through the management of the quality student support interventions and strategies to improve student perseverance/resilience;
• Measurement of the effectiveness of student support interventions on an ongoing basis;
• The management and mentoring of the Module Leader (MDL) team to support national and campus initiatives, including development plans for this team;
• The management of the academic development of the lecturing team with a focus on managing the progression of lecturer development, allocation of modules and lecturer workload.
• Ensure equity of academic delivery across campuses
• Accountable for compliance to the policies and procedures of The Independent Institute of Education.
• Responsible for engagement with the relevant National portfolio heads regarding campus Academic performance and compliance.
• Building and promoting an active community of best academic practice on campus.
• Interacting with evidence and data to fully understand the status quo of the campus.
• Handling of student disputes and complaints relating to any academic matter.
• Handling of lecturer queries.
• Actively engaging in action research.
• Planning and managing improved library services to support navigators and students.
• Co-ordinating and planning for annual lecturer and student award events.
• Managing internal and external academic audit processes.
• Assisting the National team with academic projects.
• Managing internal and external academic audit processes.
• Attending management meetings.

Academic Staff Management

• Recruitment of academic staff and facilitating resolution of any payment issues that may arise.
• Ensuring that all new academic staff have been trained sufficiently in order to understand their role, processes, policies and procedures.
• Constantly reviewing information and data to identify training needs for the full academic team and carrying out appropriate training and mentoring plans
• Responsible for the line management of the Module Leaders (MDL's), Academic Navigators, Librarian, Academic Support Coordinator and Student Experience Navigators and Research Co-ordinators and for clear communication of roles and responsibilities of each academic team member.
• Planning and managing academic research output for academic navigators and recording any output on RATS
• Identification of Development plans for permanent academic team.

Research & Scholarship

• All designated academic employees are required to promote a culture of scholarship within their practice, discipline and campus/team and are also required to contribute towards The IIE’s Vega achieving its annual research output targets. Individual research output unit/s will be set in consultation with your line manager on an annual basis (Informed by The IIE 018 Academic Conditions of Service Policy).
• Plan and manage academic output with all permanent academics
• Regular academic teaching and learning workshops to promote best practice
• Assist Senior Lecturers to develop Senior lecturer individual portfolios and report on achievement biannually

Competencies required:

• Interpersonal, listening and communications skills
• Analytical and problem solving skills
• Leadership abilities to guide, influence, motivate and develop team members
• Organisational, planning and time management skills
• Project management skills
• Budget management skills
• Quality orientated
• Proven computer literacy competence - MS Word, MS Excel
• Comprehensive knowledge of the principles of Teaching and Learning
• Tolerance of operating in a pressurised and stressful environment and industry

Working Conditions:

• Campus environment
• Must be able to work on evenings and Saturdays when required
• 08:00 - 17:00 Monday to Friday