London South Bank University - Academic Registrar

Welcome

Thank you for your interest in joining London South Bank University as Academic Registrar.

London South Bank University (LSBU) is a modern, dynamic university with a long history of leading the way in applied education and practice-led learning. With over 17,000 students and 2,000 staff from over 130 countries, we work together to foster the development of graduates, ready to address business and societal challenges.

We are now seeking to appoint a new Academic Registrar. Reporting to me, the Academic Registrar will provide strategic and operational leadership, ensuring service excellence for all areas of academic administration and registry services covering the full student lifecycle. A key area of focus will be the transformation of academic services which will be underpinned by thorough service re-design, the introduction of new technologies, and the embedding of new ways of working across and between teams.

You will have experience in a senior leadership role in a large and complex cross-organisational administrative function and bring experience of leading service improvement change. You will have a thorough knowledge of the Higher Education sector and be adept at developing sector-leading policy, systems, and processes. It is also essential that you have up to date understanding of technology solutions which support student administration, specifically student information systems, timetabling, and attendance.

If you are interested in this exciting opportunity, I encourage you to apply. You can find more information about the role and how to apply on this website. Our advising consultants at Anderson Quigley would be pleased to discuss the role with you in confidence – their details can also be found on this site.

I do hope you will express an interest in joining us at this exciting stage in our development.

Nicole Louis
Chief Operating Officer

About us

LSBU – Turning Passion into Purpose

Founded in 1892 as the Borough Polytechnic Institute to “promote the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and wellbeing of young men and women belonging to the poorer classes”, the University’s mission has remained largely the same ever since: to provide professional opportunities to all who seek them. In 1970 the Institute merged with four other colleges to become South Bank Polytechnic. In 1992 after being awarded University status, the name changed again to South Bank University, before finally becoming London South Bank University in 2003. In 2019, Lambeth College joined the Group, which together with London South Bank Technical College, South Bank University Academy, South Bank University Sixth Form and South Bank Innovation, forms the LSBU Group. The Group has a diverse, multicultural population of around 17,000 London based university students, plus around 6,500 transnational students, 7,000 college students and 1,100 academy students. Over half of the university students identify as black and minority ethnic, more than half come from deprived neighbourhoods, over 60% are mature students and 9% are international.

Our vision is to transform lives, communities, businesses and society through applied education and insight. LSBU is for people who want to make an impact. The education we offer can be truly life changing for our students, and every day we come to work with a single goal: nurture their learning and growth. We’ve offered opportunities for all since 1892. We were pioneers at the time. Now it’s in our DNA, and the heart and soul of our university lies in the power of our diversity and the strength of our local communities.

Our ambition is to create educational pathways that empower people of all backgrounds and talents to realise their aspirations, add to the knowledge base, and contribute their skills and drive to wider society. To realise our ambition, we need people with energy, courage and imagination, who are enthused by our vision and recognise our values as theirs; people who bring ideas to enrich our approach to learning, research and innovation; collaborative people who love creating and spreading knowledge; brilliant people who seek growth and yearn to make a positive, personal difference.

At LSBU, you’ll get to contribute to a vibrant and dynamic culture, which is fuelled by purpose, built around people, and genuinely diverse. You’ll be trusted and recognised for your unique contribution.

The four pillars of the 2025 Group Strategy are Access to Opportunity, Student Success, Real World Impact and Fit for the Future. These pillars articulate what is at the heart of what the LSBU Group is trying to achieve. Success against the strategy will be judged against these four pillars. What joins these pillars is the overarching offer of delivering: Social mobility; A student experience designed around our students; Professional and technical education; Impact through insight; Strength from diversity; and Engagement with place.

LSBU Group:

The University

The University has eight schools of study each led by a dedicated Dean. These are:

School of Applied Sciences
School of Arts & Creative Industries
School of The Built Environment & Architecture
LSBU Business School
School of Engineering
School of Law & Social Sciences
Institute of Health & Social Care ( School of Allied and Community Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery)

You can read more about our schools here.

Lambeth College

The college offers a wide range of specialist courses to support students into employment and on to further education. Courses focus on real-world, practical learning, helping students to build a diverse skill set preparing them for life and future careers. Find out more here.

London South Bank Technical College

London South Bank Technical College is a college that does things differently, in a revolutionary new campus in Nine Elms, with tech-forward, industry-focused learning spaces that are sector leading. Find out more here.

South Bank University Academy

South Bank University Academy is a school which stays true to its values of social justice, kindness and empathy, and community: helping students become change makers, live a good life and improve the lives of others. Find out more here.

South Bank University Sixth Form

South Bank University Sixth Form is a new and innovative sixth form with strong employer links, cutting-edge facilities and a specialist technical curriculum in engineering, health, business and finance. The Sixth Form launches in September 2023.

South Bank Innovation

South Bank Innovation drives impact and knowledge exchange, through a team of 50+ experts passionate about enabling both our academic and student communities to engage with innovation and generate economic and societal benefits at the local, national and international levels. Find out more here.

Facts and figures

You can read our latest reviews and financial statements here.

You can read our Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31^st July 2022 here.

Further information

You can find out more about the University here.

The role

Academic Registrar (AQ2269)

Apply now

Post Title: Academic Registrar (Director of Student Administration and Operations)
Grade: Grade B
Faculty/Department: Student Journey Directorate
Reports to: Chief Operating Officer
Location: London / hybrid working (3 days on campus)
Teams Responsible for: Student Administration, Academic Services (Registry Function), Student Affairs, UKVI Compliance
Budget: Circa £6m staffing and opex budget per annum
Staff Accountability: circa 90+ direct LSBU employees and additional contracted/temporary staff
Internal Stakeholders: Senior leaders across the university
External Stakeholders: Student Union, industry regulators, sector networking groups

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Academic Registrar will provide strategic and operational leadership, ensuring service excellence for all areas of academic administration and registry services covering the full student lifecycle. A key area of focus will be the transformation of academic services which will be underpinned by thorough service re-design, the introduction of new technologies, and the embedding of new ways of working across and between teams.

The Academic Registrar has responsibility for all centralised student administration and for the delivery of specific services including student enrolment and re-enrolment, attendance and engagement, timetabling, examinations, assessments and awards, graduation, student complaints and appeals, student withdrawals, UKVI compliance and student record keeping. Additionally, the maintaining and updating of all academic policies and procedures and ensuring that these are understood and adopted across the university.

The post-holder will contribute to the strategic and operational deliverables of the Student Journey Directorate (SJD) and will be a member of the SJD Executive Leadership Team. They will work closely with other members of the directorate, with academic leaders and with representatives from the Students Union to ensure that customer needs are clearly understood and that all services are delivered in a way that supports improvement of the student experience and effective support and for learning and teaching.

Main duties and responsibilities

Service design and delivery

Lead on the re-design and adoption of new business process for all areas of academic administration, championing new ways of working and cultural change as part of the wider university academic administration transformation programme.
Play a leading role in the introduction and embedding of a new student information system (SIS) by actively participating as a programme board member, ensuring that all academic administration requirements and transformative new business processes are fully articulated, and that department resources are aligned to supporting programme requirements.
Work closely with Deans of Schools and School Directors of Operations to ensure that the delivery of academic services fully meet the needs of each school, recognising where differences in service delivery are required.
Be accountable for the quality assurance, enhancement and delivery of academic administration and student processes, ensuring effective prioritisation and collaboration with other professional service teams.
Fully own all associated business processes which support student attendance and engagement, specifically designing and overseeing intervention activities which seek to support student to fully engage with studies.
Set KPIs for service delivery across all managed areas, embed accountability within service teams and regularly monitor and report on performance.
Working in partnership with IT, map out requirements and ensure that all student facing engagement with academic services (front-end) are effectively migrated onto the Sales Force platform.

Policy

Maintain an excellent working knowledge of changes in regulatory requirements that impact student policies and procedures including OfS, UKVI, OIA and SFE.
Update relevant academic policies in line with schedule and ensure that policies are understood and adhere to across the university.

Resource management

Be responsible for cost centre budgets associated with own division, ensuring effective forecasting, financial control and management of expenditure to derive best value and impact.
Provide leadership and development support to heads of service and functional teams. Ensure that effective appraisal and performance management is embedded across the division, and work with service leads and People and Organisational Development team to design and support the development of career pathways for posts within the division.
Role model the university’s values and behaviours commensurate with post. Positively influence the culture of the Student Operations division team implementing actions which improve measures for employee engagement, performance, and attendance.
Embed equality, diversity and inclusive focussed procedures and behaviours within own team and lead by example. Build the skills and capabilities within the functional assigned team through a systematic programme of performance management and development.

Data and systems

Have strategic oversight of the developments and enhancements associated with the University’s current Student Record System (QL) working in partnership with stakeholders and technical leads to ensure the system remains optimised in the near term.
Act as the senior responsible officer for the integrity and quality of student data.
Oversee user-related aspects of student systems and processes, ensuring integrity of data and information, tactical use of student data to support University performance and conformity with all legal requirements and University policies relating to GDPR, freedom of information and compliance matters.
Ensure the University’s statutory and other external student returns remain compliant and optimised, including those to HESA, ESFA, SFE, HEE and OIA and that critical data and processes continue to meet statutory and contractual requirements for all sector agencies, funders and regulators as appropriate.

Planning

Contribute to the development and delivery of the annual integrated roadmaps for the Student Journey Directorate by working collaboratively with colleagues. Identify shared priorities for student administration and translate these into initiatives and activities which support to the delivery of the annual business plan and group strategy.
Lead on the planning of cyclical student operations; specifically, enrolment, re-enrolment and exams.
Lead on identification and management / mitigation of potential risks for the division and ensure that effective business continuity measures are in place.

Other

Undertake other duties commensurate with the level of the post as determined by the Chief Operating Officer.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

This selection criteria is a picture of experience, knowledge and skills, required to carry out this role. It has been used to create the advert and will also be used in the shortlisting, interview and assessment process for this role.

All of the selection criteria below is essential unless otherwise noted and will be used for the recruitment process for this role.

Experience

Educated to degree level or with relevant work experience.
Experience of serving as Academic Registrar or equivalent job title in a UK HEI.
Experience of leading, motivating and managing large scale student facing teams in a UK HEI environment.
Expert knowledge and understanding of the UK & International HE Sector and regulatory frameworks.
Good and up to date understanding of technology solutions which support student administration, specifically student information systems, timetabling and attendance.
Experience of leading service improvement change.
Experience of leading or playing a key role in supporting the introduction of a new student information system. (Desirable)

Skills

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with an outcome focused approach to service development and delivery.
A firm commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and experience of building and developing diverse teams.
Excellent organisation and planning skills with the ability to oversee multiple activity areas and to balance day-to-day delivery, whilst taking a longer-term view.
Excellent leadership skills, with the ability to lead high quality and diverse teams, adopting a collaborative style whilst holding staff to account.
Ability to positively lead on and respond to change, and to coach and lead others to become agents of change.
Ability to handle difficult situations with diplomacy and empathy combined with the ability to remain calm under pressure.
Strategic application of IT, web-based systems and databases in the delivery of services.
Financially astute and able to oversee multiple budget lines.

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Terms of appointment

Remuneration:The salary on offer is c. £90,000

Hours of work and working pattern: Full time, London based with hybrid working.

Annual leave entitlement: 26.5 working days per annum, rising with length of service, plus public and bank holidays and days when the University is closed.

Pension scheme: The University offers automatic membership to a defined contribution (DC) scheme which is operated through Aviva. Details of the contribution rates and pay bands, together with details of the Scheme, can be found here.

Equal opportunities policy statement: The University is committed to equality of opportunity both as an employer and as an educational institution. The University will promote good relations among its staff and students and will create conditions that contribute to the full development and potential of all its members.

Pre employment checks: All appointments are subject to satisfactory pre employment checks including medical questionnaire, references and right to work in the UK.

International applicants: We welcome international applicants who have the right to work in the UK or who are eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker Route (SWR) or the Global Talent Route. Under the UK Governments Points based scheme, this role meets the criteria to be sponsored by LSBU for an SWR application.

How to apply

Anderson Quigley is acting as an advisor to the University. An executive search process is being carried out by Anderson Quigley in addition to the public advertisement.

The closing date for applications is noon on Friday 9th February 2024.

Applications should consist of:

A full CV.
A covering letter (maximum of two pages) outlining how you meet the essential experience criteria of the person specification.
Please include details of two referees in your CV, though please note that we will not approach your referees without your prior consent and only should you be shortlisted.

To apply, please click the Apply Now button at the top of this page.

Should you wish to discuss the role in strict confidence, please contact Aino Betts on +44 (0)7743 934 723, aino.betts@andersonquigley.com or Elliott Rae on +44 (0)7584 078 534 or elliott.rae@andersonquigley.com.

Appointment of the Academic Registrar