Associate Professor/ Professor (Permanent appointment) and Director at University of the Free State

 Duties and responsibilities:

•     Associate Professor/ Professor
•     Present undergraduate and post graduate modules in .
•     Actively do research in a relevant field of Geohydrology.
•     Synthesize knowledge through the publication of scientific papers in peer reviewed journals.
•     Communicate research findings at scientific conferences.
•     Source funding for research from international and national funding organisations.
•     Participate actively in the professional community.
•     Supervise postgraduate students at masters and PhD levels.
•     Participate actively in leadership and administration on Departmental and Faculty level.
•     ​​​​Academic Head of Department

Leadership

•     Provide academic leadership and development in an academic department by creating and executing strategies to establish the department as a leader in the discipline.
•     Develop an overall operational plan for the department in consultation with the Dean.
•     Give academic leadership and direct department scholarship, teaching, and standards.
•     Take leadership of programme accreditation and ensure national and international accreditation maintenance.
•     Promote intellectual vigour and rigour in the disciplines of the department.
•     Provide research leadership in the department.
•     Influence the department's overall climate and culture and grow the department into a well-functioning academic unit.
•     Contribute to faculty leadership by representing the interests of the department at the faculty board, Senate, and other University structures.
•     Provide leadership in the marketing of the department's programme and assist in establishing collaborations with external parties.

General Management

•     Develop various plans and execute them continuously, including Equity Plans.
•     Monitor that areas of improvement identified are affected.
•     Organize and co-ordinate staff, students, and activities.
•     Mentor, develop and motivate staff.
•     Structure and exercise overall control in the department.
•     Create an atmosphere of consensus among staff.
•     Communicate effectively internally and externally.
•     Participate in faculty management structures.
•     Lead and attend meetings.

    Lead project teams.

•     Drive academic planning and development.
•     Initiate, formulate and implement a visionary academic strategy for the department that is aligned with and supportive of the guiding strategic documents of the UFS and faculty.
•     Manage facilities, equipment, and other department assets.
•     Develop and manage the department risk register.
•     Plan, manage and/or make recommendations with regard to staff leave applications.

Teaching, learning and students

•     Ensure the provision of top-quality, research-informed facilitation of learning at all levels of teaching in the department.
•     Ensure the enhancement of student experiences and their continuous engagement in academic debates.
•     Ensure that adequate rules and regulations are in place and adhered to in order to optimally deliver high-quality teaching and learning programmes on both undergraduate and postgraduate      levels.
•     Ensure quality and timely feedback on student work is provided.
•     Ensure proper and quality-driven academic advice and support to all undergraduate and postgraduate students in the department.
•     Manage the teaching and assessment quality enhancement processes in the department.
•     Ensure that programme accreditation minimum criteria are maintained or exceeded.
•     Manage curricula development and reviews and ensure the relevance of content, material and presentation in all modules to help position the department as a leader in the fraternity.
•     Oversee the development of new programmes or offerings in order to remain relevant.
•     Ensure nominations of examiners and moderators are made.
•     Consult with staff and students at regular intervals.
•     Teach and supervise research students up to NQF Level 10.

Research management

•     Develop and maintain a visionary research strategy for the department.
•     Create an environment that encourages research, leading to strong and active research practices and outputs.
•     Ensure that every academic staff member is engaged in quality-driven, discipline-specific and scholarly research.
•     Attract postgraduate students to broaden the research base of the department. 
•     Ensure ethical research requirements are met.
•     Support and assist emerging researchers.
•     Guide and support senior academics towards acquiring NRF ratings.

Human resources management

•     Build effective teams in the department.
•     Plan and implement a fair and reasonable workload of staff members in the department.
•     Monitor the progress of staff probation and manage staff performance as well as appraisals in accordance with existing university policies and procedures.
•     Recruit and select staff for vacancies and/or specific strategic needs.
•     Create and maintain a scholarship-friendly environment in the department.
•     Plan, drive and oversee effective and relevant staff development.
•     Attend to and/or delegate routine academic and administrative matters.
•     Manage academic and support staff in accordance with UFS HR rules and policies. Ensure a good flow of information to staff.

Financial and physical resources management:

•     Take ultimate responsibility for financial management, including, annual budgeting, financial planning, allocation of funds and financial control.
•     Adhere to the UFS's financial policies and procedures.
•     Encourage and support academic staff members to apply for external research and other grants.

Inherent Job Requirements:

Associate Professor

•  PhD in Geohydrology on NQF Level 10 or related field.
•  Proven experience of third-stream income generation and industry engagement.
•  Experience as an external examiner for postgraduate students.
•  Proven experience in presenting research papers at national conferences, where there is evidence of peer review of papers.
•  Acted as an editorial board member of high-quality national scholarly journals.
• Proven national recognition for specialist expertise and research leadership in a specific scientific area of scholarship.
• An NRF rating of C3 or equivalent status.
• A proven research record of relevant publications in national and international accredited journals
• Proven experience in the supervision of graduated master's degree students.
• Served as a member of a national scholarly society OR a national committee or agency concerned with research at higher education levels OR showed evidence of service as an active            member of an international equivalen Professor
• PhD in Geohydrology on NQF Level 10 or related field.
• Proven experience of third-stream income generation and industry engagement.
• Experience as an external examiner for master's degree and doctoral students.
•  Acted as an editorial board member of high-quality international/lSI/IBSS journals.
• Proven international recognition for specialist expertise and research leadership in a particular area of academic scholarship (for example, regularly serves as a reviewer           international/lSI/IBSS journals).
•  An NRF rating of C1 or C2 or equivalent status.
•  Demonstrated successful supervision of graduated master's-degree and preferably graduated doctoral students.
•   Proven experience in delivering keynote addresses at national scholarly conferences.
•   Served as a member of an international scholarly society OR an international committee or agency concerned with research at higher education levels.

Recommendations:

•  Experience in successful programme accreditation management.
•  Experience in research conference organisation.
•  Ability to generate external research income.
• Registration with relevant professional bodies or ability to demonstrate that registration can be achieved with reasonable time.
• Experience in scholarly engagements such as industry or community service and editorial roles in journals.
• Awareness of technological, environmental, and socioeconomic issues in the built environment sector and the role of the university in addressing such.
• Experience in managing resources including people.
•  Experience in administrative duties in a tertiary institution.
•  Awareness of current developments and debates in tertiary education and in the built environment and the implications of these
•  Knowledge of emerging technologies in learning and teaching Ability to manage change in a department and monitor and evaluate its impact.
•  Knowledge of DHET, CHE and NQF policies and regulations
•  Knowledge of professional programme accreditation guidelines
•  At least 5 years' experience of management of staff and resources (taking lead roles, planning, monitoring, and evaluation).
•  Record of active involvement in Professional or Scholarly bodies or entities.
•  Record of impactful research including publication in accredited international journals and teaching experience including student supervision at NQF level 10 at an institution of higher learning.