Head: Education Consultancy (One Post), Department for Education Innovation at University of Pretoria/Universiteit van Pretoria

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Promote and monitor teaching excellence, as one of the strategic drivers of the university;
• Provide strategic leadership, management and holistic support to the Education Consultancy Unit’s work at both faculty and institutional levels;
• Provide operational support regarding curriculum, teaching, learning, assessment, academic development of staff, and student success within a hybrid-learning approach that promotes inquiry-based learning;
• Provide leadership and management of student feedback to feed into the enhancement and improvement of teaching, learning and assessment practices;
• Manage stakeholder relationships and communication processes at all levels; 
• Stay updated with educational developments through research, supporting curriculum development, and managing the professional development of academic staff through training and promoting a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• A relevant Masters degree;
• A teaching qualification (e.g., Postgraduate Diploma in Education/ Academic development) or extensive experience in the higher education academic development field;
• Ten years of work experience, of which two years in management and includes experience in:
• higher education, including institutional initiatives for the academic development of lecturers and students;
• management within the higher education environment that includes human resource and financial management;
• using the affordances of technology to promote student success, student interventions, academic staff development, institutional research, the scholarship of teaching and learning, etc.;
• working with donors and other funders (e.g. University Capacity Development Grants);
• working with teaching, learning or student success projects in higher education. 

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES (SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND BEHAVIOURAL ATTRIBUTES):

• Knowledge of the higher education policy framework as it relates to teaching, learning and student success;
• Ability to actively participate as a member of a team to move toward the completion of goals;
• A combination of personal and professional skills aimed at conflict resolution, relationship building, management of teams, mentoring of teams and individuals, coaching of teams and individuals as well as monitoring and evaluation;
• Ability to deal with high-stress situations calmly and effectively;
• Ability to develop professional development plans and support career development opportunities for staff to gain necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities;
• Ability to provide guidance and feedback to help an employee or groups of employees strengthen their knowledge, skills and abilities to accomplish a task or solve a problem, which in turn should improve job performance;
• Ability to present information to individuals or groups; deliver presentations suited to the context of the work; 
• Ability to convey information clearly and concisely to groups or individuals either verbally or in writing to ensure understanding of the information and/or the message;
• Ability to listen and respond appropriately;
• Ability to identify problems, determine possible solutions, and actively work to resolve the issues;
• Willingness to apply oneself to the task in a focused manner;
• Observant and aware of environmental changes that affect teaching, learning and student success and ability to respond appropriately to these changes;
• Computer literate (MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel).

ADDED ADVANTAGES AND PREFERENCES:

• A relevant Doctorate;
• additional qualifications or training related to the field of operation;

work experience in:

• policy formulation;
• research in higher education studies;
• participation in national forums or collaborations that promote academic development; and
• developing and implementing innovative academic development strategies that enhance learning and support lecturers’ professional learning.