Officer: Research Coordinator (Post Level 11) at University of the Free State

Duties and responsibilities:

Postgraduate Academic Administration

• Manage the administration of research functionalities in the faculty.
• Take on a team leader role during postgraduate registration and application cycles.
• Advise prospective and current postgraduate students regarding admissions, academic rules, and progression requirements.
• Perform quality assurance on postgraduate records and ensure adherence to UFS and faculty policies.
• Track student progression and implement early warning or support interventions where necessary.
• Facilitate the appointment and communication with internal and external examiners, and accurate record keeping of communication trail.
• Facilitate communication and feedback between examiners, supervisors, and postgraduate students and the Academic Head of Department (ADH), provide detailed and timely feedback of all interactions, and keep a detailed electronic record.
• Plan, organise and coordinate postgraduate orientation sessions.
• Coordinate postgraduate appeals, orientation sessions, and thesis submissions.
• Monitor and action thesis submissions, deadlines and ensure timely processing of results.
• Adhere to the UFS postgraduate policies and procedures.

Research Coordination and Administration

• Input and oversee faculty research data on the Research Information Management System (RIMS).
• Process and manage the notice of submissions (NOITS) process and facilitate communication with all relevant stakeholders, keep an accurate audit trail with the Centre for Graduate Support and check each submission document according to the checklist. Update on internal database.
• Manage postgraduate research title registrations and approvals, including verification and Graduate Research Management (GRM) capturing.
• Capture title registrations on PeopleSoft and report to Faculty Manager.
• Generate reports on postgraduate research output, completion rates, and trends, and provide weekly update reports.
• Assist in research-related audits and compliance checks.
• Responsible for faculty administration for ethical clearance reviews.
• Responsible for the coordination of Faculty Research days.
• Plan, organise and coordinate research-related events, e.g., 3MT, research conferences, research workshops, training sessions, etc.
• Update and manage the centralised faculty postgraduate data lists and provide weekly reports to ADH.
• Assist staff and students with enquiries regarding postgraduate Studies.
• Coordinate Research leave and sabbatical support.

Postgraduate Examination and Graduation

• Responsible for master’s and PhD submissions for the entire NAS faculty.
• Liaise with supervisors regarding the examination process, verify credentials of supervisors and examiners before capturing on GRM.
• Liaise with CGS to ensure that all submitted master’s and PhDs have been examined and keep internal audit trail.
• Follow-up on outstanding examination reports on behalf of academic departments.
• Coordinate and conduct quality control of all final postgraduate submissions for examination.
• Coordinate the post-examination process (handle final corrections and compile reports).
• Responsible for the arbitration process.
• Handle all library correspondence and Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) embargo applications.
• Verify master’s and PhD graduation data for the graduation programme, including submission of validation and recommendation documentation.
• Assist during graduation ceremonies.
• Handle enquiries related to postgraduate graduations e.g. appraisals.
• Quality control of postgraduate lists via the Higher Degrees Committee.

Stakeholder engagement and Student Support

• Provide administrative guidance to postgraduate students on research-related queries.
• Assist students with submission requirements and regulatory compliance.
• Act as a link between departments and the Directorate for Research Development (DRD) and the library.
• Respond to student/staff/visitor queries.
• Advise students and refer them to relevant others, if necessary.
• Liaise with the International office and manage the internationalisation process in the faculty.
• Manage the engaged scholarship in the faculty.

Committee Administration

• Ensure efficient servicing of committees:
• Research and Higher Degree Committee
• Ethics Committee.
• Consult with the chairpersons of the committees regarding minutes and other logistics.
• Do the necessary follow-up after the meeting to ensure that there is continuity and progress.
• Observer at the Faculty Examination Board.

Stakeholder Liaison and Collaboration:

• Collaborate with faculty leadership, postgraduate committees, CGS and other UFS research offices.
• Liaise with funding bodies and external research partners.
• Facilitate postgraduate student networking and research opportunities.

Process Innovation and system management:

• Identify and implement best practices to streamline the postgraduate research processes.
• Enhance digital systems for efficient tracking and management of research outputs.
• Manage the online postgraduate submission platform

Financial Administration

• Adhere to the UFS's financial policies and procedures.
• Administer financial requests such as obtaining quotations, processing and issuing of purchase orders.
• Distribute funding opportunities (e.g., grants, bursaries etc.).
• Administer staff financial aid requests (e.g. conferences, overseas workshops etc.).
• Coordinate the administration of postgraduate faculty and internal bursaries, including the distribution of bursary invitations, compilation and processing of applications, communication with the Finance Department, preparation of award letters to students, and support with refund-related enquiries.
• Process journal and page fees.
• Process prize money.
• Process payment of external examiners.
• Keep an accurate record of all internal stock orders and process via the UFS store ordering system on PS Financials.

Human Resource coordination

• Appoint external examiners and arbitrators, capture online and manage the online platform.
• Adhere to UFS's human resource policies and procedures.

Inherent Job Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree or an advanced diploma/BTech degree/postgraduate certificate on NQF Level 7.
• A minimum of two (2) years of relevant working experience in the Higher Education Sector.

Recommendations:

• Knowledge of the administrative, financial, and management systems, processes, policies, and procedures of the University.
• Knowledge of the Faculty's curricula and UFS General Rules.
• A thorough understanding of staff management and leadership.
• A sound knowledge of Acts that impact the Higher Education Sector.