Senior Lecturer.2.01- Head Student Success (AC.07.4) at University of the Witwatersrand

Main Purpose

• Located in the Faculty’s Teaching and Learning Unit, the Head of Student Success will provide strategic leadership and undertake initiatives that promote student success in CLM.
• The incumbent will be responsible for working with academic schools in the faculty to conceptualise, implement, and scale evidence-based interventions that enhance undergraduate and postgraduate student progression and throughput.
• This will be achieved by leveraging institutional data and business intelligence services to identify barriers to success and develop proactive, data-informed strategies.
• It will also require the individual to work closely with staff in the faculty, and with undergraduate and postgraduate students. Furthermore, they will lead the development of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) frameworks to evaluate student success initiatives and interventions in the faculty.

Brief Description        
Qualifications and Experience

• Academic Qualification: The incumbent must hold a PhD in a relevant field.
• Formal qualification in education would be an advantage.
• Formal certification in academic advising would be an advantage.
• Professional Experience: A minimum of 5 years of experience working in higher education, with a demonstrable focus on student success, data and data analytics, academic advising, and/or student development.
• Data Literacy: Experience managing, analysing, and drawing actionable insights from student datasets, including evidence of advanced, hands-on capability with business intelligence and data visualization tools.
• Strategic Collaboration: A high degree of comfort working with business intelligence services and institutional research offices.
• Research Record: As an academic track role, the candidate must have a track record of accredited, peer-reviewed publications and conference contributions, including in the areas of higher education, teaching and learning, or student success.
• Contextual Knowledge: Deep understanding of the South African higher education landscape, including challenges related to transformation, the "missing middle," and the unique needs of undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Job Description

• Lead the conceptualisation and implementation of strategic student success frameworks responsive to the undergraduate and postgraduate lifecycles, respectively.
• Develop and manage robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to evaluate student success initiatives and interventions in the faculty.
• Analyse complex student data sets to identify high risk courses, providing actionable insights to the relevant stakeholders.
• Implement tracking mechanisms specifically designed to monitor student progress and success.
• Undertake student advising in one-on-one and group settings, on a variety of topics (e.g., curriculum planning, excellence skills, psychosocial matters, socioeconomic matters).
• Deliver training, workshops, and symposia relevant to the role.
• Contribute to the design and rollout of appropriate and evidence-informed orientation programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
• Interact with student success stakeholders in the faculty and university.
• Conduct and publish research on the scholarship of student success and related topics.

Key Competencies

• Strong understanding of the public higher education student landscape.
• Excellent facilitation, training, and advisory skills.
• Analytical ability to interpret student data and identify actionable improvements.
• Evidence of scholarship and the ability to conduct research both independently and as part of a research team.
• Highly developed interpersonal skills appropriate to working effectively in a range of contexts and settings with students and staff from diverse backgrounds.
• Excellent English oral presentation, facilitation, and communication skills.
• Experience of working with online and digital technologies.
• Excellent organisational and project-management skills.
• Reliability and conscientiousness, with the ability to follow through with responsibilities.
• The ability to be self-directed: anticipating needs and taking initiative.
• The flexibility to adapt, and to optimise resources in an emerging/changing environment.
• The ability to work independently or in a team, and to manage multiple concurrent responsibilities.

Closing date: 31 August 2026