Selection and Appointment of Key Academic Administrative roles
School Managerial and Administrative roles
The senior management team of a School is frequently made up of a team of academic colleagues undertaking additional administrative roles. Working closely with the Head of School, these roles involve significant responsibilities such as:
- responsibility for School decisions that will immediately impact on students’ courses, or students’ ability to pursue their courses;
- may require significant engagement with University-level strategies, policies and practices and inform or contribute to such strategies, policies and practices;
- may require dealing with external assessors for course accreditation or external examiners;
- may involve the line management of other academic staff.
They are leadership roles undertaken in conjunction with regular academic activities. Therefore, these roles should be undertaken by sufficiently experienced staff who have an increased awareness of the wider institutional as well as sectoral contexts. The following roles must be held by colleagues at either Associate Professor or Professor level:
- Head of Department
- School Director for Teaching and Learning
- Research Division Lead
- School Director of Academic Tutoring
- School Director of Postgraduate Research Studies
- School Director of Postgraduate Taught Studies
- School Exams Officer
This guidance sets out recommendations for the recruitment process to be followed by the School to these key academic admin roles and the support and development for those holding the position.
In addition Schools may have a number of other locally agreed academic administrative roles, these further roles may be undertaken by any academic staff, noting that this should not include a Grade 7 Lecturer that has not completed their academic probation. This is to ensure that sufficient time is given to the successful completion of academic probation.
Appointment process
All roles should be offered on the basis of a transparent selection process and ensure equality of opportunity for all academic staff. At least 3-6 months before the incumbent is due to step down, the Head of School should establish an appointment panel comprising key individuals from within the School and where appropriate for the role, it is recommended to involve the following in the appointment and ongoing support of the new postholder
|
Academic Administrative/Managerial role |
Involvement in appointment |
Support provided by |
|
School Director of Teaching & Learning |
Teaching & Learning Dean |
|
|
Research Division Lead |
Research Dean |
|
|
School Director of Academic Tutoring |
Teaching & Learning Dean |
CQSD |
|
School Director of Postgraduate Research Studies |
Doctoral and Researcher College |
|
|
School Director of Postgraduate Taught Studies |
|
CQSD |
|
School Exams Officer |
|
CQSD |
Th
The agreed Role Description templates can be found under ‘Things to do now’ and there may be slight variations for each School to be made prior to the appointment process commencing, ensuring that those that are required to be involved have been engaged with and agree to the variations.
The Head of School should invite members of staff within the School to submit a formal expression of interest for the role. Where there is more than one expression of interest, these are reviewed by the panel and a shortlist drawn up.
Applicants (or short-listed applicants where short-listing is required) should be interviewed by the Appointment panel and a decision on the appointment is agreed. Constructive feedback based on the role description should be given to unsuccessful candidates by the Head of School or a member of the Appointment panel.
The principles of this selection process should be adopted for all School academic managerial and administrative roles.
Terms associated with the role
The recommended FTE for each role is as follows but is subject to size and scope of the work in each School and the level of support, such as from a Department DTL for example, and so may be varied by the Head of School.
|
Academic Administrative role |
Indicative FTE |
Recommended term of office |
|
Head of Department |
0.5 |
3 years |
|
School Director of Teaching & Learning |
0.5 |
3 years |
|
Research Division Lead |
0.2 |
3 years |
|
School Director of Academic Tutoring |
0.2 |
Minimum 2 years, maximum 3 years |
|
School Director of Postgraduate Research Studies |
0.2 |
|
|
School Director of Postgraduate Taught Studies |
0.2 |
4 years |
|
School Exams Officer |
0.2 |
|
Should the selected candidate be absent for an extended period during the duration of the appointment (i.e. planned study leave, or other circumstances), the Head of School will identify and induct a member of staff to cover the duties during the period of absence.
Such roles also typically receive an allowance, paid monthly through payroll, for the period of appointment, further detail on allowances will be updated shortly.
Community networks and useful further information
For more information on the support and community networks set up to support the senior academic administrative roles, the links are as follows:
School Director of Teaching & Learning: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/CommunitiesandNetworks/cqsd-SchoolandDepartmentalDirectorsOfTeachingAndLearning(DTLs).aspx
School Director of Postgraduate Taught Studies: http://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/cqsd-pgtcop.aspx
School Director of Postgraduate Research Studies: http://www.reading.ac.uk/graduateschool/supervisorsandresearchstaff/gs-SchoolDirectorsofPostgraduateResearchStudiesnewpage.aspx
School Director of Academic Tutors: https://sites.reading.ac.uk/academictutors/support-for-academic-tutors/school-directors-of-academic-tutoring/
School Exams Officer: http://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/QualityAssurance/PoliciesandProcedures/cqsd-assessmenthandbook.aspx