University of Birmingham Business School

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham
Salary: £44,414 - £52,841, with potential progression to £59,450 once in post
Contract type: Full time, permanent

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. 

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. 

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. 

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working.  In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.  On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Job Summary

Birmingham Business School, along with just a handful of the world’s business schools, holds the gold standard of ‘triple-crown’ accreditation from the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), AMBA (Association of MBAs) and EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System). Maintaining this accreditation is vital to the school as recognition from a leading international system of quality assessment provides a reliable indication of quality in business and management education.

The main purpose of this role is to lead the accreditation and quality assurance processes required to maintain and evidence quality assurance standards and retain prestigious accreditations, including AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. The role will also be responsible for advising on the development and leading on operationalising the School’s global rankings strategy, supporting the University’s 2030 ambitions, while managing a team that provides data and management information to inform decision making and understanding of Quality Assurance standards, Accreditations and Rankings across the School.

Reporting directly to the Head of Operations and working closely with the Senior Management Team, the Academic Lead for Accreditations and, where required, the Dean, the post-holder will take a leadership role within the school to achieve our strategic plan and our commitment to Responsible Business and operational excellence.

Main duties

Accreditations and Quality Assurance

• Advise SMT on accreditation and quality assurance policies and practice.
• Design and implement a clear strategy to retain existing accreditations and achieve any additional, as agreed.
• Provide high-level project management support to the School leadership team to ensure preparatory work is coordinated and communicated efficiently and effectively
• In collaboration with College marketing colleagues, develop and implement internal and external plans to inform and promote accreditation activity and achievements.
• Manage accreditation review visits
• Foster and maintain professional working relationships with key accreditation groups and national/ international networks, disseminating key information to relevant stakeholders within the school.
• Actively engage with accreditation bodies' conferences and workshops, proactively advising on and leading change projects within the School, as they pertain to accreditations
• Lead on benchmarking at regular intervals and internal audits of systems and processes, as required
• Work closely with the Head of Operations to maintain an ‘accreditation ready’ culture within the School, ensuring Quality, Accreditation and Rankings are embedded in School Governance processes
• Ensure that all relevant internal QA policies (University, College and School) are adhered to
• Monitor and report on accreditation and quality assurance impacts across the school.
• Where required, design and deliver accreditation and quality assurance training for academic and professional services staff to ensure that all school members are aware of their roles and responsibilities with respect to accreditation and quality.
• Actively engage with School academic and professional services staff to ensure key strategies and objectives are implemented and monitored in line with the Schools’ commitment to continuous improvement
• Develop a network of internal and external collaborators to support engagement in the accreditation and quality assurance processes.
• Manage the Accreditations budget

Rankings

• Lead on the development and implementation of a rankings strategy for the School
• Provide benchmarking, research and data to inform the development of the strategy, advising SMT and other stakeholders
• Design and implement framework to support the implementation of the rankings strategy, including monitoring and reporting and communications plans and dashboards of key data
• Develop a sound understating of the methodologies of strategically important rankings activities and provide clear and accessible information to SMT
• Proactively obtain and share sector intelligence regarding rankings and policy with colleagues via regular updates
• Manage relevant databases, data warehouses and data sources, as allocated to the post-holder and team

Person Specification 

• Experience of working in a Business School Quality or Accreditations role
• Knowledge and proven application of AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB accreditations processes
• Knowledge of developing quality assurance processes.
• Experience leading and managing a high performing team
• Demonstrated experience of analysing, interpreting and reporting data.
• Excellent project management skills including experience of project initiation, execution, tracking and evaluation
• Experience managing budgets
• Demonstrated experience of effective networking, influencing skills and relationship building at a senior level.
• Understanding of how governance frameworks support effective decision making and communication
• Educated to degree level or equivalent professional experience
• Extensive Microsoft Office skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Evidence of adaptability, flexibility and innovation in past roles.
• Commitment to the University’s values of Ambitious, Open, Collaborative, Innovative and Responsible

Please send any informal enquiries to Kerry Reidy at k.reidy@bham.ac.uk 

View our staff values and behaviours here.

For more information, and to apply, please click here.