Programme Manager (GP)

Job id: 078051. Salary: £42,405-£49,785 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted: 03 November 2023. Closing date: 19 November 2023.

Business unit: Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. Department: Faculty Education Services.

Contact details:Rosalind Fuller. [email protected]

Location: Guy’s Campus. Category: Professional & Support Services.

Job description

This highly operational role forms part of the busy Programme, Placement & Assessment Team within Faculty Education Services in the Faculty of Life, Sciences and Medicine. The programme team (MBBS) supports students and academics across the four routes of the medical programme.

The role has responsibility for managing a team of Senior Programme and Programme Officers, providing operational oversight for the General Practice strand of the MBBS programme.

Candidates must have the ability to work closely with a number of stakeholders including academic and clinical colleagues across the GKT School of Medical Education and more than 200 GP sites.  The role holder is expected to maintain up to date knowledge of programme and College regulations and provide accurate guidance to colleagues and students as required.

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract. 

This is a full-time post

Key responsibilities

• To manage the programme team (GP) in delivering a professional and service centric provision, ensuring the Programme, Placement & Assessment team (PPA) is consistently welcoming and proactive in supporting students and academics across the PSRB programmes in FoLSM. 
• To plan and coordinate resources and systems to deliver a seamless programme administration. Managing the operational services across all stages of the academic cycle. 
• Delivery of a responsive and effective student enquiry service with a coordinated approach to communications and production of publications, such as programme handbooks and Weekly Programme Updates. 
• To manage the team in the organisation of committee servicing ensuring the team maintain an up-to-date knowledge of the programme governance and programme regulations in order to provide informed guidance to students and academic colleagues.
• Responsible for line managing a combination of Senior Programme Officers and Programme Officers, whilst devolving the day to day organisation of tasks, this is a ‘hands on’ highly operational role and expected to support the team with weekly planning routines and regular oversight and reprioritisation of workload as and when required 
• Supporting the Head of Programme Management with staff recruitment, selection, induction, and training. Ensuring all staff receive an annual personal development review (PDR) and identifying regular training and development opportunities. 
• Responsible for the coordination and approval of annual leave and the management of staff absences; ensuring that appropriate levels of staff cover remain across the department at all times in order to maintain adequate service levels and be able to be flexible with resources, reprioritising workload where necessary. 
• To support the Head of Programme Management in the production of an annual operational plan, coordinating resources across all of the varying priorities, setting and communicating deadlines that support both students and academics and that enable the PPA to deliver a professional service. 
• To liaise with academic leads in the timely production of teaching timetables, production of programme and module handbooks, module and placement evaluation and programme and module review. Ensuring all programme information is available in good time to students and placement providers and is accessible via KEATS 
• To ensure engagement and attendance monitoring routines are effective and able to support students who may be experiencing difficulty, liaising with the placement team, personal tutors and educational supervisors as required and reporting instances of lack of engagement to Heads of Year, Programme leads, Professionalism leads and the Faculty’s Head of Student Support. 
• To contribute to routine student communication, including weekly programme newsletters ensuring content is relevant and well distributed at appropriate times across the year; managing oversight for distribution of global emails to all students or cohorts of students and working in liaison with the rest of PPA and Faculty Education Services (FES) as required. 
• To work closely with the KUMEC (GP) team to manage placement capacity planning and support placement leads and FES colleagues when required.  
• To work closely with the relevant placement leads to ensure student selection and allocation processes are effectively supported with reliable systems and deliver a high standard of student experience 
• To coordinate the GP placements for all MBBS students; from student documentation and timelines, special circumstances, student comms, to managing the placement allocations through InPlace (placement management software). 
• To independently and proactively resolve operational issues, having foresight to see where problems may arise and adopting a solutions based approach to ensure there is minimal and well managed impact on the student experience or School reputation. Escalating risks where necessary 
• Work collaboratively with colleagues throughout FES to deliver a highly coordinated and prompt approach to issues that may impact the student experience ensuring problems with placement allocations are resolved promptly and that students experiencing challenges with other aspects of the programme are escalated where necessary. Attending Student Staff Liaison Committees as needed. 
• Work collaboratively across PPA to ensure inter- dependent processes are seamlessly coordinated; particularly where student record management has multiple requirements ensuring the removal of unnecessary duplication of student records and a consistent use of all filing systems 
• To be fully conversant with College, programme and statutory body regulations in order to provide informed advice and guidance to staff and students. Supporting academic colleagues with specific enquiry and seeking College or external advice where necessary.  
• To coordinate the PPA teaching & learning committees, managing the team to provide professional servicing responsibilities; arranging minute writing training and that those servicing have a sound understanding of College and programme regulations 
• To be a proficient user of InPlace (placement management software) and risr/advance (ePortfolio software).  Working with colleagues across PPA and IT to troubleshoot and identify system enhancements for these systems. 
• To support the Head of Programme Management in identifying and implementing operational service and process reviews; enabling the team to be comfortable with a culture of continuous improvement and supporting colleagues to be empowered to deliver enhancements.  Supporting with College initiative, actively participating in College meetings/working groups as required 
• To support the Head of Programme Management with implementing agreed policy and procedural changes; ensuring amendments to documentation are timely and that changes are widely circulated and understood  
• Accountable for the data quality of the student record, ensuring record keeping is accurately maintained and is of a highly organised standard, able to withstand audit scrutiny and support accurate statutory returns at short notice.  This high standard extends across all record keeping whether on spreadsheets, paper, SITS student record or other system 
• To be a representative of PPA at Faculty and College meetings, leading by example to ensure colleagues within PPA participate and engage with events, such as reception cover, enrolment, examinations and graduation. Deputising for the Head of Programme Management as required.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

Essential criteria

Excellent communication and presentation skills; demonstrable ability to present information clearly, accurately and concisely to diverse audiences  

Ability to organise, delegate and plan effectively across competing priorities  

Excellent attention to detail with methodical, exacting standards of written and numerical accuracy  

Able to manage and motivate a successful team; delivering objectives, managing performance whilst enabling development and succession planning  

Ability to make timely informed decisions and independently resolve problems 

Ability to form professional networks and contribute positively to implementing change. 

Evidence of capability to interpret and apply College and programme regulations maintaining up to date knowledge of external statutory compliance obligations 

Able to negotiate and influence across organisational boundaries to deliver a timely positive outcome diplomatically 

Desire to work to professional standards with integrity, honesty and confidentiality 

Demonstrative enthusiasm, drive and initiative; adopts a proactive approach  

Desirable criteria

Previous HE experience; with an emphasis on managing across professional  and/or health programmes 

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.