Student Engagement Adviser - Graduate Intern

Working together with colleagues in our academic colleges and professional services, we aim to provide a high-quality user experience for students and staff who support the student journey (admissions to graduation). Supporting our Student Hub offering support, advice and guidance, or referring to specialist teams on a variety of areas.

We are committed to excellence and continuous improvement in all that we do and aim to provide a service that is fair, compliant, professional, and dynamic.

The role will be based at Kedleston Road although you may be required on occasion to work at our other campus for student activity and work flexibly to support open days, enrolment and graduation events throughout the year alongside the wider Registry staff.

Please note the Student Engagement Adviser role is a Graduate Intern role for University of Derby Graduates who have graduated in the last 2 years. The post is not available for those who have previously held a graduate intern role within the University of Derby.

About You

We are looking for bright and innovative graduates to fill intern roles; with an eye for detail, you will work on new initiatives and projects with teams across the Registry and assist with core operational activities with the aim to support students and help improve student engagement.

You will have recent experience of higher education, as a recently graduated student and/or have experience in a student support role.

Being digitally focused you will be confident in working with a range of technologies, understand data and the use of technology to gather information and provide analysis. You will also have excellent communication capabilities. This will enable you to gain a clear understanding of the level of student engagement and performance on the programme with working knowledge of the wider services of the Registry to enable you to deliver a seamless service to students and staff.

The role will require a high level of adaptability and flexibility, with professionalism, empathy, strong communication skills, sound knowledge of university regulations, processes, and student support. Registry staff display positive attitudes, behaviours, and attributes which support excellence, innovation, and achievement. This is an interesting and varied role and you will join a supportive collaborative team which has student support at its heart.

This role will offer you the opportunity to increase your development and transferrable skills for your future career prospects.

Principal Accountabilities

• Fully engage with the Student Advisor Intern programme within the Registry. Include the production of progress reports and or presentations with a view to developing their skill base for future development and employment opportunities.
• Engage with and support students within the Student Hub, working collaboratively with all areas of the University to ensure the best response to students during their journey of study.
• To form part of the Registry taskforce supporting core operations such as Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) Issuance, Enrolment, Right to Study Checks, Graduation preparation and on the day support.
• Work closely with Programme teams to identify and intervene with students at risk of disengagement, failure, or non-completion, using relevant student achievement and engagement data and intelligence from the student record systems and other key indicators.
• To deliver key projects allocated to the Student Advisors as part of their development, which will enhance the student and staff experience.
• To meet with all students considering withdrawal and/or leave of absence to ensure that students are aware of the options under the academic regulations and that they are aware of the support services available in the university where applicable.
• To assist in the development, planning, delivery, and evaluation of specific initiatives, such as Induction, to facilitate and support increased retention and engagement in addition to raising awareness amongst students of wider support available.
• Within the context of wider University communication schedules, to support colleagues in implementing a ‘keeping warm’ communications strategy for students during the summer vacation, particularly those students' undertaking reassessment or deferred assessment, and those on leave of absence.
• Collect and compile data from across institutional platforms and systems to enable accurate and timely monitoring of student engagement.
• Record keeping and report writing: Maintain records of interactions with students; Produce data reports and analysis using available monitoring and evaluation data relevant to contacts with students, interventions and outcomes; Ensure an inclusive service with a focus on delivering excellence.
• Escalate issues or concerns to the allocated Team Leader/Line Manager.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential Criteria

• Honours degree or Higher qualification
• Applicants must be recent graduates of the University of Derby who have graduated from their course within the last two years.

Experience

• Experience of delivering information, advice, and guidance
• Experience of working in an administrative role in a service setting
• Experience of understanding and applying data protection requirements
• Experience of using data to manage workload
• Experience of delivering information in a creative and engaging way

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

• Excellent customer service skills
• Contributing to the development of innovative solutions to problems, addressing the root cause
• Working collaboratively across boundaries to achieve common goals
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to demonstrate tact and diplomacy in dealing with a wide range of contacts both internal and external to the University
• Good judgement of situations and people and the ability to respond appropriately
• Ability to take a professional approach and work on own initiative and as part of a team
• Flexible and adaptable in approach to work
• Ability to understand and apply regulations/rules e.g. GDPR, quality assurance frameworks
• Confident and able to demonstrate digital competency across a range of technologies, including but not limited to Microsoft Office
• Systematic and organised to manage competing priorities
• Excellent ability to retrieve, manage and analyse data, identifying themes and patterns, making pragmatic recommendations for action, where required
• Ability to clearly present and articulate information verbally, as well as in writing to a range of audiences
• Up to date knowledge of current issues affecting Student Engagement within HE
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Consistent and reliable

Business Requirements

• Ability to work outside of normal working hours (including some evenings and weekends), to support the business during key University events, such as Graduation, Clearing and Open Days
• Willingness and flexibility to travel and work between University and external sites in a cost-effective and timely manner as relevant to support staff, attend events, meetings or for presence