Head: Academic Insights

The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE) is a registered private higher education provider and a wholly owned subsidiary of ADvTECH Ltd, listed on the JSE.

The IIE’s Central Academic Team (CAT) is the custodian of academic quality, educational technology, and governance across the institution. It leads academic strategy, compliance, and operational integrity through robust governance structures.

The current CAT is in the process of being repositioned as a Centre of Excellence, a hub for academic innovation, staff capacity building, quality assurance, and governance across both the schools and tertiary divisions.

**The purpose of the job**:
The Head: Analytics & Reporting is accountable for driving performance through timely, accurate, and meaningful analytics and reporting. This role leads the development and execution of academic and operational dashboards, regulatory reporting, and internal performance monitoring. The incumbent ensures reporting standards and automation align with institutional goals, data governance principles, and cross-functional needs.

**Reporting to**:
**Main Outputs and Responsibilities for this Position**:
Management Reporting & Decision Support
- Develop and maintain interactive dashboards to support daily and strategic academic and operational decision-making.
- Lead the identification of key trends, anomalies, and performance insights, and present findings to relevant stakeholders.
- Ensure consistent and timely delivery of performance reports to stakeholders, Academic Boards, and steering committees.
- Partner with departments to define and refine performance indicators across the academic lifecycle.
- Enable a culture of evidence-based decision-making by simplifying access to actionable insights.

Institutional Performance Monitoring
- Deliver bi-annual performance reports against internal KPIs related to a standard set of metrics.
- Build and update performance dashboards to support institutional strategy reviews.
- Benchmark institutional performance against sector standards (private and public) to inform strategic alignment.
- Monitor trends in student engagement, retention, and success metrics, providing insights for academic enhancement.
- Support departments with bespoke analytics for continuous improvement projects.

Data Governance & Management Standards- Define and drive data management protocols in line with institutional data governance frameworks.- Lead data integrity initiatives, ensuring standard definitions, source transparency, and version control.- Chair forums with key stakeholders to embed data ownership and accountability practices.- Ensure proper classification, storage, and access of sensitive academic and student data.- Support compliance with data privacy legislation (e.g., POPIA).

Reporting Process Automation & Systems Integration
- Manage the design and rollout of automated reporting pipelines across platforms (e.g., Power BI)
- Work with AIT to ensure integration between analytics tools and institutional systems (SIMS, LMS, AQMS).
- Drive continuous improvement through workflow streamlining, report consolidation, and elimination of redundancy.
- Test and refine automation solutions to maintain system reliability and output quality.
- Maintain documentation and training for reporting tools and platforms.

**Qualification**
- Relevant postgraduate qualification

**Experience**:

- Minimum of 5 years as a Data Analytics
- Minimum of 5 years in Higher Education Operations Management
- Minimum of 3 years as a Systems Integration/MIS/Data Governance Projects

**Competencies**:

- Advanced Data Analysis & Visualisation
- Management Reporting & KPI Tracking
- Regulatory & Institutional Compliance Reporting
- Automation & Systems Integration
- Data Governance & Quality Control
- Strategic Thinking & Insight Development
- Communication & Stakeholder Engagement
- Analytical Rigor
- Results Orientation
- Collaboration
- Initiative
- Adaptability
- Attention to Details

**Other Special Requirements**:
- Occasional travel between campuses or the central office may be required.