Head: Academic

Vega School is an educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE). The IIE enjoys the reputation of being at the forefront of private higher education in South Africa and is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to provide higher education qualifications accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE).

**Job Purpose**:
This is a management role, with a specific focus on academic and student-success management. The overall role of the Head: Academic is to drive academic quality on campus and to thereby ensure that students are afforded a quality educational experience at The IIE's Vega.

**Reporting to**: Campus Head

**Qualification**:

- Minimum of Postgraduate Diploma/ Bachelors Degree /Honours Degree in Teaching Methodology/ Higher Education or Subject Specialisation.
- Masters Degree advantageous.

**Experience**:

- Minimum 3 years management experience with 6 years teaching or lecturing experience within a tertiary environment.
- Must have management experience in an academic setting and an understanding of the current regulatory framework and its impact on higher education and private colleges.

**Duties and Responsibilities**:
1. Sales and Marketing:

- Liaison with the marketing team to ensure accurate integrated marketing communication (IMC) of all IIE Vega online (distance) qualifications, delivery mode, student requirements for success and student support provided
- Participate in open days, postgraduate evenings and information sessions for IIE-Vega online (distance)
- Train/engage with sales team to ensure accurate representation to prospective students of all IIE Vega online (distance) qualifications, delivery mode, student requirements for success and student support provided
- Monitoring of student queries at enquiry and registration for input to IMC and student orientation
- Participate in interviews of MCom student applicants, reporting on suitability of applicants for acceptance into the qualification

2. Academic Management:

- Create, manage and implement the campus academic-delivery plan with Module Discipline Leaders, Lecturer, Counsellor and Information Specialists.
- This is achieved through the following:

- The achievement of greater student success (by achieving set targets) through ongoing analysis of academic results, examining evidence and reporting on and addressing areas of risk;
- The improvement of student-retention rates through the management of the quality student-support interventions and strategies to improve student perseverance/resilience;
- Measurement of the effectiveness of student support interventions on an ongoing basis;
- The management and mentoring of the MDL team to support national and campus initiatives, including development plans for this team;
- The management of academic development of the lecturing team focusing on managing the progression of lecturer development, allocation of modules and lecturer workload
- Ensure an excellent postgraduate-student experience (qualification and research experience) and report on student achievement and progress
- Ensure equity of academic delivery across campuses
- Accountable for compliance to the policies and procedures of The Independent Institute of Education
- Responsible for engagement with the relevant National portfolio heads regarding campus Academic performance and compliance
- Building and promoting an active community of best academic practice on campus
- Interacting with evidence and data to fully understand the status quo of the campus
- Handling of student disputes and complaints relating to any academic matter
- Managing student academic orientation
- Managing student campus engagement through student forum sessions
- Promoting student community engagement
- Handling of lecturer queries
- Actively engaging in action research
- Planning and managing improved information centre services to support staff and students
- Co-ordinating and planning for annual lecturer and student award events
- Management of academic support budgets
- Working with other senior staff members to ensure overall customer satisfaction
- Managing internal and external academic audit processes
- Attending management meetings

3. Academic Staff Management:

- Recruitment of academic staff
- Design of remuneration packages for lecturers based on the contact portfolio model customised for online delivery promoting student success.
- Support, management and approval of lecturer remuneration claims
- Ensuring that all new academic staff have been trained sufficiently in order to understand their role, processes, policies and procedures
- Constantly reviewing information and data to identify training needs for academic team (MDLs, lecturer, information specialists) and carrying out appropriate training and mentoring plans
- Responsible for the line management of the Programme Experience Navigator, Module Discipline Leaders, Lecturer and Information Specialists and clear comm