JOB DESCRIPTION

Employment status and working hours

Permanent, part time for 21 hours per week.

Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00. In this part time role your weekly working pattern will be Wednesday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00.

Organisation structure

Education and Students, Academic Support and Enhancement.

Your line manager will be Lewis Morden, Academic Support Manager.

Place of work flexibility

You will normally spend your total working time at home*, which must be within the UK. You may, on occasions, be expected to attend the Horizons, Reading office to attend meetings or training events. *Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable.

High level summary of job role

As an Academic Support Tutor, you will be pivotal to student engagement and success. Working directly with students and closely with academic colleagues, learning designers, educational technologists and support staff, you will be promoting academic success, supporting scholarly activities and enhancing the learning experience for students. You will work directly with students to provide support and advice on a range of academic and study skills across the built environment curricula, whilst contributing to the delivery of an inclusive service. You will develop and deliver support activities and resources to support student engagement and retention.

You’ll have the opportunity to contribute to the development and implementation of innovative student support initiatives to prepare, develop and empower students to excel in their studies and in their chosen built environment disciplines. Academic Support Tutors are integral in encouraging students to become effective independent learners, maximising their progression, achievement, completion and success.

Specific job role accountabilities and responsibilities

Academic Support, Student Liaison, Review and Development

• Proactively contact ‘at risk’ students and support their retention and success by promoting and enhancing student performance and engagement.
• Establish a rapport with students to enhance the student experience by encouraging them to achieve their potential.
• Respond promptly to referrals for support from student self-referrals and colleagues across the University.
• Monitor academic progress of students and record evidence of student contacts to demonstrate and evaluate the effective impact of support activities.
• Liaise with student support teams and academics to provide proactive support for the operation, organisation and management of academic programmes of study to promote a positive student learning experience.
• Work collaboratively with subject specialists and the Digital Education team to improve the development and delivery of the curriculum.
• Promote the use of quality learning resources with appropriate use of digital technologies to enhance quality and accessibility.

Pastoral Care, Support and Collaboration

• Report safeguarding concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Lead to promote student safety.
• Contribute to the pastoral care and motivation of students, supporting and signposting them to appropriate internal and external specialist support.
• Collaborate with colleagues to identify and respond to students’ needs, with a specific focus on the needs of students that belong to underrepresented groups and those with additional learning needs.
• Work with colleagues in delivering orientation, induction and post-enrolment activities to enhance the student experience, enabling students to be effective independent distance learners.

Develop Student Academic Literacy

• Provide effective academic support with learning, teaching and assessment activities at undergraduate and postgraduate level which may include 1:1 tutorials, group sessions and webinar delivery.
• Use mentoring and coaching skills when working with students to enhance their experience through the setting of goals and targets.
• Support the development and delivery of well formed, appropriate and valid assessments.
• Support quality assurance and enhancement mechanisms including completion of necessary documentation.

Supporting Curriculum Design and Development

• Engage with programme and curriculum design and development.
• Participate in programme and module review and enhancement, in a manner that focuses on student learning outcomes, satisfaction, continuation, attainment and progression.
• Engage with stakeholders such as partners and community groups to facilitate specific contributions to the curriculum design and delivery and the wider student experience as required.

Other important features of the job role

Line management responsibilities: None.

Budget responsibility: None.

In this role you will liaise with the following: Students, Academic team, Apprenticeship team, Student Engagement, Digital Education, Designated Safeguarding Lead, Disability and Welfare team.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

E = Essential person requirement; D = Desirable person requirement

How the person requirement will be assessed:

A = Application; I = Interview; T = Test or other assessment

Please be aware that as part of onboarding processes, we will seek original documentary evidence of the relevant academic and/or professional qualifications which you include within your job application. This is all part of our comprehensive pre-employment screening which also includes checking your identity, right to work, criminal record history (basic disclosure), and three years employment history.

Qualifications and training

Level 2 Maths and English at Grade C or 4 or higher, or the willingness and ability to achieve these within six months of appointment (E, A)

Degree level qualification or equivalent (E, A)

Teaching qualification or equivalent and/or a Higher Education Academy (HEA) fellowship (E, A)

Previous experience

Relevant demonstrable experience of working with students to support them to be successful (E, A, I)

Experience within the same or similar sector (D, A, I)

Facilitating independent study (D, A, I)

Experience working on the delivery of programmes and modules, whilst adhering to relevant Quality Assurance procedures (D, A, I)

Skills, knowledge, and aptitudes

Knowledge of the operation and management of academic or apprenticeship programmes (E, A, I)

Communication and presentation skills; an ability to communicate with people of all ages and levels (E, A, I)

Ability to work effectively as part of a team and collaborate with colleagues (E, A, I)

Understanding of the importance of the student experience (E, A, I)

Ability to communicate complex ideas effectively (E, A, I)

Digital skills confidence: We use MS Office which includes Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and several other systems/technology (E, I, T)

Understanding of current developments within professional, further or higher education in relevant fields (E, A, I)

Ability to produce or deploy innovative study skills materials to enthuse students (D, A, I)

Knowledge of contemporary issues in online learning (D, A, I)

Individual and/or small group coaching skills in an academic or professional context (D, A, I)

Other requirements or special requirements

Alignment to the University’s core values of Passion, Integrity, Excellence and Support; all employees are expected to demonstrate our values at work (E, I)

Commitment to delivering positive outcomes for our students; we want our students to be successful (E, I)

You must be prepared to undertake mandatory online training should you be appointed including Data Protection, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, Prevent, and EDI (E, I)

Willingness to engage in professional development and scholarship opportunities in online pedagogic approaches relating to learning, teaching, assessment and feedback (E, A, I)

PAY AND BENEFITS

Salary: Actual salary circa £21,000 per annum (£35,000 Full Time Equivalent)

Holiday: 26 days paid holiday (rising to 28 with service) plus paid bank/public holidays plus up to five paid closure days (typically between Christmas and New Year); all per holiday year Full Time Equivalent. Our holiday year runs from 1 August to 31 July. We also have a holiday buy and sell scheme in place. Sometimes the University does not need to close for five days per year and any balance (for example one day), can be used as a paid Wellbeing Day to take time out for your own physical or mental health.

Pension and life assurance: Pensions auto-enrolment to the People’s Pension which is a default salary sacrifice scheme. You may opt out of salary sacrifice but remain in the scheme, or you may choose to opt out altogether. We provide life assurance (death in service) cover as standard to all employees.

Family-friendly policies: Policies in place for all types of family-friendly statutory leave with enhanced pay available from day one of employment for some leave types. Access to Tax-Free Childcare (Government scheme).

Wellbeing: Full access to the Employee Assistance Programme as well as the Thrive Mental Wellbeing app. Several employees are trained Mental Health First Aiders and can support staff. We have a wellbeing policy and we focus on five pillars of wellbeing.

Sustainable travel: Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.

Parking: We have locked sheds for bicycles. For cars, for Horizons based roles, we may in the future be able to offer parking on site however you must not assume this will be possible. Every now and then we may have a spare parking space become available and you can ask to join the waiting list. The University is keen wherever possible, to encourage staff to commute as sustainably as possible.

Other health related benefits: Employer-funded Health Cash Plan (Simplyhealth) and voluntary dental insurance (Unum).

Other valuable benefits:

• Charity giving options available including one voluntary paid day, per annum.
• You will have access to Microsoft Office 365 applications for personal use.
• You will have access to range of lifestyle discounts and everyday savings.
• We offer learning platforms including LinkedIn learning.

On the Join the team page of our website, you will find the full list of employee benefits.

APPLICATIONS - THINGS TO CONSIDER

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Lewis Morden on 0118 467 2209 or email l.morden@ube.ac.uk. For any other enquiries please contact HR on 0118 467 2454 / 2433 or email recruitment@ube.ac.uk

Did one of our employees recommend you? If you apply on the recommendation of an existing employee, please make sure to mention their name within your application.

We're passionate about sustainability and we have a five-year strategic plan: We expect job seekers to be curious about who we are and what we do. We point you towards a couple of resources about who we are and sustainability.

Closing date and next steps

We will receive applications until the advert closes on Thursday 28 August 2025 at 17:00. We will not consider late applications. Our ATS does not screen applications, we humans do. Applications may be reviewed prior to the closing date and occasionally, you may be invited to interview ahead of the closing date.

Interview details

Dates for interview will be advised to you later in the process. We'll ask you to tell us about any dates you cannot make, up to 4 weeks from the closing date; this helps us to plan interviews should you be shortlisted, prior to contacting you.

Interviews are normally carried out over Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Depending on the job role and place of work, your interview may be at our Reading or London office. Please be prepared for a two-stage interview process, held on different dates. As part of the interview process, you will likely meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Note for internal candidates

If you are an existing employee, we request you inform your current line manager of your intention to apply for this role.