Senior Officers – Higher Education Regulation (Quality Assessment) and Managers – Higher Education Regulation (Quality Assessment)
Location: Bristol and London
Salary (Senior Officer):
£39,792 - £41,829 (and London allowance of £3,566 where appropriate)
Salary (Manager):
£49,613 - £54,222 (and London allowance of £3,566 where appropriate)
Plus generous civil service defined benefit pension
The challenge
The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of higher education (HE) in England. Our mission is to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers.
We’re looking for skilled, committed people to deliver our work both to ensure higher education providers meet our minimum regulatory expectations, and to influence and incentivise even better performance, in order to achieve our
objectives
.
As we embark on our ambitious new
strategy
, focusing on quality and standards, and equality of opportunity, this is an exciting time to join the OfS. We are looking for aspiring regulators who want to use their skills to support the next phase of our work to regulate quality and standards in particular.
We aim to ensure that students in England receive a high quality academic experience that improves their knowledge and skills. This is a growing area of work for the OfS.
The roles offer an exciting opportunity to drive up the quality of higher education across the sector, and safeguard the reputation of English higher education. In doing so, you will be making a difference to the experience of thousands of students across England. Postholders will, over time, also be assigned to work in other areas of regulation, and develop a broad range of regulatory skills and experience.
The role
The primary function of the Regulation Directorate is to develop and implement the OfS’s regulatory framework. We design and deliver high quality services for market entry, degree awarding powers and university title, and are responsible for the ongoing monitoring of registered providers. We also implement the OfS’s new approach to regulating quality and standards, including the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF). In addition, we work to promote fair access to, and participation in, English higher education for students, no matter what their background. We regulate access and participation plans, and deliver funded programmes such as Uni Connect.
We are looking to appoint people to work in quality assessment in the first instance. Over time the role will cover other assignments which will develop your regulatory skills and experience . The assignment to work on assessment of quality and standards in higher education will likely focus on the quality of teaching on courses, awarding of degree awarding powers, or the regulation of degree apprenticeships. Joining us either as a Senior Officer or Manager, you will shape this rapidly growing area of work within the OfS. The work will be highly varied and is likely to include:
assessing the quality and standards of higher education courses against our
initial and ongoing quality conditions
set out in our regulatory framework for registration
assessing whether higher education providers are suitable for degree awarding powers
checking that degree apprenticeships meet requirements
drafting assessment reports relating to quality and standards, ensuring they can be used in regulatory judgements
engaging and collaborating with a range of stakeholders on the OfS’s regulatory requirements including engagement with individual providers
working effectively as part of a team to manage the assessment process including providing support to external academic assessors to form robust and reliable judgements.
At Manager level further responsibilities while working on the quality assignment are likely to include:
acting as the policy lead for specific types of assessment or key projects and overseeing more complex case work
managing and coordinating teams to deliver assessments and broader policy development
line managing individuals within the quality assessment team
Quality assessment work may require some national travel to visit providers we are assessing on site and direct engagement with providers regarding their assessment
About you – person specification
Whilst previous regulatory experience would be welcome, this is not essential as comprehensive training is available. Ideally, you will have some experience of working in higher education, including in the design and delivery of learning, teaching and assessment, and of working with the academic community, as that would be a benefit if your initial assignment is on our quality assessment work. Above all, we’re looking for people who are committed to our mission to ensure that students receive a high quality education.
We do need you to have experience in the design and operation of policies, procedures or processes. A skilled problem solver, you will be able to make good judgements based on complex or incomplete evidence. You will be driven, resilient and prepared to challenge the status quo. You’ll also be a confident communicator, able to present your findings effectively, both in person and in writing.
If you are applying as a Manager, you must be able to provide leadership and effective management oversight for a group of staff. An ability to co-ordinate and take ownership over a portfolio of work or organisational function across a team is also critical.
These are the areas we think are really important in being able to do this role well, and we will ask you to demonstrate these in your application:
Ability to maintain a comprehensive knowledge of the regulatory context for the OfS’s work, including the OfS’s current goals around quality & standards and equality of opportunity
Expertise and experience in the design and operation of policies, procedures or processes, especially where this is relevant to quality assessment
Writes complex strategic and operational details in a clear and concise manner, using appropriate grammar, style and language
Ability to understand regulatory decision-making processes which enable credible, evidence-based decisions to be reached
Ability to problem solve, working through novel challenges to create innovative solutions
Personal resilience, an ability to work flexibly and independently, and an ability to prioritise and drive forward own work at pace
If you are applying as a Manager you will also need to be able to demonstrate
these skills in your application:
Ability to lead and manage a team to achieve results
Ability to co-ordinate a diverse portfolio of work held by a team to drive progress
Ability to lead and deliver the assessment of more complex case work to reach robust and reliable judgements
Whilst we are particularly keen to hear from applicants who are interested in our quality assessment work, we are also looking to fill vacancies in our wider organisation. Successful applicants may therefore be assigned to other regulatory work, and we’ll look to match candidates with the most appropriate area of work based on your skills and experience. All successful applicants will be assigned to an initial project but will have the opportunity to work in different areas over time in line with our organisational priorities. This means that candidates can look forward to an interesting variety of work – colleagues may be progressing case work, risk assessing regulatory information, engaging with institutions, delivering consultations, or working in a particular project area or aspect of policy reform.
If you are invited for interview, please note we will ask you to complete a pre-interview task in order to demonstrate the skills above.
Working for us
The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work, and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do.
We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and socio-economic background.
In addition, our Total Reward Framework offers a range of benefits to suit your way of life. These include comprehensive learning and development, annual leave starting at 25 days per year (plus public holidays), access to the highly regarded Civil Service pension scheme and a variety of health benefits.
Working arrangements
Flexibility is important to the OfS, as we recognise that such flexibility can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation-wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. To attract the widest possible field of qualified applicants, flexible working and part time working apply to this role.
Closing date: 12 March 2023
Interviews expected: End of March 2023