Widening Access and Participation Coordinator - Sunderland, United Kingdom - University of Sunderland

University of Sunderland

Verified Company

Sunderland, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

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Description

To coordinate, plan, deliver and monitor access to higher education activities and
interventions to increase participation of a wide range of students and applicants
from a broad range of diverse backgrounds. This links directly to the institutional
Access and Participation Plan and targets outlined in the service plan which include:

Coordinating the 'We Care' function, offering a personalised support service

for students currently under-represented in higher education.

Coordinating outreach programmes for a range of audiences including pre
16 pupils, care experienced students and mature learners. This includes

collaboration with external partners such as NERAP and UniConnect.

Planning and delivering bespoke programmes, funding and support for

priority groups and current students who are under-represented in higher
education.

Supporting the Head of Widening Access and Participation and the

Widening Access and Participation Manager

Key Responsibilities

and Accountabilities:

To provide studentcentred support and coordination of the We Care support

service for students currently under-represented in higher education as
identified by the Office for Students (OfS). This includes care experienced,
estranged, GTRSB and Armed Forces students from the point of initial enquiry to
graduation and beyond.

To support applicants and students with the transition to higher education,

dealing with enquiries and providing high quality, ongoing support throughout
the student journey. This will include providing information, advice and support
relating to a range of personal, pastoral and academic issues, dealing with all
requests in a timely and effective manner and ensuring that urgent issues are
escalated appropriately.

To provide support, advice and guidance to external organisations to promote

the team and wider institution. This includes engaging with Local Authorities,
schools, colleges, charities such as NNECL, Stand Alone, Become, Virtual Schools

and other external contacts. This will also involve proactive collaboration,
delivery of CPD sessions, training, presentations as well as attending external
meetings.

To support the planning and delivery of a wide range of targeted regional

outreach programmes, interventions, funding and support for priority groups to
ensure fair access and increase participation in higher education. This includes
the planning, administration and promotion of bursaries and scholarships.

To proactively coordinate administrative tasks and backoffice support such as

maintaining and updating confidential databases and spreadsheets, processing
paperwork to meet HSE requirements e.g. risk assessments, preparing reports
and statistics, arranging and taking minutes of meetings. This will also involve
keeping accurate records relating to finance and expenditure, compiling regular
progress reports, updating all printed and online materials (both internal and
external) and supporting the Head of Widening Access and Participation with
monitoring action plans, targets and budgets.

Coordinate a schedule of communications for applicants and current students

from widening participation cohorts to ensure that they are regularly informed
and updated about the support available, providing an environment enabling
them to achieve their full potential.

Supervise the daily workload of the Widening Access and Participation Assistant

- (We Care) to ensure coverage of key tasks and activities against agreed targets.

To build effective working relationships with a wide range of internal colleagues

to enable a high quality, seamless referral service. This includes colleagues from
Student Journey as well as other academic and support colleagues.

To build effective working relationships with colleagues across the Home

Student Recruitment, External Relations and student support services to ensure
a supportive and collaborative approach to service aims, objectives and targets.

To promote the University at regional and local events and fairs by creating and

delivering interactive and engaging presentations, workshops and other events
both in-person and online.

To ensure the creation and completion of tracking and evaluation processes to

- evidence the impact of widening access and participation interventions.

To keep accurate records of activities and interventions to evaluate impact and

track participants using systems such as the HEAT database. To collate and
maintain evaluation and statistical data for all outreach interventions, funding
and bespoke support.