Administration Assistant – Academic Operations

Role: Administrative Assistant – Academic Operations

Grade and Salary: Grade 4, £23,881- £26,338 per annum

FTE and working pattern: 1FTE, 35hrs per week, Monday – Friday

Contract: 5 Months, Fixed Term

Holiday Entitlement: 33 days annual leave plus 9 buildings closed days (and Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday)

Purpose of Role

The role-holder will be responsible for general administration and supporting academic operations processes, such as: processing marks and grades; processing the outcomes of mitigating circumstances, appeals, and discipline cases; minute-taking at boards of examiners and studies committees; answering academic staff enquiries; and answering student enquiries related to their studies. The role-holder may also be required to support other key functions of the Academic Operations Team, such as examinations or timetabling; as well as other Divisions of RAS, for example, supporting student first line support, graduations, or helping to gather data for quality and PSRB purposes.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

1. Assist with administrative processes related to meetings, academic boards and committees – including Boards of Examiners and School Studies Committees – from scheduling, to organising, minuting and post-board/committee processing.
2. Assist with preparations across a range of activities within the Academic Operations Support Team. For example, examinations, Progression and Award Boards, or student assessment.
3. Assist with all aspects of processes which can impact students’ marks, grades and awards – including updating student records according to the outcome decisions for mitigating circumstances, appeals and discipline cases.
4. Assist with record keeping – work closely with the Senior Admin Assistants and academics to ensure student records are maintained and archived as per University regulations.
5. Archive coursework, examination scripts and dissertations as outlined in the University’s data management policies and archive samples for accreditation purposes.
6. Respond to queries from staff, students and external partners regarding academic operations processes, referring more complex queries to Senior Admin Assistants or Academic Operations Team Mangers, as appropriate.
7. Provide secretarial and administrative support to RAS management.
8. Undertake other tasks related to academic operations as required by their assigned Team Manager, Team Leader, the Academic Operations Manager, or the Head of Academic Operations.

Essential & Desirable Criteria

Essential

1. Effective team working skills.
2. Educated to SCQF Level 5 or similar (see link for details) or equivalent experience.
3. Experience of working within a similar environment as outlined above.
4. Competent in the use of relevant IT packages, including a sound knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.
5. Excellent verbal and written English communication and interpersonal skills.
6. Demonstrable professional and proactive approach.
7. Demonstrable ability to work quickly, flexibly and accurately in a dynamic, changing and pressured environment.
8. Demonstrable provision of excellent customer service.

Desirable

1. Educated to SCQF Level 6 or equivalent qualification.
2. Experience of working in an administrative role in higher education.
3. Knowledge of Banner Student Records system.
4. Experience working with multi-location teams.

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on 5th August 2025.

Please submit your CV & covering letter via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment.

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g., part-time working and job share options.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised, and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our university community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

About the Team

The Global Registry and Academic Support Directorate supports our students and staff colleagues across the full student life cycle from enrolment to graduation. The Directorate has responsibility as the definitive record-keeper of all student information and programme and course details, and leading services that help students settle and stay at the University with professional help and advice, through a range of wellbeing services.

It supports academic and professional services staff across the University in a number of areas, including academic, institutional and student related Regulations and Policies and global, national and institutional quality matters. It delivers these services through four Divisions, each managed by a Global Head, and two Head of Campus Registry:

• Student Life
• Online Students
• Academic Operations
• Academic Quality
• Head of Registry – Dubai Campus
• Head of Registry – Malaysia Campus

The Academic Operations Division consists of five teams: Academic Operations Liaison, Academic Operations Support, Timetabling, Examinations, and Postgraduate Research Student Support. The work of the Administrative Assistant will be primarily related to the Academic Operations Support but will collaborate across all teams.

The Academic Operations Support Team is responsible for supporting all aspects of academic operations. These are activities where the primary service users are academics; or else the primary service users are students; but with significant academic input into the process. The team also helps to support the work of other divisions providing a pool of staff who can be assigned where administrative support is needed.

About Heriot-Watt University

At Heriot-Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

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