Associate Director, Student Experience

Job Description - Associate Director, Student Experience (240001AR)

Introduction:

The Aga Khan University is a private, international university committed to international standards of excellence in teaching, research and service. The AKUH's teaching hospital is accredited by the prestigious Joint Commission International for achieving the highest international healthcare standards.

Student Affairs and Services (SA&S) is the one stop department for all activities and support pertaining to student life beyond classrooms and clinics. It works closely with faculty, staff, and leadership across all entities to foster student centeredness and facilitate a successful academic journey at AKU.

Job Role / Responsibilities:

Reporting to the Vice Provost, Students, you will be in a critical leadership position. You will drive the implementation of the student experience policy and strategies and support student orientation programmes across all academic programmes and entities in Pakistan. You will oversee extracurricular student-related programmes, identify the development needs of students, maintain a productive learning environment and stay up to date on important student affairs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Developing a broad portfolio of services that support students in Pakistan.
• Providing vision, leadership, and strong strategic direction to enhance the overall quality of the students' experience.
• Ensuring that students are provided with support and activities that promote their social, cultural, and recreational life, build community, and provide opportunities for leadership development.
• Working directly with other stakeholders across the University to understand the student experience through student voice feedback channels and analysis of student data.
• Ensuring students are well informed and relevant stakeholders are notified of the student experience through an up-to-date communications strategy.
• Leading key student experience projects, utilizing data to monitor and evaluate the service's activity and impact and make strategic recommendations for change.
• Working closely with the academic administration to identify student cohorts requiring assistance and support and proactively organise and ensure delivery of the necessary support.
• Managing the onboarding of international students and providing the support needed to settle into the university community.
• Serving as a role model for students; ensuring compliance with the University's Student Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures; and managing the unit's budget and other administrative functions.
• Providing leadership and accountability for the administration, development, and improvement of non-academic, extracurricular, and co-curricular student programmes and experiences.
• Responding to the academic needs of different programmes and how student life activities are enmeshed with these in collaboration with their academic leadership.
• Developing a commitment to ethical behaviour by working closely with students to develop and maintain a code of honour and professional and social responsibility.
• Serving as the first point of contact for students and any other entity that may need assistance and be stakeholders.
• Influencing change to ensure strong support for student activities and cultural, recreational and community life initiatives.
• Providing leadership for developing and implementing communication and promotional plans and schedules of student-centered activities and events.
• Identifying issues that affect the quality of campus life and bringing them to the attention of the Vice Provost (Students) to keep in touch with the "pulse" of campus life.
• Engaging students with Aga Khan University as their "Alma Mater" by fostering university citizenship at AKU.
• Developing and monitoring the Student Experience office operations budget and coordinating with programmes and staff.
• Serving as an advocate for the needs and interests of students in informal and formal situations.
• Staying connected with various student committees.
• Serving as the University officer responsible for administrating the Student Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures for students enrolled in programmes at AKU in Pakistan.

Eligibility Criteria / Requirements:

• A Master's degree with knowledge of the Higher Education Sector and its administration.
• IT Skills, including the use of Word, Excel Databases, and Outlook. Knowledge and experience in social media and web content management systems will be preferable.
• Ability to demonstrate a commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusivity.
• Sensitive and tactful approach to working with a diverse student community.
• Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written) for interaction with students, university departments, and external organisations.
• Enthusiasm and ability to work with and motivate others in a team.
• Previous experience managing a high-volume workload requiring speed and accuracy.
• A proactive approach to working maturely and flexibly.
• An understanding of the importance of confidentiality and safeguarding when dealing with vulnerable populations.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Extensive knowledge of developing programmes and proposals for student activities.
• Project management delivery, planning and prioritising work.
• Data analysis and evaluation.
• Building relationships, internally and externally, to provide an excellent student experience.
• Building and managing a team.
• Working in a mentoring, counselling, and supportive role.
• Preparing and delivering workshops for strengthening soft skills.

Comprehensive employment reference checks will be conducted.