Centre Administrator

Key Duties & Responsibilities

• Enquiries
• Dealing efficiently with general enquiries by telephone, e-mail, in person and via MS Teams to provide a high level of customer service.
• Committee Organisation and Minutes
• Organising Committee meetings; room booking, catering, circulation of meeting papers, accurate minute-taking for various CDT committees.
• CDTAP Executive (monthly meeting)
• CDTAP Programme Committee (biannually)
• CDTAP Management Committee (biannually)
• CDTAP Independent Advisory Committee (biannually)
• Event Organisation
• Assisting with the organisation of events including the Centre Conference, International Summer School and organising small events such as induction events to ensure they run smoothly, including event venue booking, organising catering and for small events organising key speakers.
• Travel Booking
• Booking travel, accommodation and conferences for students and staff and recording expenditure for students’ travel budgets.
• Finance
• Use of ERP Finance for preparing purchase orders, invoicing and catering orders. Using and reconciling the HWU purchasing card.
• Industry Projects and Liaison with External Bodies
• Dealing with external bodies such as Industrial Sponsors, partner higher education institutes and Funding Councils
• Liaising with industrial sponsors and Centre Director regarding industrial project approval
• Communicate with Funding Councils regarding meetings and events
• Post projects on CDTAP website, FindAPhD, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social media
• Filing project proposals & maintaining projects logs
• Correspond with academic partner institutions securely to exchange information
• Students Records
• Maintaining highly accurate student records throughout the academic year.
• Setting up new students and maintaining information on the Student Database & Banner
• Initiating, recording and maintaining flow of processes for new students e.g. Code of Practice and Approved Supervisors and ensuring the process is concluded
• Maintaining email distribution lists (students, academic and industrial supervisors, alumni).
• Adding new student records to Student Data System and updating fee/stipend information on an annual basis
• Marketing
• Assisting with Centre marketing activities including CDT Annual Report and posting news on the CDT website, LinkedIn and Instagram
• Maintaining marketing mailing lists ensuring compliance with GDPR
• Gathering and updating information for publications such as the CDTAP Annual Report
• Preparing Marketing material
• PA to Centre Director & Centre Executive
• Providing support services to the Centre Director and members of the CDT Executive, including diary management, booking travel/accommodation, arranging meetings and other tasks as required.
• Student Recruitment
• Assisting with the annual student recruitment and admissions process to ensure the Centre recruits students of the highest calibre.
• Responding to pre-application enquiries from applicants
• Downloading and filing applications, obtaining supporting documentation, preparing the application pack and recording and maintaining applicant records
• Processing offers and rejections using CRM-Recruit and CDT offer letters
• Organising applicant interviews
• Liaising with industrial sponsors
• Preparing recruitment statistics
• Reviews, Appraisals and Progression
• Assisting with quarterly reviews and annual appraisal for students using Microsoft Flow.
• Initiating, recording and maintaining flow of Amendment to Registration and Submission of Thesis Titles & Appointment of Examiner through to approval by Research Degrees Committee. Including processing limited access to thesis and confidentiality requests
• Processing, recording, and maintaining Amendment to Registration requests. Including updating Banner and CDT database. Processing Temporary Suspension of Studies
• Please note that this job description is not exhaustive, and the role holder may be required to undertake other relevant duties commensurate with the grading of the post. Activities may be subject to amendment over time as the role develops and/or priorities and requirements evolve.
• Essential & Desirable Criteria
• Essential
• Educated to SVQ Level 3 or equivalent
• Good level of competency in written and spoken English
• Experience of working within a confidential office environment as outlined above
• Competent in the use of Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word and Teams
• Well-developed interpersonal skills
• Demonstrable excellent customer service
• Demonstrable ability to work quickly, flexibly and accurately in a dynamic, changing and pressured environment
• Demonstrable professional and proactive approach
• Experience of organising interviews, meetings and minute-taking
• Experience in organising events such as conferences and seminars
• Desirable
• Experience in Higher Education
• Competent in the use of Microsoft PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive and Power Automate
• Experience of booking travel and accommodation with Key Travel
• Experience of social media and electronic newsletters
• Commitment to ongoing personal development
• Competent in the use of Ellucian systems - CRM Recruit and Banner
• Competent in the use of Oracle 12 for preparing purchase orders
• Experience in the use of Adobe Creative Cloud software packages
• How to Apply
• Applications can be submitted up to 11:55pm (UK time) on Wednesday 11th November. Interviews are expected to take place during the week of the 23rd November.
• Please submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system (1) Cover letter describing your interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV.
• We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We therefore encourage you to submit your application promptly.
• We recognise that many candidates use AI tools during the application process and are comfortable with AI being used as a supporting aid. However, we want to hear from you, not AI.
• Your application should be an authentic representation of your skills, experience and achievements. Applications that appear to have been fully generated by AI may not accurately reflect your suitability for the role and are therefore discouraged.
• At interview, candidates will be expected to discuss and provide evidence of the experience, skills and examples included in their application.
• 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

About Heriot-Watt University