Vacancy: Higher education engagement lead

We are now recruiting for a Higher Education Engagement Lead to join our Education & Public Benefit team, in a permanent, full-time capacity, in this field-based role.

About the role

Our vision is for everyone in society to benefit from good IT; they need a profession that will champion and deliver access to the right technology, and the knowledge and skills required for all of us to be resilient and thrive in our digital world.

BCS Education and Public Benefit aim is for all young people receive a great computing education so that:

• a plentiful and diverse pipeline of young people are progressing into the IT profession.
• the majority of young people leave formal education able to progress into a future ready workforce.
• all young people leave formal education digitally literate, recognising the value of digital and the contribution IT professionals make to society and the economy.

Our strategy is to:

• Engage the education membership and community - Inspire, recruit, retain, engage.
• Provide networks and communities of practice channelling routes into membership.
• Provide careers inspiration and employability support for learners.
• Developing educators as subject specialists, through certification, CPD and resources.
• Work with and through partners and key stakeholders.
• Secure funding to further our mission and expand our reach.

The Higher Education Engagement Lead’s primary purpose is to promote engagement amongst Higher Education stakeholders for BCS activity and BCS membership. Engaging with students and staff across BCS touchpoints including academia and apprenticeships. Supporting students with the transition from education to work and highlighting the support BCS membership provides.

Key responsibilities:

Stakeholder relationships

• Promote and facilitate engagement activities amongst academic institutions, their staff and students, aligned to our HE engagement strategy including IT/computing student population and faculty staff within universities throughout the UK.
• Develop stakeholder relationships with key influencers, identifying opportunities to inspire learners, academic educators and researchers and build positive brand associations for BCS.

Membership

• Generate new leads for Academic Membership schemes for universities by promoting the offer to heads of faculty.
• Engage new scheme members on the benefits of BCS membership.

Student engagement

• Support existing student chapters with planning including design and roll out of an annual programme of events, including sourcing external involvement from potential IT employers, other chapters, the BCS Early Careers Executive, BCS branches and specialist groups.
• Support new student chapters or affiliations to be created, establish processes to ensure up to date collateral and key documentation is easily available, particularly when committee volunteers change.
• Lead the delivery of our key public benefit programme, My Digital Future, ensuring that the programme meets the needs priority learner groups, and that evidence of impact is understood.
• Deliver and support the student prizes and competitions portfolio in line with the BCS reward and recognition approach.

Community

• Support and deliver opportunities for high quality collaboration amongst academic and scientific communities, bringing together research in universities and in industry.
• Support and nurture Specialist Interest Groups including the Academic SG, curating research and insights including about the sector itself, working closely with the SG chair and committee.

Standards

• Promote Academic Accreditation amongst HE stakeholders, ensuring that insights on the needs of students, employers and academic institutions are shared with product owner and marketing teams.

General

• Flexibility is required of all job holders to adjust responsibilities as required from time to time by their Line Manager/Divisional Director.
• All staff will live BCS’ values and support our purpose.
• Continually looking at ways to make improvements to systems, processes and procedures.
• The content and reporting lines detailed in this job description may be reviewed and changed from time to time to reflect organisational requirements.

BCS is dedicated to providing training and development to help all staff realise their potential, and also offer a generous benefit package.

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT are committed to promoting equality at every opportunity as an employer. This statement and our policies are designed to ensure our recruitment and employment practices and procedures actively promote equality of opportunity and value diversity.

All applicants must be eligible to work in the UK upon application.

PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy may be removed before any listed closing date once a sufficient amount of applications have been received.

In the event that we receive a high number of applications for this vacancy, we may be unable to provide an individual response to every candidate, therefore if you haven’t heard back from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please consider your application unsuccessful on this occasion.