JOB DESCRIPTION
Employment status and working hours
Fixed term for up to 12 months (maternity cover), full time.
Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00.
Organisation structure
Education and Students, Academic Registry.
Your line manager will be Emma Itta, Student Retention Manager.
Place of work flexibility
The majority of your working week will be spent at our office in Reading and the rest at your home*. The exact split of days/hours is negotiable but must include a minimum of three working days each week in Horizons on the core days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). The office closes on Fridays. You can attend the office on Mondays if you have worked the three core days. You may occasionally be asked to travel to another place of work if required. *Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable.
High level summary of job role
The Student Retention & Registry Officer plays a pivotal role in enhancing student success and delivering an outstanding student experience.
This role combines proactive student retention and engagement work with the accurate administration of student lifecycle processes. You will act as a first-line advocate for students, coordinating early interventions, supporting at-risk learners, and ensuring students are guided to the appropriate specialist teams when required.
Alongside retention activity, you will manage key registry processes including re-registration, withdrawals, interruptions of study, progression updates, and student record maintenance. Through strong collaboration, data-informed decision-making, and meticulous attention to detail, you will help ensure students receive timely, effective support from enrolment through to completion.
Specific job role accountabilities and responsibilities
Student retention & intervention
* Implement and coordinate student intervention plans across support teams.
* Lead first-line student engagement activities (outbound calls, emails, SMS).
* Coordinate monthly student progress review meetings.
* Monitor student data and engagement reports to identify risk and elevate appropriately.
* Use digital tools (e.g., Microsoft Planner) to assign, track, and monitor intervention actions.
* Develop and share guidance materials for staff and students.
* Support the continuous improvement of retention strategies.
* Be jointly accountable for student retention targets and intervention KPIs.
* Serve as a key adviser within the team.
Student lifecycle & registry administration
* Coordinate semester re-registration processes and update module choices.
* Process withdrawals, interruptions of study, and programme changes.
* Maintain accurate and compliant student records.
* Generate and monitor tuition fee records, resolving discrepancies.
* Support conversion activities to encourage registration and fee payment.
* Run system processes to ensure student enrolment and module records remain accurate.
* Respond to student record requests promptly and accurately.
* Maintain knowledge of University academic regulations, policies, and procedures.
Other important features of the job role
Line management responsibilities: None.
Budget responsibility: None.
In this role you will liaise with the following: Academic Quality Unit, Apprenticeship Operations, Business Development, Finance, Learning Technology, Technology, and Student Services.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
E = Essential person requirement; D = Desirable person requirement
How the person requirement will be assessed:
A = Application; I = Interview; T = Test or other assessment
Please be aware that as part of onboarding processes, we will seek original documentary evidence of the relevant academic and/or professional qualifications which you include within your job application. This is all part of our comprehensive pre-employment screening which also includes checking your identity, right to work, criminal record history (basic disclosure), and three years employment history.
Qualifications and training
GCSE Maths and English language Grade C or 4 or above (E, A).
Further education level qualifications (D, A).
Previous experience
Delivering high quality customer service (E, A, I).
Administrative experience(E, A, I, T).
Working within Higher Education or compliance (D, A, I).
Working with student or customer records system/database (D, A, I).
Skills, knowledge, and aptitudes
Digital skills confidence: We use MS Office which includes Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and several other systems/technology (E, I, T).
Attention to detail, ensuring high levels of accuracy (E, I, T).
Strong written and verbal communication skills (E, A, I, T).
Ability to establish positive and effective working relationships with staff at all levels and across a broad range of areas (E, A, I).
Ability to prioritise and respond effectively to competing demands (E, A, I).
Willingness to learn new technologies and processes (E, A, I).
A positive and enthusiastic team player, with the ability to adapt readily to changing circumstances and take ownership of tasks (E, A, I).
Ability to listen and take advice or direction from colleagues (E, I).
Ability to respond positively to varied workload (E, I).
Commitment to continuous improvement (E, I).
Ability to set personal and professional goals and work towards achieving them (E, I).
Other requirements or special requirements
Alignment to the University’s core values of Passion, Integrity, Excellence and Support; all employees are expected to demonstrate our values at work (E, I).
Commitment to delivering positive outcomes for our students; we want our students to be successful (E, I).
You must be prepared to undertake mandatory online training should you be appointed including Data Protection, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, Prevent, and EDI (E, I).
Occasional business travel as required (such as to our LSA office in London, and the RICS office in Birmingham) (E, I).
PAY AND BENEFITS
Salary: Actual salary £27,644 per annum.
Holiday: 26 days paid holiday (rising to 28 with service) plus paid bank/public holidays plus up to five paid closure days (typically between Christmas and New Year); all per holiday year Full Time Equivalent. Our holiday year runs from 1 August to 31 July. We also have a holiday buy and sell scheme in place. Sometimes the University does not need to close for five days per year and any balance (for example one day), can be used as a paid Wellbeing Day to take time out for your own physical or mental health.
Pension and life assurance: Pensions auto-enrolment to the People’s Pension which is a default salary sacrifice scheme. You may opt out of salary sacrifice but remain in the scheme, or you may choose to opt out altogether.We provide life assurance (death in service) cover as standard to all employees.
Family-friendly policies:Policies in place for all types of family-friendly statutory leave with enhanced pay available from day one of employment for some leave types.Access to Tax-Free Childcare (Government scheme).
Wellbeing:Full access to the Employee Assistance Programme as well as the Thrive Mental Wellbeing app. Several employees are trained Mental Health First Aiders and can support staff. We have a wellbeing policy and we focus on five pillars of wellbeing.
Sustainable travel:Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.
Parking: We have locked sheds for bicycles. For cars, for Horizons based roles, we may in the future be able to offer parking on site however you must not assume this will be possible. Every now and then we may have a spare parking space become available and you can ask to join the waiting list. The University is keen wherever possible, to encourage staff to commute as sustainably as possible.
Other health related benefits: Employer-funded Health Cash Plan (Simplyhealth) and voluntary dental insurance (Unum).
Other valuable benefits:
* Charity giving options available including one voluntary paid day, per annum.
* You will have access to Microsoft Office 365 applications for personal use.
* You will have access to range of lifestyle discounts and everydaysavings.
* We offerlearning platforms including LinkedIn learning.
On the Join the team page of our website, you will find the full list of employee benefits.
APPLICATIONS - THINGS TO CONSIDER
For an informal discussion about the role please contact Emma Itta on 0118 467 2474 or email e.itta@ube.ac.uk. For any other enquiries please contact HR on 0118 467 2454 / 2433 or email recruitment@ube.ac.uk.
Did one of our employees recommend you? If you apply on the recommendation of an existing employee, please make sure to mention their name within your application.
We're passionate about sustainability and we have a five-year strategic plan: We expect job seekers to be curious about who we are and what we do. We point you towards a couple of resources about who we are and sustainability.
Closing date and next steps
We will receive applications until the advert closes on Monday 06 April 2026 at 17:00. We will not consider late applications. Our ATS does not screen applications, we humans do. Applications may be reviewed prior to the closing date and occasionally, you may be invited to interview ahead of the closing date.
Interview details
Dates for interview will be advised to you later in the process. We'll ask you to tell us about any dates you cannot make, up to 4 weeks from the closing date; this helps us to plan interviews should you be shortlisted, prior to contacting you.
Interviews are normally carried out over Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Depending on the job role and place of work, your interview may be at our Reading or London office. Please be prepared for a two-stage interview process, held on different dates. As part of the interview process, you will likely meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
Note for internal candidates
If you are an existing employee, we request you inform your current line manager of your intention to apply for this role.
As this is a fixed term role, if you were (in the future) to be offered and accept this role, it would mean relinquishing your contractual permanent employment status with the University. Following the expiry of the fixed term period, your employment with the University would cease, unless an alternative role is secured. If instead you would like to apply for this role on the basis of it being a secondment (i.e. not relinquishing your permanent status), please discuss this with your current line manager. Only your line manager can consider and agree to a secondment because this impacts the resourcing in your current team. Please contact HR if you or your line manager need to discuss this further.
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