Student Policy & Regulations Manager
Join to apply for the Student Policy & Regulations Manager role at Team Derby.
About The University
We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground‑breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better. The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region. We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes. Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.
About The College/Department
The Registry supports all aspects of the student journey, right from initial enquiry and application, all the way through to final award and student completion. We strive to provide an outstanding service to all our users and to be thought leaders in our fields of expertise, developing research‑informed practice. Registry teams work collaboratively with stakeholders to deliver a high‑performance culture that promotes wellbeing, diversity and opportunity for all, supporting excellent student experience.
About The Role
Are you ready to lead a strategic function at the heart of academic governance and student experience? We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Student Policy & Regulations Manager to join our Registry team. This pivotal role will oversee the development, implementation, and review of the University’s Academic Regulations and Student Policies, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities and external regulatory requirements. You will lead the Student Policy and Regulations team, providing expert guidance on complex student cases including complaints, academic appeals and conduct matters. You’ll also play a key role in shaping policy, supporting early resolution, and ensuring high‑quality processes that enhance student outcomes and institutional compliance. Collaborating with colleagues across the University will be key to delivering high‑quality services and ensuring regulatory compliance. The Student Policy and Regulations team is a forward‑thinking, supportive group committed to continuous improvement and sector‑wide best practice. You’ll work closely with internal stakeholders and external bodies such as the Office for Students, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator to ensure our policies are robust, fair, and student‑focused. This is a leadership role with significant influence across the University, contributing to strategic planning, risk management and continuous improvement in student policy and regulatory practice. This position is offered on a fixed‑term basis to cover a period of maternity leave, with the contract due to end in late January 2027. There may be the potential for the contract to be extended beyond this date; however this cannot be guaranteed.
About You
You will be a forward‑thinking professional with a postgraduate qualification or equivalent professional experience and have a proven track record of leadership within higher education. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and use tools such as Excel, Power BI or Tableau to inform decision‑making. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are essential, along with the confidence to provide expert advice to senior leaders and manage complex student cases within regulatory frameworks. You will bring a strategic mindset, capable of translating policy into effective practice, and a strong commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion and upholding the University’s values.
Principal Accountabilities
* Act as principal advisor to, and be a member of, the University’s Regulatory Framework Committee in its oversight of the University’s Academic Regulations, Rights and Responsibilities for students on taught programmes, drawing on good practice, regulatory and legislative requirements across the sector.
* Lead on appropriate arrangements are made for the development, approval, publication, implementation and review of the regulations and associated student policies. This will include liaison with internal regulation/procedure/policy owners, relevant committees and the wider University community.
* Act as an internal adjudicator/critical friend, advising those involved internally in complaints, academic appeals, student disciplinary, professional conduct and professional suitability, academic offences and other similar processes.
* Advise members of the Executive/PVC‑Deans on strategic management of complex cases.
* Lead the Student Policy and Regulations team, ensuring that all services supported by the team are delivered on time, accurate, effective and professional, through staff development and effective utilisation of resource. Lead changing priorities and situations.
* Lead in the development of process, procedure and practice relevant to the area and ensure that administrative processes and systems are developed and maintained to support the operation of the area, including monitoring service improvements and regulatory amendments, to inform an evidence based approach to handling student cases.
* Work closely with stakeholder groups to ensure expectations are effectively managed, that communication is timely and effective, and to build and maintain excellent relationships within the Registry, wider University and with third parties/other Higher Education (HE) providers to facilitate excellent service delivery.
* Be responsible for the preparation and coordination of student cases subject to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for HE (OIA), and act as the main point of contact for communication with the OIA over specific cases in general.
* Ensure that the University’s informal and formal procedures are in line with sector‑wide good practice and legislative changes in the area of student complaints, conduct, academic appeals, disciplinary cases and academic offences. This will be through participation in national groups and engagement with OIA, The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and other relevant bodies, through leading the University’s response to relevant national consultations, and will involve the dissemination of information to interested parties including other Registry teams and Colleges.
* Assist the University in learning from complaints/academic appeals/student disciplinary/professional conduct and professional suitability/academic offences situations to inform practice going forward and bring forward that learning should similar issues arise. This will be achieved through the provision of management information to key committees and management groups as well as flagging individual issues as they arise.
* Monitor and measure the impact that Registry’s services have for those using them and consider these against the intended outcomes. Use this information in the setting of service standards and providing continuous development of the team and service.
* Adopt University management information systems to the advantage of the service and seek electronic business solutions where appropriate, employing a range of IT skills to manage, progress workload efficiently and provide meaningful information on team activities including annual reporting.
* Act as a senior leader within the Registry, contributing to strategic planning, resource allocation and institutional decision‑making.
* Act as a Registry Data Steward.
* Promote equality and diversity for students and staff and sustain an inclusive and supportive study and work environment in accordance with University policy.
* Work with the Registry College‑facing teams to develop a community of practice in effective regulation and management of appeals, complaints and conduct cases across the University, including identifying organisational learning; sharing good practice; and developing and providing training for all relevant staff.
* Lead on the provision of management information to key committees, management groups and staff, including reports and progress against performance indicators for student appeals, complaints, conduct and disciplinary cases and academic offences.
* Lead the governance and oversight of the regulatory Assessment and Award related policies and processes, including advice and guidance on regulatory issues and queries, Assessment Board and examinations governance.
Person Specification – Essential Criteria
* Qualifications
Postgraduate qualification or comparable knowledge gained through professional experience.
Evidence of continuous professional development.
* Experience
Experience within a Higher Education provider.
Experience of leading and performance managing a team.
Experience of successfully delivering process change and improvement within a Higher Education environment.
Demonstrable experience of development of academic regulations and/or student policy.
Experience of complex case management in Higher Education.
Flexible, responsive and business oriented approach, with experience of regular problem solving and ability to prioritise.
* Skills, Knowledge & Abilities
Strong understanding of regulatory frameworks and the external environment (e.g. OIA, OFS) and the application of them.
Understanding of Higher Education casework.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (both verbal and non‑verbal).
Proven analytical and data interpretation capability.
Excellent report writing and numeracy skills.
Excellent organisational skills, and effective time and workload management.
Capacity to think strategically and to engage in detailed operational planning across university and college boundaries.
Analysis and presentation of management information for decision making using software tools (e.g. Tableau, Excel, PowerBI).
Comfortable providing support and challenge to senior leaders through the provision of evidence‑based insights.
Evidenced ability to manage high volume, competing demands, delivering value‑added improvements whilst maintaining service standards.
Ability to adopt a pragmatic and risk‑based approach to practice, reflecting the commercial approach of the organisation.
Commercial outlook.
Able to develop specific actions and plans from strategic aspirations and business priorities.
Well‑developed people management skills.
Strong customer focus.
Ability to influence and negotiate.
* Business Requirements
A commitment to live and promote the University values and behaviours.
Ability to work outside of normal working hours at times as relevant to achieving targets and meeting the needs of the College (including some evenings and weekends), and to support the business during key University events, such as Graduation, Clearing and Open Days and at key student admissions points.
Willingness and flexibility to travel and work between University sites in a cost effective and timely manner, particularly at locations where College activity is delivered.
Benefits
* Generous annual leave entitlement of 42 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
* Local Government Pension Scheme
* Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family‑friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
* Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers
* Discounted onsite gym
* Access to employer‑funded Private Health Insurance
* Holiday purchase
* Cycle to Work scheme
* A flexible working environment
* A commitment to personal and professional development
Key Contact
For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Joanne Cooke, Director of Student and Academic Services via j.cooke@derby.ac.uk.
For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk.
Important Information
* Visa Sponsorship Eligibility
The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers under the Skilled Worker route for this role; however, applications are welcome from candidates who are able to demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.
* Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
The University of Derby is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, regardless of age, disability, trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex and sexual orientation.
* Disability Confident Employer
The University of Derby is a Disability Confident Employer, demonstrating our commitment to disability inclusion, and invites applicants to highlight adjustments they may require to ensure equitable participation in our recruitment processes.
* Trans and Non‑Binary Inclusivity
We are committed to ensuring an environment which is trans and non‑binary‑inclusive for all our staff, students, partners and visitors, and continuously review our policies, guidance and training.
* Preferred Title and Pronouns
When applying to join the University, you can choose your preferred title, including the gender‑neutral title “Mx”. We also ask our candidates if they would like to share their preferred pronouns. This is voluntary but demonstrates our commitment to inclusivity for trans and non‑binary candidates. Once employed, you can add pronouns and preferred names onto our system.
* Anonymous Shortlisting
The University of Derby undertakes anonymised shortlisting during the staff recruitment process. This means that, when shortlisting, panel members will not be able to see an applicant’s name and will see an applicant number instead. This demonstrates the practical steps we are taking to remove barriers to recruitment by minimising the possible impact of our unconscious bias.
* Celebrating Diversity
However you identify, we actively celebrate the knowledge, experience and talents each person brings. Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds; therefore we are particularly interested to hear from applicants who will help our leaders and teams be more reflective of our student population.
* Environmental Sustainability
At the University of Derby, we are passionate about embedding sustainability into everything that we do. We aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research and operational activities. In line with the University’s strategic framework, we expect all our staff to embed sustainability into their working practices and support the University’s objective to reach net zero carbon by 2050.
Seniority Level
Mid‑Senior level.
Employment Type
Full‑time.
Job Function
Other.
#J-18808-Ljbffr