Programme Assistant (Milton Keynes, ENG, GB, MK7 6AA)
Salary: £
Change your career, change lives
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About the Role
You will support the administration of the professional programmes within WELS providing administrative and organisational support to ensure the efficient day-to-day management of information, activity and events within the department. You will also support students through our complex admissions processes and allowing students to be registered onto the restricted programmes.
Please note there are 3 roles available.
Key Responsibilities
* Support the recruitment and selection and other programme-related activities of colleagues based across all nations;
* Liaise on behalf of department colleagues, with internal and external stakeholders, including senior contacts to progress the work of the department;
* Support maintenance and updating of external partner details using a range of different IT applications, including Microsoft Office products, university systems and the department’s student work-based learning database;
* Support the distribution of confidential reports to external stakeholders, and schedule reporting timetable, liaising with colleagues to ensure accuracy of content;
* Undertake any other duties reasonably required as within the nature of the duties and responsibilities of the role;
* Responsible for setting up meetings/events with internal and external stakeholders; prepare and distribute meeting papers.
About You
Essential:
* Excellent oral and written communication skills with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail and the ability to tailor communications depending on the audience.
* Proven computer literacy including the ability to use Microsoft packages (Word, Outlook, and Excel) proficiently.
* Excellent organisational skills, including experience of supporting meetings and events.
* Proven ability to manage competing deadlines and to prioritise work effectively, taking ownership of tasks and ensuring these are completed to schedule and agreed standards.
* Ability to work effectively both independently and co-operatively as part of a team, towards a common goal.
* Experience of dealing with sensitive information in a professional manner, demonstrating discretion and confidentiality.
Desirable:
* An understanding of the Higher Education sector.
* Experience of working in an environment where highly regulated external standards must be adhered to.
Support with your application
If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on or email quoting the advert reference number.
What's in it for you?
At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).
Flexible working
We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.
Working Location: It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes Office, it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be once per week, currently Tuesdays but this is subject to change. Frequency of on-site working may increase if business needs dictate. Full-time working based from our Milton Keynes site is also supported if this is preferred by the candidate. Expenses associated with travel to our Milton Keynes site are not reimbursable. Occasional wider UK travel may also be required - expenses for this travel will be reimbursed.
Next steps in the Recruitment process
Interviews are anticipated to take place week commencing 13th April. As part of the interview process, shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a pre-interview task. Details of this task will be shared with shortlisted candidates once advert has closed.
Early closing date notification
While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications has been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented. If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.
How to apply
To apply for this role please submit the following document(s):
* CV
* Supporting statement of up to 1000 words. You should set out in your statement why you are interested in the role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the essential criteria for this role as detailed above.
You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.