The Open University Business School

Information for Applicants

Assistant Alumni Manager

2 year fixed term contract

Contents

SectionPage

A: The Role 2

B:The Person Specification 4

C:How to Apply 5

D:The Organisation 7

ETerms and Conditions of Service 9

F:Benefits and Facilities10

Vacancy Id: 3432

February 2007

1

SECTION A:THE ROLE

1.Role Details

Job title:Assistant Alumni Manager

Reports to:Head of Alumni Relations

Salary:£26,666 - £31,840 per annum

Grade:Academic RelatedGrade 7

Duration of Post:Two year fixed term contract

Time allocation:Full time

Location:Milton Keynes

2.Summary of Role

The successful candidate will be a key member of the team contributing to all areas of the alumni activity. This is a varied role within a highly proactive alumni office which continually seeks opportunities to foster and nurture a mutually beneficial relationship between our graduates and the School.

3.Main Duties

To take a proactive role in managing and developing the systems side of alumni activities.

Specifically:

To manage and develop the alumni database which is fundamental to alumni relations activities. Analysing data, producing reports and making recommendations that will enhance membership activity and the targeted delivery of e/communications.

To develop the alumni web site and alumni conferences working with internal and external partners, to ensure the sites give timely and appropriate information to our alumni and other interested parties; facilitates networking and enhances and supports the School’s relationship with the alumni community.

To evaluate and make recommendations on the use of new media to enhance alumni communications and networking.

To develop new services and benefits for the alumni association which will generate income in partnership with internal and external providers. Monitor and evaluate existing services and benefits.

To direct and oversee the administrative support provided by the database and alumni assistant.

To manage and monitor the alumni budget in line with School processes and timetable.

To be responsible for providing an effective and timely response to all alumni online enquiries.

To contribute to and attend where necessary the alumni programme of international and regional events, advisory board and steering group meetings and degree ceremonies.

To contribute to the work of the alumni office as required.

4.The Team

The Alumni Association is funded and staffed by the OU Business School. The mission of the Alumni Association is:

to support an international network of OU BusinessSchool graduates as valued
members of the School in pursuit of professional development and lifelong learning.

The current alumni community is being enlarged to encompass everyone who has achieved a qualification with the School – trebling the size. The drivers for this are to increase recruitment by encouraging return to study, to recruit a greater pool of ambassadors, door openers to corporates, volunteers and prospective donors.

SECTION B:THE PERSON SPECIFICATION

Criteria / Essential / Desirable
Education and qualifications / i)Degree level or equivalent / i)Information Management qualification
ii)Marketing qualification
Knowledge, work and other relevant work experience / ii)Proven experience in alumni/membership/customer relations or related services
iii)Experience of the suite of Microsoft Office package
iv)Experience of database management systems
v)Experience of website management and conferencing
vi)Experience of managing budgets
vii)Experience of supervising staff
Skills & competencies / viii)Excellent communication skills and customer service manner
ix)Proven problem-solving skills
x)Proven Organisational skills
xi)Self-motivated
xii)Good team player
xiii)Ability to take responsibility and take initiative
xiv)Ability to work under pressure
xv)A willing, can-do attitude
xvi)Attention to detail
Additional requirements/Special circumstances / xvii)Be willing and able to travel within the UK and CE. The job will involve some evening work and the occasional Saturday or weekend with overnight stays.
xviii)Commitment to equal opportunities policies and practices.

SECTION C:HOW TO APPLY

Application procedure

a) / Complete the application form. The form has been designed to give the information needed at this initial stage and allows candidates to be considered in an even-handed way. See also the information in the sections Curriculum Vitae (CV) and References below.
b) / Covering letter: please include a covering letter indicating how you believe your knowledge, experience and skills meet the person specification.
Decisions about short listing will be based solely on the information you provide on your application form and in your covering letter.
c) / Curriculum Vitae (CV): Please enclose an up to date CV with your application for employment. Please remove any information from your CV that might give an indication of your race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation, as these details are irrelevant to your application.
d) / Send the documents electronically to;
.

References

Threereferees should be nominated, at least one of whom should be from your current or most recent employer. Please provide full contact details in the Referee section of the application form, stating any reservations you may have about our approaching them.

Internal applicants only

When completing the ‘Referees’ section of the application form, please ensure you specify your Head of Unit as your ‘current employer’, as s/he is responsible for providing this reference or nominating an appropriate alternative referee.

Please be advised that the employing Unit is responsible for requesting references from your referees.

Application Information

Eligibility: / The post is open to Internal and external applicants.
Closing date: / 12 noon on 8 March 2007
Pre-applications enquiries: / If you have any queries about the role and nature of the post prior to applying, please contact:
Christine Sargent telephone +44(0)1908 655806 or e-mail:
Shortlisting: / Shortlisting will be completed as soon as possible after the closing date.
Interviews: / Interviews will be held on 26 March 2007 at Milton Keynes, but please note that occasionally there may be a need for second interview. Candidates mayalso be asked to complete a short exercise.
We try to plan interviews to be as relaxed as possible whilst covering the questions and issues which the panel will have agreed beforehand are appropriate to the post.
Please note that candidates resident outside the United Kingdom will be reimbursed only from their port of entry into the UK or they may be offered an interview through a telephone conference.
Disabled applicants: / The Open University welcomes applications from disabled people, and information about disability is requested solely in order to make appropriate arrangements for an interview if necessary. Disabled applicants whose skills and experience meet the requirements of the job will be interviewed. A map and access guide for the disabled indicating routes to buildings, lift access and reserved parking on campus is available on request.
Eligibility to work in the UK: / Successful candidates will be required to provide evidence of their eligibility to work in the UK by producing verifiable documents. Details of what action must be taken will be sent to the successful candidate with the written offer of employment.
Recruitment procedures: / The appointment process reflects the University’s and the Business Schools’ commitment to Equal Opportunities and the need to ensure these principles are reflected in all aspects of the appointment procedure.

SECTION D:THE ORGANISATION

1.The OpenUniversityBusinessSchool

The OU Business School is one of Europe’s leading business schools and the major provider of management development programmes delivered by supported open learning. It is one of an elite group of UK and European business schools to hold the prestigious triple of:

• Accreditation from the US-based AACSB International;
• The EQUIS quality kite mark from the European Foundation for Management Development (efmd);
• Accreditation from the Association of MBAs (AMBA) for its MBA programme.
  

The OU Business School has 30,000 students in the UK and more than 40 countries. Since its inception in 1983, more than 150,000 managers have studied an OU Business School course at Certificate, Diploma or MBA level; of those, 15,000 have successfully completed their MBA and joined one of the three largest alumni associations for MBA graduates outside the United States. The School also offers a BA in Business Studies and is home of the Law Programme which in collaboration with the College of Law provides a suite of law courses leading to an Open University Qualifying Law Degree.

Research within the School combines intellectual rigour and innovation with practical relevance. Its academics have substantial experience working jointly with business organisations and directing their findings to influence management practice. There is an active PhD programme. Since first entering the RAE in 1996, the OU Business School has made a major increase in its capability in this area, with external awards from ESRC, EPSRC, Design Council, European Union, the private sector and internal sources. Dr Siv Vangen's research on collaboration has won two awards from the Academy of Management.

The School gained the Queens’ award for Services to Export Achievement in 1997 and has received a rating of excellent for teaching quality in the most recent HEFCE Teaching Quality Assessment.

For further information on the School, and on the University, please see the OUBS Website at

2.The Open University

The Open University transforms lives through education. It has become by far the largest university in the UK, now teaching well over 200,000 people every year. We have expanded our activities throughout Europe and our highly rated teaching materials are used by other institutions in many parts of the world. We are consistently achieving high rankings both in research and teaching quality assessments.

Teaching is through the provision of specially designed, high quality, materials encompassing traditional print texts, television, video, CD-ROM, internet and electronic conferencing together with first class personalised tuition, learning feedback and support.

As in traditional universities research plays a fundamental role in the work of the Open University, and all disciplines within the University are actively engaged in research. In the Research Assessment Exercise 2001, four out of our twenty-six research areas rated as internationally excellent and nearly all rated as excellent at a national level. Internationally renowned researchers include Mars expert Professor Colin Pillinger and Professor Doreen Massey, winner of the prestigious Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize.

As a world leader in blended learning and with extensive e-learning the University is committed to extending its e-learning provision of learning materials. Building on its quality and innovations of teaching, the University has recently been awarded leadership of four Centres for Excellence in

Teaching and Learning by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). This allows

staff and those with whom they collaborate to ensure that excellent practice in student support,

curriculum development and study methods are further developed and fully disseminated. E-learning is

a central aspect of 3 of these centres.

Students at the Open University are more impressed with the quality of their courses than those at any other university, based on the findings of the first National Student Survey produced by the Higher Education Funding Councils. The National Student Survey is part of the new Teaching Quality Information website – which brings together key sources of official information about the quality of UK higher education. Most students who were near the end of undergraduate courses were invited to take part in the survey. The results put the university at the top of a rankings table created by the Times Higher Education Supplement. A second THES table on specific subjects shows that the Open University students are more satisfied than those at any other university in ten subject areas of the 41 listed; no other university listed has achieved top ratings in as many subjects.

As a matter of policy, the University aims to be the model of best practice in terms of accessibility, in order to reflect the organisation’s spirit of “inclusion” and “openness”. The Open University welcomes applications from disabled people, and information about disability is requested solely in order to make appropriate arrangements for an interview if necessary.

SECTION E:TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

Equal opportunities: / The Open University aims to create the conditions whereby students and staff are treated solely on the basis of their merits, abilities and potential, regardless of gender, colour, ethnic or national origin, age, socio-economic background, disability, religious or political beliefs, family circumstances, sexual orientation or other irrelevant distinction. The University has an action plan to implement this policy.
Retirement: / The Open University operates a normal retirement age of 65. Applications can only be accepted from people up to the age of 64 years and 6 months at the date of their application. This is in line with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.
Family friendly policies: / Female staff are entitled to maternity/adoption leave for a period of 26 weeks, with full pay for the first 18 weeks, subject to minimum service conditions. Female staff have the right to return to work at any time within 52 weeks of the maternity leave start date, again subject to certain conditions. Male staff are entitled to a maximum of 10 days’ paid paternity leave in connection with their wife’s/partner’s confinement in any one leave year in addition to normal leave entitlement, again subject to certain conditions.
Pension schemes: / Staff have the option of contributing to a Final Salary pension scheme and the University contributes around 14% of salary. Full details will be sent with any offer of employment but any preliminary enquiries should be addressed to the Pensions Section, Human Resources Division 01908 652431 or 652957.
Medical examination: / University appointments are subject to confirmation by the University's Medical Adviser. A medical questionnaire is sent to all appointees. The University reserves the right to require a staff member in certain cases to submit to a medical examination by a registered medical practitioner acceptable to both the University and the member of staff concerned.
Holidays: / The annual leave entitlement is 30 days (for secretarial and clerical staff) or 33 days (for academic, academic-related and research staff) in the leave year 1 October to 30 September, in addition to all bank and other public holidays and an additional 3 days at Christmas when the University is closed. A staff member joining during the leave year will be entitled to leave in proportion to the period served.
Study leave: / Permanent central academic staff and those on contracts of 2 years or more are entitled study leave on full salary for research or other approved academic purposes for two months in each leave year. For regional academic staff the entitlement is to study leave on full salary for two months with each period of two years’ completed service.
Smoking policy: / Smoking is banned in all working areas and many of the recreational areas. Any questions about the policy should be raised at interview.
Location: / Appointees are normally expected to live within a reasonable travelling distance of their place of work.
Grants for removal expenses: / The University will make a grant for expenses necessarily incurred for removals and disturbance, within certain rules and subject to a maximum payment. Full details will be sent with any offer of employment. The removal grant does not apply on appointments of less than two years’ duration.
Changes of duties: / Offers of appointment to the University are subject to acceptance of the condition that the University reserves the right to make changes to the post holder’s duties and to require them to work in other areas of the University and to be subject to any special conditions applying in those areas in furtherance of the University's objectives. Further information on this point is included in the offer of appointment to the successful candidate.
SECTION F:BENEFITS AND FACILITIES

The following provides information about some staff benefits and facilities. Full details will be available on successful appointment.

Staff development: / We have a strong commitment to providing training and development in and beyond your current role. This includes thorough induction into the organisation and regular reviews of your training and development needs. The objective is that all staff should undertake at least five days’ development activity in each year – this may include attendance at formal courses or other learning e.g. use of self-study material. We invest substantial time and money in our staff development provisions and we waive fees for staff wishing to study our own courses.
Facilities: / Catering facilities at Walton Hall provide meals, snacks and drinks. Facilities in regional centres vary.
Open University Club (offering a number of club and society events, sports and social outlets).
Facilities located at the Walton Hall campus: / Occupational Health Department provides professional advice to individuals and managers on all work related health issues.
NatWest bank sub-branch.
Shop selling general provisions.
Local education facilities (posts based at Milton Keynes only): / Information on local schools can be obtained from the Learning and Development Directorate, Milton Keynes Borough Council on 01908 253489.
Nurseries (posts based at Milton Keynes only): / The Mulberry Bear Day Nursery and Pre-School is a purpose-built nursery on the Walton Hall campus. It is an independent charity supported by The Open University and managed by parents. OU staff applications are given priority and, whilst there are full- and part-time places available now, there may be a waiting list in some age groups. For further information, please telephone Milton Keynes 01908 653867, e-mail:
see their website at
There is also a Borough of Milton Keynes nursery at nearby Kingston where the OU has reserved places. There are a number of other nurseries in the Milton Keynes area.
Pre-school child care subsidy scheme: / The Open University has a means tested childcare subsidy scheme. Those eligible are provided with a Childcare Voucher that can be used as part payment for the care of children under 5 years of age. For further information about the scheme contact the Human Resources Division on 01908 655050.
For further information about the scheme and an application form please contact the Child Care Subsidy Administrator in the Human Resources Division.

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