professional services careers in higher education

1. The UK’s European university
What’s it like working in Higher
Education Professional Services
Melissa Bradley and Linda Lough

2. Welcome and Introductions
• Melissa Bradley, Faculty Administration
Manager, University of Kent
(m.v.bradley@kent.ac.uk)
 I have worked at the University of Chester
and University of Reading.
• Linda Lough, Faculty Administration Manager,
University of Kent (l.m.lough@kent.ac.uk)
 I have worked at Cardiff Metropolitan
University and University for the Creative
Arts
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

3. Outline of the presentation
• Setting the context
• Career paths/progression
• Professional bodies
• Case studies
• Key skills
• Rewards, challenges and opportunities
• Further reading
• Questions?
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

4. Did you know?
In 2012-2013:
• 196, 935 staff worked in professional services
in Higher Education and, of these:
• 90,000 of these were in managerial,
professional and technical roles
This compares to 185, 585 academic staff and
412,000 staff working in the civil service in the
same period
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

5. Did you know?
Administration in Higher
Education supports:
 Teaching
 Research
 Governance, business and
service functions
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

6. What’s the organisational culture like?
• Intellectual, creative and vibrant working
environment
• Complex and large scale organisations
• Broad scope from academic subjects to a
diversity of services
• “ambiguous or ‘fuzzy’ goals that are hard to
define
• “Highly labour-intensive work with abstract
outputs (e.g. knowledge, graduates)”
• “a professionally argumentative nature”
Managing Your Career in Higher Education Administration” Michelle Gander, Heather Moyes and Emma Sabzalieva, p.17

7. What roles are there?
Wide range of HE specific roles:
• Academic Administration
• Student Support
• Research Management
• Recruitment and Admissions
• International Development
• Registry
• Policy and Planning
• Governance
• Quality Assurance and
Enhancement
Business roles that exist in
other sectors:
• Commercial Services
• Communications
• Facilities Management
• Finance
• Human Resources
• Health and Safety
• Information Services
• Library
• Marketing
• Space Planning
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

8. What are the career pathways?
AUA CPD Framework: http://www.aua.ac.uk/LGM/careerpathwaysfinal.pdf
See also Whitchurch, C. (2008). Professional Managers in UK Higher Education: Preparing for Complex Futures
Final Report. Research and Development Series. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education

9. Wide range of professional bodies and
networks: nationally and internationally
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

10. Case Studies
Daniel Lee, Kent
Graduate
working in the
Kent Law School
Kasia Senyszyn,
Kent Graduate
Working in
Development
Office
Photo used with permission by Matthew Andrews, Academic Registrar, Oxford Brookes and Vice-Chair of the AUA

11. What are the key skills for working in Higher
Education?
AUA’s CPD Framework: http://cpdframework.aua.ac.uk/

12. What are the rewards, challenges and
opportunities?
• Fosters continuous learning, professional and
career development
• Opportunities
• Wider array of professional networks
• Work in Universities follows the academic year
model although many functional areas have
their own work structures within this such as:
• The financial year
• Applicant admission cycle
• Reporting to government agencies
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

13. Qualifications in Higher Education Management
• Number of universities offer postgraduate
programmes in higher education management:
Liverpool, Bath, Institute of Education (London)
• AUA Postgraduate Certificate in Professional
Practice
• Kent offers PG Cert/Dip/MA/MSc in
Professional Practice and PG Dip/MA in Higher
Education
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

14. Graduate Programme
• Graduate Programme for University Leadership
• Ambitious Futures:
http://www.ambitiousfutures.co.uk/index.html
• Launched in 2011 by the Association of
University Heads of Administration
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

15. Further Reading
• http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/
resources/ebooks-and-toolkits/career-development-
toolkit-for-higher-education-professionals/
• “Managing Your Career in Higher Education
Administration” Michelle Gander,
Heather Moyes and Emma Sabzalieva
• http://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/job-descriptions/
279775-higher-education-administrator-
job-description
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

16. Questions?
What’s it like Working in Higher Education

17. Higher Education
Administration: a career
that matters

18. THE UK’S
EUROPEAN
UNIVERSITY
www.kent.ac.uk