Senior Fellowships Officer (Chevening Secretariat)

jobs.theguardian.com

Excerpt:

The Chevening Secretariat seeks a professional and experienced Senior Fellowships Officer with knowledge of the UK Higher Education environment to manage its Fellowship team, with direct responsibility for the development and implementation of fellowship awards.

Chevening is the global scholarship programme of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Established in 1983, each year Chevening scholarships support Master's-level study at UK universities for about 1700 individuals, who come to the UK from most regions of the world. It brings established and emerging leaders to the UK for transformational educational experiences of up to one year. Now in its 34th year, the scheme continues to grow, extending to new territories and developing innovative models of engagement.

Fellowships are a smaller strand of the Chevening Programme, offering opportunities to mid-career leaders and influencers. Fellows are of significant standing in their home countries, having already completed some element(s) of tertiary education. Fellowships offer dynamic professional development opportunities for individuals to spend time engaging on a defined subject area relevant to their professional interests and the UK’s international strategic priorities.

Funded by the FCO as part of its Strategic Partnerships, Public Diplomacy and Soft Power activity, the Chevening programme is administered by the Chevening Secretariat and hosted by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU).

As the Senior Fellowships Officer you will be a key member of the Chevening Secretariat team, ensuring that the small and busy fellowships team provides an excellent standard of service to fellows, host universities and partners. You will work in close collaboration with the international team to manage the development of fellowship awards globally. Additionally, you will work closely with the Programme Manager – UK, Programme Manager – International, and Programme Policy Manager on continual policy and procedural development, with a view to improving services and the efficiency of their delivery.

As Senior Fellowships Officer you will also:

• Manage the development, operation and efficient administration of the Chevening Fellowship Programme
• Design and oversee the implementation of a comprehensive fellow engagement strategy
• Lead on communications and negotiations with external colleagues within the FCO Scholarship team, wider FCO and with Embassies and High Commissions around the world.  

To be successful some of the skills you will need to be able to demonstrate include:

• People and time management, including skills in delegation, team development and monitoring performance
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including writing for and understanding of different audiences and sensitivity for different cultural contexts
• Exceptional organisational skills and acute attention to detail
• Experience of working in the Higher Education environment, public sector and programme development.

Benefits include 27 days holiday per year plus 4 discretionary days, competitive pension scheme, season ticket loan, childcare vouchers and excellent support for learning and development.

As Senior Fellowships Officer you will be employed by ACU Trading Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary.

Please see www.chevening.org for further information about the scholarships programme.

For further information and details of how to apply, visit our website. 

Closing date:                     10 October 2017

Interview date:                  18 October 2017

Start date:                          As soon as possible