Education Officer (Undergraduate)

Background

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) is the regulatory body for the veterinary and veterinary nursing professions in the UK. It sets, upholds and advances veterinary standards for the benefit of animal health and welfare, and public health.

One important aspect of our role is the accreditation of veterinary and veterinary nursing degrees, through the identification of day one competences, accreditation standards and the formal accreditation (review) event process. Every accreditation event comprises the need for effective administration and co-ordination across the different stages in the process, including the management of the repository of evidence from each school, co-ordination and presentation of evidence to team members and the organisation of a bespoke visitation which involves the coordination of large teams of experts over several days at Higher Education Institutions.

Job Summary

1. To provide administrative support to the education department in the co-ordination of all accreditation events, both in the UK and overseas.
2. To effectively monitor, populate and manage the repository of accreditation evidence for each school, ensuring the team is provided with clear, accessible evidence throughout each stage of the accreditation event.
3. To support committee secretaries within the undergraduate team in the administration of meetings.

Key responsibilities

1. To support the Lead for Undergraduate Education in the administration and management of the evidence within the repository for each school, including:

• Communications with school representatives to support their submissions of timely and correctly indexed evidence for accreditation events and annual monitoring
• Contributing to analysis and summary reporting as appropriate
• Managing RCVS systems for document storage (SecureDocs) across the education department

2. To support the Lead for Undergraduate Education in the administration and coordination of accreditation events, through effective and timely communication with all members of the accreditation panel, including but not limited to:

• Coordinating diaries and ensuring individual’s availability and conflicts of interest declarations
• Travel and hotel bookings for all visitation team members as required
• Liaison with the university and / or international accrediting organisation around timetables, scheduling and any other RCVS requirements
• Organising evidence consideration meetings with the panel in advance of a visitation, including setting the agenda, taking minutes and following up on any associated actions
• Coordination of any additional requests for evidence / information from the university
• Attendance on accreditation visits to provide administrative support to the Undergraduate team, as required

3. To support the Undergraduate team in effective planning and managing the schedule of accreditation events, to ensure communication with stakeholders takes place in line with our processes.

4. To monitor and ensure all accreditation panel and relevant committee members have completed the required online training.

5. To support the Lead for Undergraduate Education in ensuring visitors expense claims are submitted promptly and monitored effectively.

6. To coordinate the annual monitoring submissions from accredited programmes for consideration by the Primary Qualifications Subcommittee (PQSC) and to collate data to assist with committee reports as required.

7. To support the Secretary to the PQSC in the organisation and smooth running of meetings including scheduling, administrative support during meetings and onboarding of new committee members in the use of the RCVS systems.

8. To schedule meetings and take minutes as required, ensuring actions are followed up on.

9. Ensure actions required in relation to the process of accreditation events, as part of our internal quality improvement processes, are completed.

10. Maintain records of programmes directly accredited by the RCVS and assist the Registration Department in processing applications for membership coming from North American graduates.

11. Contribute to departmental team discussions on developing procedures and day-to-day operational issues.

12. Contribute to the work of the Education Department by undertaking other duties that may be required to support the team.

Person specification/skills

Essential experience and qualities:

1. Highly organised with proven ability to prioritise work to meet deadlines
2. Excellent planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple schedules on a longitudinal basis
3. An understanding of the types of evidence gathered by HEI’s which relate to quality
4. Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a range of individuals from different sources, maintaining professionalism at all times
5. Ability to work accurately and pay attention to detail
6. To effectively amend plans / schedules in order to meet changing requirements
7. Ability to schedule meetings effectively
8. Experience of working as part of a team and willingness to provide support to colleagues
9. Ability to manage own workload and work unsupervised
10. Competence in the use of a variety of IT systems, including databases

Desirable experience and skills:

1. Experience of working with committees, and taking formal notes
2. Project management skills
3. Adept with data handling
4. Familiarity with the veterinary / education sector
5. Willingness to learn