Academic Programme Manager

Gresham College is a charity which provides high-quality free education to the public across a broad range of subjects. The College aims to stimulate a love of learning and intellectual curiosity and to champion academic rigour, professional expertise and freedom of expression.

Gresham College has been providing free lectures within the City of London since 1597. Lectures are attended by an in-person audience and live-streamed around the world. We have currently had over 50 million online views. To watch please visit our website www.gresham.ac.uk or look on YouTube.

The College is now in the final year of an exciting five-year plan which has the primary aim of increasing and broadening the audience which the College reaches.  The funding for the following five years has been agreed by the College’s historic sponsors and provides a firm base from which to deliver an ambitious and exciting programme. The future College strategy sees us continuing to evolve our work in growing audiences in both numbers and diversity, while taking advantage of opportunities to develop income streams to stretch our ambition further. 

The current academic programme consists of 100 lectures for the general public as well as lectures delivered to young people in schools and a growing oracy competition for young people.   Currently sixty public lectures are given by our 10 Professors; forty are curated annually; and between ten and twenty are delivered to young people in schools.  Working at Gresham College is hugely rewarding in terms of the breadth and range of subjects covered and the knowledge and intellectual reputations of our speakers.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Purpose : To shape and deliver the College’s programme of lectures, talks and videos in collaboration with the Provost.

To be responsible for the day-to-day running and administration of the current and future Academic Programmes.

Reports to : The Provost

Salary : £50,000-£55,000

Contract type
Full time permanent appointment (5 days per week), minimum 3 days per week on site, expectation of regular work at evening lectures, for which time in lieu is allowed.

Benefits
28 days holiday, plus 6 days closure over Christmas. The College participates in the University of London SAUL pension scheme (currently 16% employers’ contribution).

RESPONSIBILITIES  

Academic Programme Delivery

• Oversee the delivery of the current year’s academic programme of the College, liaising with, and advising Professors and lecturers on their presentations
• Attending a significant proportion of College lectures (in total there are 100 general audience and up to 20 schools lectures per year).
• Leading on the logistics and the standard operating procedures for academic events, including arrangements for staffing, venue, introductions and security.
• Administering the Professors’ Survey and reporting on its results.
• Working with the Head of Fundraising and Engagement to report annually on sponsored Professorships.
• Providing statistics to support the operation of the programme, including to the Academic Board and for the Provost’s annual meetings with Professors.

Academic Programme Planning

• Work closely with the Provost in conducting research into potential speakers and topics, and work with other team members in the commissioning, evaluation, and acceptance/ rejection of lecture proposals.
• Supervision of the Academic Programme Team (currently 3 staff), including the Academic Programme Administrators and Schools Outreach Officer.
• Overseeing the composition of the academic programme for the upcoming year, working with the Academic Programme Team on detailed scheduling, in consultation with the Provost, Professors, and Academic Board on content.
• Working with the College’s Communications Team in producing the draft printed programmes.
• Organising recruitment for new Professorial appointments annually.

Other responsibilities

• Conducting research for the Executive Director/Provost as required, producing reports.
• Assisting the Executive Director with KPI monitoring, especially the production of reporting materials for Council and the sponsors -- this includes the Annual Monitoring Report.
• Annually updating documents such as the Gresham Professors’ Handbook, letters of agreement and guidance for speakers.
• Briefing the Provost before meetings of Academic Board and other committees.
• Engaging with external stakeholders, including the college sponsors
• Play an active role on the College Management team, assisting on formulation of strategy and the operation of the College as a whole.
• Performing such other duties as the Executive Director and Provost shall from time to time reasonably require.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate the following:

• Excellent organisational and time management skills and ability to work on multiple concurrent projects with competing deadlines.
• Excellent oral and written communications skills, with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Holder of a university degree, preferably a higher degree or equivalent experience.
• Experienced in academic or cognate administration.
• Experience of direct line management, supervising or leading a team.
• Excellent IT skills.
• Experienced in delivery of public events and interaction with members of the public (desirable).
• Intellectually curious and interested in a variety of disciplines.
• Willing and able to work flexible and unsocial hours.

Equal Opportunities

Gresham College wholeheartedly supports the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion throughout the recruitment and employment of our employees and workers, as well as ensuring that it is afforded to all job applicants.