Administrative Assistant (Academic Programme Support)

CERT The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research & Training; Sharjah; On-site; AED 78,000 - 112,000; Full time

Job summary

CERT The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research & Training in the United Arab Emirates seeks an Administrative Assistant to maintain the academic programme records, trackers and meeting documentation, enabling the Qualification Developer, Internal Verifier and assessors to focus on design, assessment and verification.

The role is hands-on: daily data entry into learner and assessment trackers, building and maintaining Excel workbooks, and writing and circulating minutes for programme,

Qualifications

• Diploma or bachelor's degree in business administration, office management or related field.
• 2+ years in an administrative, data entry or coordination role; minute-taking for formal meetings.
• Professional written and spoken English; Arabic for correspondence and minutes with the client academy.

Responsibilities

• Data entry and records: enter/update learner registrations, attendance, assessment results and verification outcomes within one working day.
• Build and maintain trackers: learner progress by unit, assessor sampling plan, verification action log, CPD register, meeting action register.
• Prepare minutes: decisions, actions, owners and due dates; issue draft within one working day and approved version within five.
• Attend programme meetings, standardisation meetings, client review meetings and vendor coordination calls.
• Draft routine correspondence, notifications and templates for the Qualification Developer and Internal Verifier.

Skills

Data entry

Record keeping

Minute taking

Documentation

Administration

Education

Bachelor's or Diploma in business administration/office management

Secretarial or executive assistant studies

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Position summary:

The Administrative Assistant keeps the academic programme's records, trackers and meeting documentation accurate and up to date, so the Qualification Developer, Internal Verifier and assessors can focus on design, assessment and verification.

Department: Academic Quality Assurance

Supports: Qualification Developer, Internal Verifier, Technical Project Coordinator, subject matter experts (SMEs) appointed by the Qualification Developer, assessors and trainers

Location: United Arab Emirates, preferably based in Dubai or Sharjah

The role is hands-on: daily data entry into learner and assessment trackers, building and maintaining Excel workbooks, and writing and circulating minutes for programme, standardization and client meetings.

Key responsibilities

Data entry and records

• Enter and update learner registrations, attendance, assessment results and verification outcomes in the learner tracking system and Excel trackers within one working day of receipt.
• Check entries against source documents (registers, marked assessments, verification reports) and flag missing, duplicate or inconsistent records.
• File assessment and verification documents (digital and hard copy) using the programme's naming and folder structure so they are audit-ready for NQC/SQC visits.
• Maintain the document control log: version numbers, issue dates and sign-offs for unit specifications, assessment instruments and policies.

Microsoft Excel

• Build and maintain trackers: learner progress by unit, assessor sampling plan, verification action log, CPD register, meeting action register.
• Use lookups, pivot tables, data validation and conditional formatting to keep trackers consistent and easy to read.
• Prepare weekly and monthly summary tables and simple charts for the Programme Director's reports.
• Clean and reconcile data received from assessors, the client academy and the vendor before it is entered.

Minutes of meetings

• Attend programme meetings, standardisation meetings, client review meetings and vendor coordination calls.
• Prepare the agenda pack with the meeting chair, circulate it at least one working day before the meeting.
• Take accurate minutes: decisions, actions, owners and due dates; issue the draft within one working day and the approved version within five.
• Maintain the action register and chase owners before due dates; report open and overdue actions at the next meeting.

General administrative support

• Schedule meetings, assessment sessions and verification visits; book rooms, labs and equipment.
• Draft routine correspondence, notifications and templates for the Qualification Developer and Internal Verifier.
• Support onboarding paperwork for new assessors and trainers.
• Handle confidential learner and staff information in line with the programme's data protection policy.

Working with subject matter experts (SMEs)

• Maintain the SME register (name, specialism, units assigned, contract dates, contact details) for the SMEs selected by the Qualification Developer.
• Schedule SME review sessions and workshops, circulate the documents to be reviewed in advance and collect signed review forms.
• Record and track SME comments and sign-offs in the document control log, and chase outstanding reviews before the Qualification Developer's deadlines.
• Take minutes of SME review meetings and prepare SME timesheets or attendance records for approval and payment processing.

Qualifications, experience and competencies:

Education:

1. Diploma or bachelor's degree in business administration, office management or a related field-Essential
2. Certificate in secretarial or executive assistant studies - Desirable

Microsoft Word:

1. Confident with styles and headings, tables, templates, track changes and comments, numbering and consistent formatting of minutes and formal documents-Essential
2. Building document templates; mail merge-Desirable

Microsoft Excel:

1. Confident with formulas (SUM, IF, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, COUNTIFS), pivot tables, data validation, conditional formatting and charts-Essentail
2. Microsoft Office Specialist (Excel) certification; Power Query or basic macros-Desirable

Experience:

1. 2+ years in an administrative, data entry or coordination role; proven minute-taking for formal meetings-Essential
2. Experience in a training institute, academy or accredited education provider; exposure to NQC/SQC or similar regulator records-Desirable

Language:

1. Professional written and spoken English; Arabic for correspondence and minutes with the client academy - Essential
2. Bilingual Arabic/English-Desirable

Other:

1. Eligible to work in the UAE; typing speed of 50+ wpm with high accuracy-Essential
2. Familiarity with learner management or e-portfolio systems; experience using AI tools (e.g. for drafting minutes, summarizing documents and cleaning data)-Desirable

Competencies

• Accuracy: enters and checks data with near-zero errors and spots inconsistencies before they reach reports.
• Written clarity: produces minutes that a person who missed the meeting can act on.
• Organization: manages multiple trackers, calendars and deadlines without losing track of actions.
• Confidentiality: handles learner results and personal data discreetly.
• Proactive follow-up: chases action owners and missing documents without being asked.
• Team support: adapts quickly to what the Qualification Developer and Internal Verifier need each week.

Working relationships and performance measures:

1. Qualification Developer: Document control for units and assessment instruments; formatting and version tracking
2. Subject matter experts (SMEs) appointed by the Qualification Developer: SME register, review scheduling, collecting sign-offs, minutes of review meetings, attendance and timesheet records
3. Internal Verifier: Sampling plan and verification action log upkeep; audit file preparation
4. Technical Project Coordinator: Coordinating academic and technical schedules, vendor meeting minutes, shared trackers and data exchange with the technical workstream
5. Assessors and trainers: Collecting results, registers and evidence; scheduling sessions
6. Head of Academic Quality Assurance / Programme Director: Weekly tracker summaries, meeting minutes, action follow-up
7. Client academy administration and vendor coordinators: Meeting logistics, data exchange, minutes distribution

Key performance indicators

• Learner and assessment data entered within 1 working day of receipt, with an error rate below 1% on monthly spot checks.
• Draft minutes issued within 1 working day of every meeting; approved minutes within 5.
• Action register updated weekly, with overdue actions reported to the chair.
• Trackers and audit files complete and accessible at least 2 weeks before each external verification visit.

Meeting packs circulated at least 1 working day in advance for 100% o