PGR Administrator

Heriot-Watt University; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days annual leave

9 buildings closed days

Job summary

Heriot-Watt University invites applications for a PGR Administrator. The role involves handling enquiries, processing admissions, updating student records, and supporting seminars across Edinburgh and Dubai campuses. Strong IT skills and excellent customer service are essential.

Fixed-term, full-time (35 hours/week) for 13 months, with 28 days annual leave plus nine closed days. Salary Grade 4 ranges £24,546–£26,707 per annum, with benefits calculated via the university calculator.

Qualifications

• Literacy and numeracy skills at SCQF Level 5 or equivalent.
• Experience in a similar administrative environment.
• Competent with relevant IT packages and software.

Responsibilities

• Provide high quality service to current and prospective doctoral students.
• Process admissions and scholarship documents.
• Monitor and update student records and attendance.
• Organise seminars across campuses (Edinburgh and Dubai).
• Provide committee support, including minute taking.
• Liaise with colleagues to ensure efficient administration.

Skills

Literacy and numeracy

Interpersonal skills

Oral and written communication

Customer service

Attention to detail

Independent working

Team collaboration

Education

SCQF Level 5 or equivalent

Experience in similar environment

Tools

Virtual Learning Environments

Databases

IT packages

Job description

Role Title: PGR Administrator

Grade and Salary: Grade 4, £24,546 - £26,707 per annum

FTE and working pattern: Full-time (35hrs per week) Fixed Term (13 Months)

Reward and Benefits : 28 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days for all full time staff. Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

About our Team

The School consists of the Department of Psychology, Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies, Department of Research Methods and Practice and Edinburgh Business School, and delivers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate taught and research degrees across all of the University’s global campuses, as well as through a range of high quality distance learning programmes. The PGR team oversees all aspects of the PhD and DBA programmes in the School, including a pre-doctoral Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods. The team also has responsibility for oversight of a range of additional research methods courses at UG and PGT level.

Purpose of Role

To assist with administrative tasks associated with running the doctoral programmes, including dealing with enquiries, taking minutes, and operating established administrative processes associated with tasks such as processing applications and monitoring student progress. Our administrative assistant needs to be flexible and versatile picking up tasks and helping with projects from across the team.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Reporting to the School PGR Manager, the role holder will:

• Provide a high quality service to current and prospective doctoral students, including timely response to enquiries: in person, by phone and monitoring of shared mailboxes, escalating complex queries as required.
• Process admission applications; this includes, document verification and following up with requested documents before making recommendations based on admissions procedures, collating application documents for the scholarship panels, arrange interviews and issue decisions from the Admission/Scholarship Panel.
• Monitor and update student records. In particular this includes supporting the student attendance monitoring process, coordinating suspension applications, ensuring that all procedures are properly and accurately followed and escalating as required.
• Assist in organising seminars both online and at the Edinburgh and Dubai campuses.
• Committee support for PGR meetings, ensuring accuracy and efficiency in routine administrative duties (e.g. minute taking).
• Liaise with academic and professional services colleagues in the doctoral team, the wider School and University as necessary to ensure efficient performance of administrative tasks.

Person Specification

These are the criteria on which the short-listing and recruitment selection will be made.

Essential

• Literacy and numeracy skills equivalent to SCQF Level 5 or similar (see link (https://intranet.hw.ac.uk/ps/hrd/recruitment/Documents/Simple%20Comparison%20of%20Education%20Qualifications%20in%20the%20UK.pdf) for details) or equivalent experience
• Experience of working within a similar environment as outlined above
• Competent in the use of relevant IT packages
• Well-developed interpersonal, oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrable professional and proactive approach
• Demonstrable ability to work quickly, flexibly and accurately in a dynamic, changing and pressured environment
• Demonstrable provision of excellent customer service
• Attention to detail
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Desirable

• Educated to SCQF Level 6 or equivalent qualification
• Experience with databases and platforms, including Virtual Learning Environments.
• Knowledge of the postgraduate research student lifecycle

About Heriot-Watt University

At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.