Contact Us

Jobs

News

St. Clare's Home

Job Description
Please see Notes for Job Applicants for general background information on St. Clare's.

Background to the post of Director of Short Courses
This post is to oversee the range of short courses for students taking place at the College's Banbury Road campus, and off-site. Specifically, these are currently summer courses as follows:

General English courses for young juniors (aged 10-13) and juniors (aged 13-16)

And a range of courses for young adults aged 16 - 19, including

General English
Intensive English
English plus Shakespeare
English for Academic Purposes

(There is, in addition, a programme of summer courses for adults taking place at our Bardwell Road Centre. Responsibility for these lies elsewhere, although coordination is required in the planning and operation of these courses with other summer courses).

A programme of International Baccalaureate Diploma-related summer workshops and courses also operates at the Banbury Road campus, under the auspices of our IB Institute. This has a separate director, responsible for the academic programme of these courses. The Director of Short Courses takes operational responsibility for all the short summer courses in relation to common areas such as activities, residential arrangements, arrivals and departures.

A small programme of closed group courses is also held in Oxford and, on occasions, in Cambridge, at various times during the year. Some of these are regular fixtures and others are arranged as single events. The Director of Short Courses would have responsibility for the procuring and organisation of such courses.

Other courses take place in Britain and elsewhere as part of St. Clare's Language through Learning TM project. This aims to improve the language awareness and skills of teachers of subjects other than English, who teach students who are not native English speakers. Courses have been arranged in Switzerland, Turkey, Peru, El Salvador and Ghana. It is likely that oversight of these courses will also come under the Director of Short Courses.

Short courses for which the Director of Short Courses would have overall responsibility have enrolled around 800 students over the past year, with over 750 students aged 10-19 (equivalent to c 2500 student weeks) taking summer courses at the two sites.

We wish to consolidate our existing courses, and to review course offerings to reflect changes in the market. There are also times during the summer when we have some spare capacity which could be taken up. We are interested in ensuring that our programme of short courses fulfils St. Clare's mission as fully as other courses - although differently. We would wish to continue the review and revision of courses to promote more effectively the development of global citizenship and intercultural communication.

The Director of Short Courses will

• Have overall responsibility for design, admission/registration and operation of scheduled English language courses for summer courses for juniors and young adults
• Be responsible for securing and arranging closed group courses in English language and in other areas, as appropriate, during the summer or at other times of the year, in Oxford or elsewhere
• Direct summer courses on the Banbury Road campus throughout the summer, and oversee, thorough their director, the courses for juniors and young juniors at another site

This will be a demanding and challenging post. There will be plenty of scope for use of initiative and an entrepreneurial bent will be beneficial. There are ample opportunities for post and career development.

Working relationships
The Director of Short Courses will report to the Principal.

Liaison will also be necessary with other colleagues (e.g. Deputy Principal, Vice Principal, Bursar, Marketing staff, the Director of adult English Language courses) as appropriate.

The Director of Short Courses directs a small office, with one full-time assistant, plus seasonal staff. A seasonal sales and registration team is overseen by the Sales and Promotions Manager, with whom close liaison is necessary, and who operates under procedures devised by the Director of Short Courses.

Duties and responsibilities

• To coordinate and oversee short courses
  • at the College site during the academic year and summer and vacations
  • at other sites in Oxford or elsewhere
• To act as programme director for all summer courses at the College site
• To direct other courses in Oxford or elsewhere as agreed and arranged with the Principal
• To prepare fully costed proposals for additional short courses in response to requests and referrals
• To prepare and operate agreed budgets for the short courses division
• To assist in expansion of short courses and generation of additional short course revenue by other means, including contributing to the formulation and development of new short course offerings
• To review existing short courses and make proposals for development and change as necessary
• To produce reports at intervals for committees and Governors
• To contribute to strategic thinking for the development of the organisation
• To undertake other duties as assigned by the Principal

Course direction will include:

• planning course content (in conjunction with others)
• recruitment and selection of short course staff (partly delegated)
• assisting with student recruitment (as appropriate)
• preparing and implementing budgets
• managing all aspects of course operations, as necessary - academic, pastoral, social, residential (see below)
• ensuring published programmes are delivered effectively
• involvement in all aspects of marketing of short courses
• maintaining quality control
• overseeing staff and student welfare
• liaising with group leaders and representatives of overseas agents
• liaising with College staff as appropriate for College-based courses.

(For courses held at the College, liaison will be necessary with the Student Services Officer (who arranges residential accommodation), bursary and catering staff, and others concerned with operations all year round.

For the programme of summer courses in Oxford, a course director takes charge of day-to-day matters for the junior courses on their own site. On the main College site a Director of Studies oversees day-to-day academic matters, and an Activities Director organises the social programme. A Dean of Students has a general welfare/disciplinary role. Although posts may be reformulated to some extent, in the natural course of events, all short course staff report to the Director of Short Courses as director of the entire summer programme. )

The person appointed will

• be a graduate
• have excellent demonstrable skills in administration, acquired in a relevant context, almost certainly concerned with English language courses
• have strong experience in operations
• have experience of developing and managing budgets
• have an aptitude for marketing / entrepreneurial activity
• be strongly goal-oriented
• be a self-starter able to work on her/his own initiative
• have determination to succeed
• be a flexible, quick thinker
• have teaching experience, or otherwise command the respect of teachers

Experience of working overseas will be an advantage, as will competence in language(s) other than English.

Experience of directing courses of similar size and complexity to those at St. Clare's will be a particular advantage.

Director of English Language Courses
There is the possibility that a suitable candidate could be offered the additional and new post of Director of English Language courses.

This would involve taking overall responsibility for all full-time English language courses within St. Clare's. In addition to the short courses described above, this would include courses for adults, which operate all year round at our separate adult centre, the Bardwell Road Centre.

The Director of English Language Courses would have a broader role concerned with the overall engagement of St. Clare's in English language courses and teaching. This would include course design, academic coordination across all English language courses, budgetary planning and control, and overall oversight , with considerable delegation, of operations. Specifically an overall business perspective would be required, related to all our English language sector activities, directing these as a discrete and developing business centre. The Director would need to be tuned in to the shifting English language markets, and develop proposals for St. Clare's response to market changes, consistent with and furthering our mission.

(Adult courses currently operate under their own director, who would continue to take day-to-day operational responsibility for them, and oversee academic aspects.) The precise shape of this post, if an appointment were to be made, would need to take into account the strengths and aptitudes of the person appointed, and of existing staff.

Terms and conditions
Salary will be negotiable, from £37,000 with leeway to enable us to recruit the right person.

Hours of work
Normal office hours are 9.00am to 5.00pm. The nature of the post is such that work will be required outside these hours, particularly when directing residential courses, when hours of work will be as required, and will include weekend work.

During the summer programme, the programme director is required to be on site for at least 5-6 hours each teaching day, and in the evening as necessary. Weekend work is also required for staff induction meetings, student arrivals etc. Weekly working hours of around 50 hours may be anticipated at times during the summer course period. Some time off in lieu may be taken, on a limited basis, and by agreement of the Principal.

Holiday
25 days per year, plus bank holidays and the period from 24 December - 1 January when the College is closed. Work will be required on bank holidays falling within courses, with time off in lieu.

Pension
The person appointed will be eligible to join the St. Clare's group personal pension scheme. The Employer contributes up to 10% of salary, and the employee up to 5%. Employer's contributions are double those of employee.

Membership of the national Teachers' Pension scheme is a possibility, depending on the profile of the person appointed.

Other benefits
Free lunches are offered in the College dining room or café/bar on days when working during the academic year and summer courses.

Starting date
The post is currently vacant, and is to replace Tessa Richardson, who has moved into the position of Senior Resident within the College. It is hoped to make an appointment to begin no later than early 2005.

Further enquiries and applications
For an informal discussion, please contact the Principal, Boyd Roberts.

Applications, by letter with a CV to include names, addresses and telephone numbers of 2 referees should be sent to:

Boyd Roberts, Principal
St. Clare's, Oxford
139 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 7AL

Tel: 01865 552031
Fax: +44 1865 310002
Email: recruitment@stclares.ac.uk

Closing date for applications: Tuesday 12 October

Return to vacancy information page