Head of Student Number Planning and Reporting (042020-147)

Want to play a leading role in planning the future of Birmingham City University, one of the most rapidly growing universities in the UK – in an unprecedentedly fast-moving environment?   Do you enjoy creating order and clarity out of large amounts of data to drive evidence-based decisions?  Are you fascinated by the impact of known and unknown variables on future plans?  A unique leadership and management opportunity within the Planning and Performance Department at BCU might be just right for you.  

We are recruiting to the new role of Head of Student Number Planning and Reporting.   You will design and lead the student number planning and modelling activity for an ever-changing student population, working closely with Finance, Student Records and with academic areas.      You will also oversee crucial, high-impact annual student data reporting to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Office for Students, and other regulators.   Managing a small skilled team, you will be key to the institutional sustainability and regulatory compliance of the organisation.  

The new Head role will be responsible for: 

Developing annual and five year student number forecasts and scenarios, using appropriate modelling techniques 

Delivering flexible and appropriate in-year student number reports to stakeholders across the University

Managing process and systems enhancement projects as required 

Overseeing key Statutory Returns, including the annual HESA Student Return 

Enhancing the University’s wider capacity to plan through joined up data in relation to students and related resource 

Contributing to innovative Business Intelligence solutions 

Leading, training and developing a small team of analysts

You will need: 

A numerate degree (E)

Experience of student number reporting in a Higher Education environment, including HESA and HESES  (E)

Knowledge of relevant applications for analysis and modelling, including advanced Excel  (E)

Experience of BI tools such as Tableau and Power BI (D)

Ideally knowledge of SQL, R; other extraction and forecasting applications (D)

Curiosity and creativity to look for new ways to gain insights for the business from student numbers and scenario planning (E)

Great inter-personal and communication skills. (E)

Line management experience (D)

With over 25,000 students on campus, BCU is the university for Birmingham – about 70% of our students come from Birmingham or the West Midlands. We are embarking on a new five-year strategy to grow to respond to Birmingham’s increasing population and to meet the City’s needs for highly-skilled, flexible and competent graduates in a wide variety of career areas, ranging from musicians, artists and designers to engineers, lawyers and health professionals.  

The Planning and Performance Department is a small department delivering business insights, forecasting and essential management information and business intelligence directly to the Vice-Chancellor and his senior team, as well as to the varied academic areas of the University.  We inform decision making and help the University thrive in the strongly data-driven policy environment of English Higher Education.   Our remit includes policy impact analysis, student data reporting and analysis, forecasting, performance monitoring, trend analysis, statutory reporting, surveys, and regulatory compliance work.   

Closing Date: 30 Apr 2020
Category: Management