Higher education administrator

Higher education administrator job description: Typical employers | Qualifications and training | Key skills | Useful links | Find jobs and courses

HE administrators work within both the central administrative (Academic Registrars') department and for individual faculties of universities and other higher education establishments. There is no ‘typical' job profile: administrators may have student recruitment, funding, quality assurance, marketing, or public relations roles; or they may be responsible for budgetary/financial administration, project management or human resources management. Many work in a general capacity - undertaking tasks from all of these areas.

Typical responsibilities of the job include:

• recruiting, training and managing staff
• financial/budgetary administration
• handling correspondence
• organising and servicing committee meetings (producing agendas, taking minutes etc.)
• researching and writing reports
• preparing statistics
• liaising with external organisations
• formulating and implementing regulations
• timetabling
• administering and co-ordinating student recruitment, examinations and assessment activities.

The job can be busy at key points in the academic year, when some long hours may be necessary. There are good opportunities for career progression via promotion into senior administrative, managerial and project management roles, or transfer/secondment between departments. Higher education establishments also generally offer excellent and flexible working conditions.

There is strong competition for both entrance level and permanent jobs. Vacancies are advertised via the internet, by careers services, in newspapers (particularly The Guardian and The Independent), and in The Times Higher Education Supplement.

Qualifications and training required

A good honours degree in any subject is required for entry into the profession. Qualifications in English, business, IT, languages, information science, administration and management may be beneficial. Previous higher education, office or commercial work experience can also be helpful, although not essential.

Key skills for higher education adminstrators

It is essential to possess good interpersonal, teamworking, IT, organisational, time management, negotiation and communication skills.