Further Particulars
This document includes information about the role for which you are applying and the
information you will need to provide with the application. It also includes details of the
application and selection process.
1.
Role details
Vacancy reference:
9961
Job title:
Grassroots Project Lead
Reports to:
Deputy General Manager
Salary:
£32,004 - £38,183 pa
Terms and conditions:
OU Students Association Academic Related staff
Grade:
Grade 7
Duration of post:
Temporary contract, 6 months
Working hours:
Full-time 37 hours per week, plus occasional
evenings and weekends by prior agreement in line
with the nature of the role. Flexible arrangements
and applications on a part-time basis may be
considered.
Location:
OUSA Office, OU Walton Hall Campus,
Milton Keynes
Closing date:
12pm (midday) on 9th November
Type of application form accepted:
OU Students Association Application Form
(CVs or OU forms not accepted)
Number of referees required:
2
Recruitment contact:
Wendy Burrell, Deputy General Manager
Interview date:
14th November
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 1 of 10
2.
The Open University Students Association
The OU Students Association was established by the University Charter and is a
registered charity. Its current membership is almost 200,000 students spread across the
UK, Ireland and continental Europe. The overwhelming majority of our students are in
employment; study part time and at distance. We are the recognised, credible voice of
OU students and we seek to develop a vibrant student community for all.
The Association is an organisation of students, run by students, operating through a
democratic structure. An elected President heads the organisation and chairs our Board
of Trustees and our Central Executive Committee.
As a registered charity, ultimate authority and responsibility for all of the OU Student
Association’s activities is vested in the Board of Trustees, which currently comprises 8
elected student positions and a further two external trustees.
The General Manager is a permanent member of staff appointed by the Board of
Trustees and is responsible for advising the President, Board of Trustees and the Central
Executive Committee. The General Manager is also responsible for managing the
Association’s staff team and services.
3.
The OU Students Association staff team
The Students Association is based on the University’s campus in Milton Keynes. Our staff
team works closely with our elected student representatives and is responsible for
delivering the wide range of services, activities and functions undertaken by the
Association.
Currently we have five specialised teams and a short (but far from comprehensive
overview) is provided below:
The Student Voice team focus on our work in the areas of education policy, including the
recruitment and support of our team of Central Representatives, student consultation,
representation and research.
The Student Community team undertake projects to engage students in their Association
and University community that includes supporting student societies and groups and the
planning and delivery of online events such as Freshers. They also manage services
designed to support student welfare including Nightline and Peer Support and play a key
role in the planning of our biennial Conference.
The Digital Communications team manage our website, branding, social media platforms,
radio and magazine in addition to improving the Association’s ability to adopt and utilise
new technology and digital tools.
The Operations team provide the first point of contact for students and manage our grantgiving educational trust (the OU Students Educational Trust) and our OU Students Shop,
including our web store and our marketing presence at events such as degree
ceremonies. They also manage our suite of online forums.
Resources handle all elements of financial processing and monitoring, support annual
budget setting and subvention negotiations with the University and oversee purchasing
and general maintenance and administration of the office.
Student Volunteers Team is a new team, dedicated to supporting current Student
volunteers and creating new opportunities to volunteer and get involved with the
Students Association.
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 2 of 10
4.
The Role
Purpose of the Temporary Grass Roots Project Lead role:
The OU Students Association is experiencing an unprecedented period of growth and
this has given rise to this exciting temporary position for a Project Lead to oversee a
number of new and exciting projects in the pipeline, including the Grass Roots project
that arose because of a recent organisational review. This temporary member of the
team, working with the wider staff group in a fun-filled and busy environment, will have
oversight of these pieces of work as they proceed and will help ensure that the projects
are delivered in full, to deadline, on budget and that they result in the forecasted benefits
to our organisation.
In late 2015, there was a review of the structure and organisation of the Student
Association’s activities in the English regions. This focused on current ways of working,
and sought to understand how students engage with the Students Association in their
local areas. The review was undertaken by independent consultants and included key
stakeholder interviews, a survey of active local members, an online student consultation,
a workshop attended by senior student representatives and a focus group exercise
drawing on the experience of past and present volunteer student members. A final report
concluded that the current ways of working were failing to attract sufficient involvement
from students and it recommended an alternative model and a number of new initiatives
with the aim of making it easier to participate and the activities and events more relevant
to students’ needs and motivations. There was widespread agreement that proposed
changes could attract more engagement and increase opportunities for students to take
an active part in their Students Association. The report emphasised how students
wanted different things from the Association, some preferring to engage on a social basis
only, others wanting a light touch volunteering role and others keen to be part of the
representative voice.
The alternative model suggested a new layer of student volunteers who would act as the
eyes and ears of the Association around learning issues. It recommended the
establishment of a network of local student networks and groups relying on centralised
support to promote, publicise and resource them. It also suggested a register of student
volunteers managed and supported centrally and resource to identify new opportunities
for volunteering and making use of the efforts of the many interested students offering
different levels of time and commitment. Although the review was based on activity in
England, agreement was reached that all UK nations would be included in the new
structures.
In order to undertake the new work, a bid for funding was made to the University for extra
resource to implement the recommendations, and the University has shown their support
for the Student Association’s work by providing that funding to complete the necessary
projects and appoint new staff. Work has already started on a number of new initiatives
and the associated working group continue their deliberations to ensure that we continue
to progress along this exciting route and that expected outcomes are achieved
There is overwhelming evidence to confirm that the OU Students Association has a huge
part to play in the life of OU students. For example over 40,000 students follow the
Association on social media sites, over 60,000 students read each issue of the OU
students magazine and well over 1,000 students applied for the 300 delegate places to
come to campus to be part of the biennial Conference in June this year. However, there
is more hard work to be done and the successful candidate will make a significant
contribution towards ensuring that the Students Association is relevant and accessible to
its members for the future.
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 3 of 10
An overview of Key Tasks
The Temporary Project Lead will report directly to the Deputy General Manager and over
the six-month period will be involved in the following key pieces of work:
•
The organisation and coordination of the ‘Grassroots’ working group. The working
group, comprising of student volunteers and staff members, will be considering
the status and future viability of nation executives. Tasks will include supporting
the working group, organising face-to-face and online meetings, taking part in
online discussions, capturing action points, gathering and dispensing relevant
information to inform the work, undertaking desk research. It will include the
planning and delivery of a short student consultation, keeping detailed project
notes and records, providing project continuity and maintaining project disciplines,
ensuring the working group achieves project deadlines. This work will result in a
recommendation for a future model of how the Student Association is structured
and services delivered in the four UK nations, the Republic of Ireland and
Continental Europe. It is intended that, the final recommendation will be presented
to the Central Executive Committee at its meeting in late April 2017.
•
To assist the Deputy General Manager in ensuring that all recommendations
contained in the Regions Review preferred model are successfully delivered and
that current project work streams evolve into business as usual. You will work
cross-team, to have oversight of related ongoing projects and initiatives, reviewing
their progress, collecting data to chart their successes and producing reports to
define their achievements. You will help to ensure that projects are running
smoothly, that momentum of the work is maintained and key objectives are
achieved.
•
To produce regular reports, project updates and information to the relevant staff
team, the Central Executive Committee and the University. This is to keep them
regularly informed of ongoing progress around how the Regions Review work is
being implemented, how the additional resource is being used and what impact
this new resource has had on the participation of students in their Students
Association.
The intention is for the successful candidate to join the team as soon as possible,
producing an interim report on progress for the Central Executive Committee and the
University by late January 2017, final reports to coincide with a further meeting in late
April and to assist with the follow up work to deliver the final decision.
Role Description
Key objectives of this role will include:
To oversee the implementation of a number of reccomendations for change
identified in a recent review.
To work with current staff teams and student representatives to identify ongoing
objectives, workstreams, timetables and success factors.
To identify, develop and recommend plans of work.
To collect data showing impact of ongoing projects.
To produce reports charting progression of ongoing projects
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 4 of 10
To chart expected benefits against outcomes, advising teams on work going
forward.
To undertake desk research relevant to ongoing projects.
To monitor budgets.
To support the team with the delivery of ongoing elections as necessary
Where there is capacity, to work alongside appropriate teams in carrying out
tasks within projects falling under this remit.
To undertake any other duties commensurate with the grading of post as directed
by line manager.
It is expected that the succesful candidate will manage their own time and
responsibilities independently. The role will include opportunities to work with the wider
staff team and with elected student volunteers. On this basis, it would be beneficial to
have previously worked with a range of volunteers and/or student representatives,
understanding and appreciating the expectations and pressures on such volunteers.
This is a busy, varied and interesting role and would suit a highly organised and efficient
individual with the ability to deal simultaneously with a number of ongoing projects and
the ability to work with minimal supervision.
5.
The Person
Note: Applicants who have not clearly demonstrated in their application that they
possess the essential experience and knowledge will not be short-listed.
Desirable elements are those that it would be useful for the post holder to
possess, and will be used to assist the short-listing process where we receive a
high volume of good applications. In your personal statement, it is important that
you draw on examples to provide evidence of how you meet the criteria. The
skills, capabilities and qualities section will be factors that we will look to be
displayed throughout the application process but candidates will not be expected
to highlight these in the personal statement part of the application form.
Essential
Desirable
Education, qualifications and training
Educated to degree standard or equivalent.
Knowledge and experience
Experience of developing, managing, delivering and
evaluating projects.
Experience of team working and working in partnership with
others.
Project management
training
Experience of
managing a busy team
in a lively environment.
Experience of writing and delivering reports for senior
decision-making audiences.
Experience of delivering presentations.
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 5 of 10
Experience in organising and delivering successful
meetings including minute taking
Experience of data collection and analysis
Experience of budget management
Experience of working in a similar democratic or memberled organisation (e.g. student union, charity, public sector).
Understanding of the
characteristics of a
distance learning
environment, the
challenges faced by OU
students and the
impacts upon our
organisation
Experience of supporting volunteers or student
representatives
An understanding of the
role of student elected
leaders
An understanding of and commitment to the work of the OU
Students Association, particularly the importance of
effective student engagement and representation.
Previous experience in
using a virtual learning
environment, Moodlebased forums and
Blackboard Collaborate
or similar packages
Experience of dealing with people from a range of
backgrounds and needs.
Skills, capabilities and qualities
Excellent IT skills including the Microsoft Office suite Outlook, Word, Internet Explorer, PowerPoint and Excel
Excellent organisational and time management skills, with
ability to plan and prioritise own workload and meet
deadlines in a busy and rapidly changing environment.
Self-motivated and enthusiastic about the task at hand, able
to work under minimal supervision and hit the ground
running in a busy team
Exercises good judgement coming to sound decisions
following a consideration of available evidence.
Ability to exercise diplomacy, sensitivity, discretion and tact
as appropriate.
Meticulous attention to detail
Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills,
able to communicate with people at all levels with an
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 6 of 10
understanding of the communication needs and
preferences of different audiences.
Excellent written skills with a high standard of written
English.
A high standard of numerate skills
Able to successfully negotiate through complex conflict
situations and challenges in a mature and composed
manner reaching satisfactory conclusions.
Reliable with a good level of personal resilience and
energy.
Capable networker with ability to build and maintain strong
working relationships with others.
Projects a professional image when representing the
organisation.
‘Can do’ approach to problem solving. Ability to assess the
situation and provide practical solutions.
Highly adept at receiving, interpreting and conveying
complex information
Additional requirements and special working conditions
Able to work occasional evenings or weekends.
Commitment to own professional development.
Commitment to equality and diversity.
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 7 of 10
6.
General information
Terms and Conditions
The terms and conditions, which apply, are similar to those applying to Academic Related
Staff of the Open University. Our staff policies are currently under review.
Hours of Work
This appointment is a full-time position, whereby the working week is 37 hours with
flexibility on start and finish times around the needs of the role and the organisation in
keeping with our flexible working policy. Within reason, we would be willing to negotiate a
slightly shorter working week or other flexible arrangements whilst ensuring that business
needs are satisfied.
Some occasional weekend and evening working required by prior arrangement. This is
likely to include half-day to day attendance at a couple of weekend meetings and
potentially one or two evening online meetings. All weekend working is recompensed by
a system of time off in lieu and minor payments.
Probation
The appointment will be subject to a probationary period of one month prior to
confirmation of appointment for the remainder of the six month contract.
Salary
The appointment will be made at a suitable point on the Grade 7 salary scale (£32,004 to
£38,183), pro-rata if necessary. It is usually our intention to appoint at the lowest point of
the scale to enable progression, but we will consider the circumstances and current
salary of the successful candidate when making an offer.
Holiday
The OUSA annual leave period runs from 1st August to 31 July. The full annual
entitlement would be 33 working days in addition to public holidays and days on which
the Open University campus is closed. This post will receive a pro-rata leave entitlement
for the duration of the temporary contract and we will confirm this entitlement when an
offer of appointment is made.
Development Opportunities
OUSA is committed to developing its staff and provides appropriate training and
networking opportunities.
The work of this temporary post will allow the post holder to develop and build on their
skills and experience in an interesting and varied role.
Staff structure
Our current staff structure is shown at the rear of this pack.
7.
How to obtain more information
The details provided here are intended to be an overview of the role and our
organisation. However, there is also a considerable amount of information about the OU
Students Association on our website: www.open.ac.uk/ousa.
If you have a specific appropriate question that is not covered here and you wish to ask it
before making an application then please contact Wendy Burrell, Deputy General
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 8 of 10
Manager on [email protected]. Please note that CVs sent to this address will not
be read or accepted.
8.
The application process and where to send completed applications
Applications will only be accepted on the OU Students Association application form.
No CVs or applications on other forms will be accepted.
Please ensure that your application reaches us by: 12pm (midday) on Wednesday 9th
November. Applications received after the deadline will not be accepted.
Please e-mail your application form to: [email protected] with the job title included
in the subject line. You will receive a response to acknowledge receipt.
If you do not hear from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, you should assume that your
application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.
We are keen to consider all types of application, including those for a secondment.
Applications for a secondment should make this clear on the application form and confirm
they have the support of their current employer.
9.
Selection process and interview date
Stage one: Candidates should use the role description and the Person Specification
above to complete the OU Students Association application form. Please note that in the
statement section of the application form, applicants should just focus upon the
knowledge and experience criteria and draw reference to clear examples to support their
statement.
Please submit completed application forms via email to [email protected]. All
applications will be reviewed following receipt and candidates will be short-listed if they
have effectively demonstrated that they meet or exceed our criteria. We are unable to
offer feedback to applicants who are not short-listed.
Stage two: Short-listed applicants will be sent a letter inviting them to panel interviews
will take place at our office in Milton Keynes on Monday 14th November. The interviews
will include some practical exercises and further details of these will be sent to shortlisted candidates. Applicants should keep the interview date clear as we will not be able
to offer an alternative.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN APPOINTMENT TO THE OU STUDENTS ASSOCIATION
AND NOT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY.
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 9 of 10
General Manager
Deputy General Manager
Executive
Assistant
Head of Student
Volunteering
Student
Volunteer
Officer
Head of
Operations
Team
Supervisor
Operations
Assistant
Head of
Resources
Resources
Assistant
Resources
Assistant
Head of
Student Voice
Head of
Student
Community
Research and
Info Officer
Projects
Officer
Education
Policy Officer
Projects
Officer
Grassroots
Project Lead
(Temp)
Head of Digital
Communications
Digital
Communications
Officer
Project Officer (Digital
Communications)
Operations
Assistant
Representation
Officer
Operations
Assistant
Admin
Assistant
Admin
Assistant
Key:
Roles which
are Vacant
Open University Students Association, Charity Commission Registration Number in England & Wales: 1144251;
in Scotland SC042840
September 2016
Page 10 of 10