Head of Higher Education & Access

Lead our Higher Education and Access provision. Drive strategy, ensure excellence, and inspire growth. A pivotal leadership opportunity to shape exceptional educational experiences.

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Job Details

USP College is seeking a dynamic and experienced professional to lead and manage our Higher Education and Access provision. This is a pivotal role, where you will drive strategic development, ensure the highest standards of quality, and provide outstanding leadership to staff and students.

The successful candidate will oversee a portfolio of Higher Education and Access programmes, contributing to the College’s mission to deliver exceptional educational experiences and drive growth.

Duties and responsibilities

  • Develop and implement strategies aligned with the College’s Strategic Plan and Policies.
  • Drive the Quality Framework and Career Focused Learning strategies to deliver exceptional outcomes.
  • Lead curriculum development, including introducing new higher-level qualifications and micro-credentials.
  • Ensure compliance with QAA, OFS regulations, and partner expectations.
  • Oversee the selection, admission, and ongoing support of students.
  • Lead and inspire the Higher Education and Access team to maintain high standards of teaching and learning.
  • Foster a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and professional integrity.
  • Monitor resource allocation, ensuring efficient and effective delivery of programmes.

Job requirements

  • Degree-level education or relevant professional qualification.
  • Proven experience in curriculum management within Further or Higher Education.
  • Strong leadership and organisational skills with a commitment to educational excellence.

The right candidate will have:

  • High standards of communication and interpersonal skills.
  • The ability to work as a team.
  • A strong attention to detail.
  • The ability to work towards deadlines.
  • Initiative and leadership skills.

Why choose us?

Our strategy is to create a Career Focused, Digital Learning environment, ensuring that the learner experience and our relationship within our community, local and regional employers, are at the heart of everything we do. We are proud to be selected as finalists for the AoC Beacon awards for effective use of digital Technology in FE. Providing a high achieving, focused learning environment allowing our students to achieve the grades they need for higher educations, or the skills and aptitude required to secure a suitable role in their chosen career. Our college is set in the leafy suburbs of Essex, with easy access to surrounding areas and amenities, we are based in a well-connected location both by road and rail.

What we offer:

* subject to terms & conditions

This role is considered exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020. Which means that when applying for certain jobs and activities certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’, so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. Further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide.  It is an offence to apply for the role if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children.

Shortlisted candidates will be required to complete a self-declaration of their criminal record or information that would make them unsuitable to work with children. Self-declaration is subject to Ministry of Justice guidance on the disclosure of criminal records, further information can be found on GOV UK

USP College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, we therefore expect all staff to share this commitment. The successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced disclosure via the Disclosure and Barring Service, and any other checks that the role requires to ascertain suitability for working with children and/or vulnerable adults, which may include online searches.

We will hold and process any personal data, including sensitive (special category) personal data, relating to you in accordance with our legal obligations, in the manner set out in the Privacy Notice for staff and in accordance with our Data Protection Policy, which is set out on the College’s website, found here. You should familiarise yourself with our Data Protection Policy (and all other subsidiary policies to it) and comply with them at all times. Neither the Privacy Notice for Staff nor those policies form a part of your contract of employment.