Assistant Manager, Academic (Graduate Programmes)

NTU's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information seeks an Assistant Manager to join our graduate research programmes team. The successful candidate will manage the graduate research programmes end-to-end, including admission, programme management, student administration, and other related portfolios. This role is critical in ensuring the smooth delivery of academic and administrative services to meet the needs of the programmes and to enrich the students learning experience throughout their graduate academic journey.

The key responsibilities include (but not limited to):

Admissions Administration

• Participation in physical and virtual outreach, such as information sessions, recruitment fairs, coffee sessions, host collaboration partners, and others.

• Conduct administrative briefing sessions and provide admission consultation for potential applicants.

• Oversee the end-to-end admissions process, from application review to offer issuance.

• Manage the admissions and application processes (e.g. update of programme information on website, review admission targets, shortlisting of applicants, administration of interviews, liaise with applicants on documentation submission, set up application processing timelines, prompt processing of applications in alignment with timeline from Office of Admissions, etc.).

• Collaborate with faculty and programme committees to manage application evaluations.

• Collaborate with NTU units and partner universities on the timeline and process for admission of incoming graduate students.

• Maintain and improve admissions systems and processes.

• Generate and analyse applications, admissions and scholarships data, and work with the Business Development/ Communications team for development and implementation of data-driven outreach and admissions strategies.

• Work with the various stakeholders (Programme Director, relevant faculty members, students, internal and external stakeholders) to ensure the smooth running of the admissions process for the graduate programmes.

Programme Management

• Manage timetable planning in consultation with Programme Directors, faculty and instructors.

• Ensure venues and facilities for teaching are promptly booked. Work closely with other departments within NTU to resolve venue issues.

• Manage the course registration process, including course enrolment, vacancy management and supporting students with course fulfilment.

• Manage submission of proposals for new courses, changes to existing courses, curriculum review, fee revision, etc.

• Manage programme teaching requests from faculty, part-time instructors and guest speakers.

• Manage intake and enrolment projections in consultation with Programme Directors.

• Manage annual budget submission in consultation with Programme Directors.

• Track and monitor the budget and expenditure of allocated budgets for the graduate research programme.

• Solicit feedback regarding course and student experiences.

• Collaborate with the team to identify and implement improvements in operational processes to enhance effectiveness and efficiency.

Student Administration

• Manage end-to-end programme administration across the student lifecycle, covering various processes such as leave of absence, withdrawal, dismissal, deemed withdrawal, academic misconduct, change of study option, conversion of candidature, appeals for re-admission/maximum candidature and fee waivers.

• Provide ongoing support and guidance to graduate students throughout the student cycle. This includes managing the research role-based mailbox and responding to programme-related enquiries via phone, emails and in-person.

• Provide support for academic-related tasks, e.g., fee aging report checking and follow-up with students verification of students to be put up for award of degree.

Exam Management

• Coordinate with course instructors on marks submission.

• Oversee the marks checking process and manage the roster of checkers.

• Prepare reports and related materials for the Board of Examiners (BOE) meeting.

• Manage post-examination process, including finalised marks submission to NTU Academic Services, and manage exam appeal.

Events

• Responsible for conceptualising and organising events/activities for graduate students (e.g. information sessions, brown bag sessions, fireside chats, etc.).

• Manage event administration and logistics, including food catering and liaison with external parties to ensure the successful execution of each event. Sourcing of corporate gifts, preparation of event collaterals and on-site logistics support.

• Support university-wide events, e.g. convocation.

General Administration

• Provide support for procurement and finance-related matters like raising purchase orders, invoice payment, and creating jobs for student assistants using internal systems like ARIBA/WSS.

• Develop a comprehensive data management system to support outreach and collaboration efforts and collection of academic data.

• Consolidate academic data and reports for management update.

The key requirements include:

• Bachelor's degree with at least 5 years of relevant work experience, preferably in academic administration.

• Good communication and writing skills with the ability to communicate and interact well with diverse stakeholders.

• Proactive problem solver and adaptable to dynamic environments.

• Strong organisational and time-management skills, able to plan and prioritise work that may have competing deadlines.

• Strong people management skills. Strong customer service focus with a passion for supporting faculty and students. Tactful and able to demonstrate empathy whenever necessary.

• Passionate about seeking constant improvements to processes and service delivery. Ability to understand and evaluate existing work processes to identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement.

• Self-motivated team player who can work independently with minimal supervision,and work collaboratively with colleagues in a team-oriented environment.

• Good sense of initiative and responsibility with a positive work attitude. Meticulous, organised, with a strong willingness to learn.

• Ability to handle confidential information.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite applications.