Academic Manager

Job summary

Ensures the supervision, coordination and management of all academic activities of a specific disciplinary area of the Department, aimed at representing educational excellence and at guaranteeing full student satisfaction levels. Directs Course Leaders and faculty in the planning of courses and activities, in the definition of the didactic organization of each course and in the monitoring of the quality of course delivery. Ensures faculty management, handling of relations and of the professional Institutions and Companies network, in order to generate opportunities for the students; ensures the analysis of trends in the Education sector, identifying opportunities aimed at innovation of the didactic offer.

Key purpose of the role

Innovation – Ensures the monitoring of trends in the Education sector for the purpose of proposing strategic and methodological guidelines, to identify options for improving the academic offer of the specific disciplinary Area, with the goal of ensuring that the Area remains in line with sector trends and student needs. Supervises Course Leader activities for the elaboration of feasibility and business planning analyses related to new projects; implements innovation in programs and study plans.

Course Planning and Delivery – Supervises course planning managed by Course Leaders in collaboration with the Academic Services; holds meetings to offer guidance and support to Course Leaders, lecturers and students. Ensures the monitoring of the budget for the specific disciplinary area and approves purchase requests; approves requests regarding compensation exceptions (requests to implement extra-projects, to involve visiting professors, to allocate external resources, to re-allocate internal resources, etc.). Provides support to the Department Head in cross-departmental integration activities and ensures integration with the other disciplinary areas of the Department, for alignment in terms of strategic guidelines, sharing best practices and identifying options for improving the didactic offer and methodologies; authorizes the publication of the handbooks.

Faculty Leadership and Student Care - Supervises and supports the activity of the Course Leaders aimed at the definition of the faculty, the educational content and the expected results of each single course. Manages in first person or delegate to the Course Leader the confirmation of the current lecturers, and the selection and the recruiting of new lecturers. Monitors the performance levels of current faculty members; ensures a correct balance between employed and external teachers, guaranteeing full saturation of annual working hours for employed teachers in compliance with the guidelines defined by the Director of Education; offers mentoring activities to the Course Leaders (to guarantee the alignment of contents and teaching methods within the disciplinary area enhancing the highest satisfaction level and solving any academic and non-academic issues). Supervises academic activities covered by assistants and manages requests for support forwarded by teachers; supervises student tutoring activities covered by assistants; ensures the monitoring of student customer satisfaction levels within the disciplinary area (lecturer assessments, satisfaction with the didactic offer, with support activities and staff, etc.) and proposes actions for improvement.

People Management – Ensures the management of resources under his/her responsibility, their professional growth and the development of their skills; plans and organizes their work and activities and assigns new projects; approves holiday plans and leaves and plays an active part in the recruiting of resources; ensures compliance with company policies, of the ethical code and procedures; actively supports change management and innovation initiatives; ensures that all documentation is correctly updated and archived on an ongoing basis.

Support to non-Academic Activities - Ensures participation in institutional promotional events and offers support to Enrollment and Communication activities. Approves communication materials and implements contents, in order to guarantee their alignment with the programs; proposes guidelines for and supervises the elaboration of educational and informational materials to support Enrollment and Communication activities. Provides support to the Industry Relations and Career Service activities, also contributing to generate relations with Institutions and companies, in order to involve them in the didactic activities (with internships, workshops, project works, etc.) and to encourage the generation of new placement opportunities.

Teaching – Delivers core teaching activities: lectures, exams, thesis supervision, consulting hours for students, course projects (project leadership), workshops.

Description of activities falling under the responsibility of the role-Level of autonomy-Impact Level %

• Innovation-Lead-20%
• Course Planning and Delivery-Lead-20%
• Faculty Leadership and Student Care-Lead-20%
• People Management-Lead-20%
• Support to non-Academic activities-Assure-10%
• Teaching-Execute-10%