Assistant IELTS Administrators at British Council Nigeria

The British Council is the world's leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

We are recruiting to fill the below position:

Job Title: Assistant IELTS Administrator

Location: Lagos
Directorate or Region: SSA
Department/Country: Exams, Nigeria
Contact: Country Exams Manager
Pay Band: Country Appointed PB6
Start Date: As soon as possible
Duration of Job: Indefinite
Reports to: Head of IELTS Operations Nigeria

Purpose of Job

• This post is responsible for the operational management of IELTS tests in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

The post holder will manage:

• The expansion the IELTS business in Southern Nigeria and.
• Manage the IELTS team and venue staff based in Lagos.
• Monitor and improve the security of delivery of the tests.
• Manage the delivery of IELTS preparation courses in Lagos and associate centres, and.
• Monitor and improve the customer experience of the test process

Context and Environment
(e.g. dept description, region description, organogram)

• Nigeria, a tier 1 country, has the largest project, programme and exams operations in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We operate from 4 main office locations. Individually, the Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt Exams offices alone are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd largest exams businesses by income in SSA respectively. There are currently 36 members in the exams team, 22 of whom are in the Lagos office. We operate a hub-and-spoke system in Nigeria with the main support functions, Business Support Services (BSS) and customer services, located in Lagos.
• The Exams business in Nigeria has grown significantly in recent years. We doubled our income and volumes between 2011 and 2013. In 2014/15 we delivered 90,000 examinations, this financial year the target is 100,000 exams on a turnover of £8.5m, and by 2016 we expect to double on 2013 figures to 120,000 exams.
• An investment in over 15 new posts in the exams team in Nigeria, of which this is one, will support our doubling ambition and address the issues highlighted below.
• We have a number of challenges namely: team capacity, quality of delivery, security risks and infrastructure restraints which we are addressing through organisational change, capacity increases and technological solutions. The Global New Operating Model for Exams (GNOME) and Global Financial Change projects are critical to our business plans.
• We are a global leader in a cross-SBU project on school quality and engagement in Nigeria, and we are developing a second cross-SBU project on skills and employability - again, a first for the British Council global network.

Accountabilities and Responsibilities
(including people management and finance)

• Business development: responsible for assisting with increasing capacity to accommodate planned growth in the Nigeria IELTS business
• Financial control, monitoring and reporting: to assist the IELTS Administrator with managing the Nigeria IELTS businesses to target by monitoring and reporting income and costs on a monthly basis.
• Responsible for ensuring IELTS income reconciliations, refunds, over the counter payments and transfers are completed to standard.
• Reliability: to ensure examinations are delivered securely according to board requirements.
• Quality: to deliver a high standard of customer service to our IELTS test takers as measured by our own Compliance and Quality Standards, IELTS partner standards and customer service standards.
• Impact: to achieve impact for the UK and the BC through providing access to quality UK qualifications
• Leadership: to assist with managing the IELTS delivery teams, including venue staff and examiners to achieve challenging objectives.

Main Duties
IELTS Test Delivery:

• To ensure that IELTS tests are delivered to examination board, partners’ and QCA standards. To assist in delivery at peak times. To ensure that delivery plans are agreed in advance of activity.
• Compliance: Assist with carrying out regular inspections to examination venues across Nigeria, monitoring security processes against standards set by the examination board and QCA. Good record-keeping is essential of all visits made. To conduct spot checks where necessary.
• To assist the IELTS Administrator with response to and implementation of recommendations from exam boards, partners and QCA reviewers.

IELTS Business Development:

• Marketing: To ensure that quantitative and qualitative information about IELTS in Nigeria is regularly collected.
• Planning for IELTS Growth in Nigeria: Assisting the IELTS Administrator on the IELTS section of the MAP and planning targets (and capacity) for future years.

Finance:

• To prepare IELTS income reconciliations to agreed timescales.
• To ensure income is recorded correctly on the FABS system and in a timely manner.
• To ensure that FABS processes are followed by the Lagos IELTS team.
• Manage the inventory held for IELTS.

General Management:

• To contribute to Nigeria Exams team objectives by attending and contributing to staff meetings.
• To deputise for the IELTS Administrator.

Line Management:

• To Line manage up to 6 members of exams staff in Lagos.

Venue Staff:

• To assist with recruitment, training and monitoring for venue staff.
• To ensure training of venue staff is appropriate and takes into account feedback from partners and quality checks.
• To carry out periodic performance monitoring of venue staff and retain documentation for these.
• To assist with managing examiners and clerical markers attached to the Abuja office to PSN and IELTS standards.

Continuing Professional Development:

• To ensure that elective and mandatory training is undertaken.
• To identify training needs for team, and assist in delivering this training.

Key Relationships:

• Internal: Country Exams Manager, Deputy Country Exams Manager, Regional Exams Managers, Head of Operations (Exams), BSS team, teachers of English.
• External: IELTS partners, IELTS Examiner Trainer, IELTS Examiners, school principals and exam coordinators, school associations. BCSN, regional IELTS team.

Other important features or requirements of the Job:
(e.g. travel, unsocial/evening hours, restrictions on employment etc)

• Local travel to visit universities and schools occasionally in remote areas.
• Occasional travel to Port Harcourt/Kano/Abuja to conduct self-audits and training; therefore, overnight stays and weekend working may be required. IELTS tests usually take place on Saturdays.
• Examination deadlines are absolute so early morning starts and evening work may be required.

Skills and Knowledge
Developing Business Level 2:

• Researches markets and conducts cost/benefit analyses to identify new opportunities or recommend improvements to current initiatives

Using Technology Level 1:

• Able, with adjustments if necessary, to use office software and British Council systems to do the job and manage documents or processes.
• English Language proficiency to IELTS band 8.0 in all areas (or equivalent).
• Good presentation skills.
• Knowledge of the education and qualification systems in the UK and Nigeria

Experience

• Managing People Level 2
• Supervises a small team of people doing similar jobs to deliver short term tasks to agreed quality and time standards.
• Monitoring service to quality standards and implementing improvements.
• Dealing with customers and enquiries in a service environment.
• Three year's work experience as an operations manager.

Qualifications

• A first Degree or equivalent.
• A 1st Degree in an education-related field or NCE.
• A qualification in examinations management.

Application Closing Date
3rd May, 2016.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here to download job details MS Word

Click here to download BC Core Skills (pdf)

Click here to download BC Behaviours (pdf)