Job Description

Direct Reporting Line:
Head of School: Research and PG Studies

IIE MSA, since April 2019 we are part of The Independent Institution of Education (The IIE), a leader in the higher education sphere. The IIE is internationally recognised by the British Accreditation Council. IIE MSA, located on a 100-hectare campus in Ruimsig, Johannesburg, in the province of Gauteng. In addition to domestic (South African) students, IIE MSA is home to a diverse of cultures of students from 50 African countries.

The IIE MSA Ruimsig Campus in Roodepoort has a vacancy for a Research Coordinator.
Duties and Responsibilities:

Embed the practice of research

• Provide support in building a culture of research scholarship at a campus level.
• Identify topics and drive campus research projects and implement regional interventions.
• Support the development and implementation of at least 2 collaborative research projects a year for the campus that will result in the submission of articles to peer-reviewed accredited journals on the DHET list and/or conference presentations.
• Responsible for compiling and chairing campus ethics committees and will report the outcomes to the NHDPM.
• Support research active staff with ethics clearance, Identifying appropriate Journals to publish in or conferences to attend, quality assurance and feedback.
• Work with campus librarians to support research active staff.

Promote and build a culture of scholarship

• Ensure that staff attend training and development sessions and provide formal and informal training, advice, and support to researchers and research administrators.
• Provide administrative support to research staff and contracts transcribers, statisticians, etc. to support research active staff where required
• Organise a campus writing retreat during one of the semester breaks.
• Evaluate and coordinate requests to conduct research at campus level for academic staff and students.

Monitoring. Tracking and Coordination

• Assist the Research Manager to monitor research output progress against campus targets.
• Follows up on the campus academic staff capture research activity on the Research Activity Tracker Database (RATS)
• Escalate unsolved queries to the Head of School and Research Manager.
• Ensure that the Postgraduate Research Tracker is updated and that the required documents are uploaded.
• Organise campus colloquiums where staff planning on presenting at conferences will be able to present on campus to get input and feedback from experienced academics with the guidance of the Research manager.
• Advise line managers on key research dates, time-frames and events in order for schools to plan research days and research leave.
• Collate, check and provide campus information for the biannual research progress reports
• Support the building of relationships with local industry and other Higher Education providers to work on collaborative research projects.
• Identify critical readers on campus who will provide constructive feedback on articles that will be submitted to accredited journals as part of quality assurance and will assist in contracting an editor if required.
• Planning/Scheduling research related activities in the PG and academic research space.
• Liaise with the relevant schools to identify key role players (i.e. supervisors, readers, external examiners) as part of the M processes.
• Appointment of key role players (i.e. supervisors, readers, external examiners).
• Liasing with the relevant IIE CAT departments in regards to external examination, sharing of reports etc.
• Following up with the relevant PMs in terms of student submissions.
• Assist with turnitin reports and other relevant documentation required for examination.
• Assist with turnitin reports for Research Associates prior to publishing.
• Keep academic training tracker updated for the RPGSU events
• Ensure all students final research reports are available in the Information Centre.
• Ensure all student reports are available in the IIE Repository.
• Administer surveys to relevant parties after obtaining the required approvals.
• Coordinate PCC meetings with National and minute taking of RPGSU meetings.

Competencies Required:

• Strong Interpersonal and skills
• Exceptional communication skills-both verbal and written
• Analytical and problem solving skills
• Leadership abilities to guide, influence, motivate and develop staff
• Strong organisational, planning and time management skills.

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

• A relevant Bachelors Degree (NQF level 7) or equivalent.

Minimum Work Experience Requirements:

• Minimum of 2 years research related experience working in a tertiary environment.

Preference may be given to EE candidates

IIE MSA and IIE Varsity College