Director of Recruitment and International Relations
WORLD CHANGERS TOGETHER
Dear Applicant,
A warm welcome to the University of Glasgow and thank you for expressing an interest in our Director of Recruitment & International Relations role.
There has never been a more exciting time to join our TeamUofG community. We recently improved our position among the world’s top 100 universities in the 2023 THE (Times Higher Education) World University Rankings, now placing 82nd in the world.
Over recent years, we have significantly grown our international student community here in Glasgow, and now welcome over 11,000 international students from over 140 countries to our campuses in the West of Scotland.
We are proud to be a civic, anchor university but with global reach and profile. We have set out our international ambitions in our new strategy, Global Glasgow 2025, with the mission to not only be the best university in the world, but the best university for the world.
Our £1bn investment in reshaping Glasgow’s West End is also an example of the transformational role that universities can play locally, as well as in regional and national domains.
Our achievements are a tribute to the hard work and enterprise of our colleagues and students and our commitment to model our institutional values in all that we do: ambition and excellence; curiosity and discovery; integrity and truth; and an inclusive community.
The Director of Recruitment & International Relations will play a critical role in supporting the delivery of our strategic KPIs.
The role will report to me as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, External Engagement, and will sit within the Leadership Team of our External Relations Directorate. We seek a candidate with a substantial and quantifiable track record of leading large, complex teams, delivering transformational change and excellent stakeholder management.
If you would like to contribute your expertise, creativity and energy to this vital post for the University, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Together, we are World-Changing Glasgow.
Rachel Sandison
Deputy Vice Chancellor – External Engagement and Vice Principal – External Relations
Job purpose
To provide strategic leadership across a number of business critical functions, including domestic and international student recruitment, policy and partnership development.
Directly deliver a number of strategic KPIs within the University’s Global Glasgow 2025 International Strategy through expert advice, influencing and collaboration with senior academics across the institution, including the Assistant Vice-Principal, International, the University’s network of Global Deans of Engagement and College International Deans to ensure delivery on both international and local strategic objectives.
You will have responsibility for meeting annual student recruitment targets, with a critical focus on improving the quality and the diversity of our student cohort. This will entail the development of innovative student recruitment programmes with international partners; advancing and delivering an engagement strategy for both domestic and international markets, including Transnational Education; leading on market insight activities; and supporting the University’s widening access agenda.
High level engagement will be required with key external stakeholders, including the UK and Scottish government, sector advisory bodies, global HEIs, schools, and Edtech companies to ensure that the University meets its objective of extending its global reach and reputation – not just as the best university in the world, but the best university for the world.
You will be a key member of the External Relations Leadership Team, deputising for the Deputy Vice- Chancellor, External Engagement, as required.
Main duties & responsibilities
Knowledge and qualifications
Skills
Experience
Global Glasgow 2025
Our Global Glasgow: International Strategy 2025 articulates our global ambitions, and supports the vision conveyed in our institutional strategy World Changers Together, World Changing Glasgow 2025.
We are committed to:
- our colleagues and students benefiting from being part of an international community
- our wider local community directly benefiting from Glasgow’s role as a civic anchor institution with global connections
- our relationships with international partners being reciprocally beneficial and founded in mutual respect – we will innovate and solve problems together
- defending academic freedom globally
- advocating and ensuring diversity and inclusion
- championing education as an engine for social progress
- striving to be the best University for the world.
Campus development plan
Our Vision
Over the next 10 years, the major investment will expand our campus footprint by 25%, creating a new urban quarter with the University at the heart of a revitalised west end. This is the largest development since the creation of the original campus in 1870.
This is a unique opportunity for a University to extend the boundaries of its historic core in a central city location. It will create:
- New learning and teaching facilities
- Refurbishment and repurposing of existing iconic buildings for specialist uses
- Identification and design of social spaces that support the student and community experience.
The expansion of our Gilmorehill campus into the 14 acre, former Western Infirmary site will transform the West End of Glasgow. The Masterplan for the site will incorporate:
- New learning and teaching facilities supporting our students and making sure they get the best in modern teaching and learning styles and approaches
- Creation of a Research Hub, housing large-scale multidisciplinary projects and incubator space for spin out collaborations with industry. This will encourage further innovation development
- New public cycle and pedestrian routes and a new central square which will link Byres Road to the up-and-coming cultural quarter for the West End, with new links to Kelvingrove and the newly-refurbished Kelvin Hall
- Refurbishment of five listed buildings: The Chapel, the Outpatients building, the Macgregor building, the Tennent Institute and Anderson College
- Commercial opportunities, including a hotel, restaurant, bars and cafes
- The state of the art Learning and Teaching Hub adjacent to the Boyd Orr building on University Avenue will be completed next year.
Find out more
Living in Glasgow
A UNESCO City of Music, a vibrant arts and culture scene, a food-lover’s delight, and a shopper’s paradise. Just some of the highlights of the ‘friendliest city in the world’. As well as that accolade by the Rough Guides poll, Glasgow has also been named a must visit destination by publications including the New York Times, The Guardian, and Wanderlust.
Music
The city hosts an average of 130 music events a week catering for every taste; from rock to rap, and classical to country. Glasgow also has a world class club scene playing host to some of the world’s top DJs.
Shopping
Outside of London’s West End, Glasgow is frequently voted the best place for shopping in the UK. A must-visit destination for any shop-a-holic, it houses high street chains, international designers, and independent retailers. The West End, home to the University of Glasgow, is bustling with vintage fashion, vinyl stores, and second-hand bookshops.
Arts and Culture
Glasgow’s arts scene has gone from strength to strength, and is the base for five internationally renowned performing arts companies including the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Ballet. The city has several world-class museums, which are free to the public, and the city’s architecture is a work of art in itself.
Food and drink
You can be in Glasgow and taste the world with its many diverse restaurants, cafes, and bars. And if you’ve yet to sample the delights of haggis and whisky, Glasgow is the place to be.
The City and Beyond
Glasgow has all the opportunities and excitement of a big city but its compact size means you can quickly travel from one vibrant district to the next. You could be relaxing in one of its many parks, before shopping in the quirky West End, and then dancing until the wee small hours in the Merchant City.
And when you fancy getting out of the city you can reach the stunning Loch Lomond in just 30 minutes, climb one of our many breath-taking Munros, play golf at one of Scotland’s many world-class courses, visit one of our ancient castles, or go further North and search for Nessie! Scotland has also just been named the world’s most beautiful country by Rough Guides.
Relocating to Glasgow
Choosing to relocate to Glasgow is a big decision. There are numerous things to be considered, such as the costs of moving, the cost of living, and where exactly to relocate to. We have created two guides to aide you in the decision making process.
The Relocation Guide identifies five of Glasgow's most popular residential areas. Alongside information detailing some of the general living costs in Glasgow, The guide also suggests which schools surround each area, how far away each area is from the University's main campus, and the average cost of housing.
The Scotland Handbook provides information about living in Scotland as a country; our cultures, our lifestyle, and our geography.
WORLD CHANGERS TOGETHER
WORLD CHANGING GLASGOW 2025
Our outstanding disciplinary breadth and expertise has enabled us to make world-changing advances in fields as diverse as medicine, physics, linguistics, public policy and global development.
The key to our success is our talented staff and students pushing back at the boundaries of knowledge and understanding together.
Our World Changers Together strategy recognises the fundamental importance of a culture of open cooperation: not just as colleagues and mentors or students and teachers, but as a community of discovery that reaches beyond its walls and draws inspiration and strength from its connections and partnerships worldwide: excellence that's part of something bigger. The strategy is articulated across three themes:
COMMUNITY
- People centred, globally engaged
CONNECTIVITY
- Collaboratively minded, digitally enhanced
CHALLENGES
- Solution focused, impact oriented
Find out more
How to apply
Full details of the role and how to apply can be found by visiting our website:
The closing date for applications is 5th April 2023.
It is the University of Glasgow’s mission to foster an inclusive climate, which ensures equality in our working, learning, research and teaching environment. We strongly endorse the principles of Athena SWAN, including a supportive and flexible working environment, with commitment from all levels of the organisation in promoting gender equity.
Our values
The future holds innumerable challenges for our sector, our society, and our world. We will have to adapt and change what we do and what we offer if we are to navigate these successfully. Our strategy and approach may evolve as the landscape changes, but our values will remain constant: a fixed point of certainty in uncertain times.
We have identified our values in consultation and partnership with our staff and student community. Living and upholding these values will ensure that we remain true to the spirit of our community and ourselves:
Ambition and Excellence
- We strive for excellence through our work
- We defend academic freedom globally
- We recognise and celebrate shared success
- We have an unrelenting focus on development
Curiosity and Discovery
- We innovate and solve problems together
- We lead by influence and example
- We engage with lifelong learning and personal development
- We learn from our mistakes
Integrity and Truth
- We uphold honesty, integrity and fairness
- We share our work widely and generously
- We do the right thing, not the easy thing - or we don’t do it
- We take responsibility
An Inclusive Community new
- We are one Glasgow team, and we care for and respect one another
- We advocate for diversity and believe in variety as a vital part of a healthy university
- We champion education as an engine for social progress
- We practise and advance sustainability