Strategic Lead, Academic Language Development

• Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

• This is a full-time, fixed-term (3 year) position with salary in the range $127,496 to $134,829, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%.

• Bring your extensive stakeholder engagement and strategy development skills to advance UQ’s academic language support strategy and approach.

• Collaborate and forge partnerships across the university to develop a comprehensive support ecosystem informed by evidence and data, driving enhancements in English Language Proficiency throughout the institution.

• Leverage university-wide expertise to facilitate curriculum transformation and enhance services to incorporate tailored learner support based on student needs.

• Based at our St Lucia campus

About This Opportunity 

The Strategic Lead, Academic Language Development, will spearhead strategic planning and coordination of language and learning support programs at UQ. Positioned within the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and reporting to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), this role collaborates with faculty leadership, Student Affairs, UQ Library, Future Students, UQ College, and equity, diversity, and inclusion staff to advance initiatives enhancing English Language Proficiency (ELP) across UQ.

 Key responsibilities include:  

Stakeholder engagement and partnership management

• Build an engaged community of innovative academic practice and learner focused educational delivery using scholarly and data informed approaches.

• Collaborate with UQ College to enhance professional learning, English for Academic Communication, and extracurricular opportunities for students.

Strategy development and strategic leadership

• Develop a university-wide academic language development strategy and action plan building on the work of the ELP Action Plan and EAL and CALD Working Party.

• Direct and support development of resources, service approaches, student supports, and interventions to enhance English Language Proficiency across UQ.

Data collection, analysis and evaluation

• Collaborate with professional and academic staff to identify specific data requirements for measuring and evaluating academic language development initiatives.

• Evolve and analysis data sets of English Language Proficiency for incoming students to inform decisions around entry criteria and expectations.

Academic development and curriculum transformation

• Collaborate with the Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITaLI) to support academic staff in developing key skills and attributes to advance the goals of the academic language development strategy.

• Partner with faculty teaching and learning leaders to advance the embedding of academic language development across curriculum.

About You  

• Postgraduate qualifications in a field related to support for learning with extensive relevant experience.

• Understanding of the issues which affect learner engagement and language development within higher education settings.

• Success in leading the design and delivery of whole of institution support for learning strategies, learner development and student engagement to enhance academic language capabilities.

• Ability to build collaborative partnerships and relationships across organisational units and with students to facilitate the successful implementation of key initiatives.

• Demonstrated stakeholder engagement, interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build strong relationships with a range of stakeholders across units and with senior executives to champion academic language development.

• Experience of continuous improvement and innovation by leveraging internal analytics, insights, and environmental scanning, both nationally and internationally.

You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment and may be required to complete background checks including, criminal history and education checks.

About UQ

As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world.

Everyone here has a role to play. As a member of our professional staff cohort, you will be actively involved in working towards our vision of a better world. By supporting the academic endeavour across teaching, research, and the student life, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to activities that have a lasting impact on our community.

Join a community where excellence is at the core of our culture, contributions are valued and a range of benefits and rewards are available, such as:

• 26 weeks paid parental leave or 14 weeks paid primary caregiver leave.

• 17% superannuation contributions.

• 17.5% annual leave loading.

• Access to flexible working arrangements including hybrid working options, flexible start/finish times, purchased leave, and a condensed fortnight.

• Health and wellness discounts – fitness passport access, free yearly flu vaccinations, discounted health insurance, and access to our Employee Assistance Program for staff and their immediate family.

• On campus childcare options.

• Cheap parking (from just $5.75 a day).

• Salary packaging options.

Want to Apply? 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Cover letter not more than 3 pages, addressing the ‘About You’ section.  

• Resume 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Professor Doune Macdonald, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at [email protected] . For application queries, please contact [email protected] stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line. 

Applications close 10 March 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (Job Reference Number - R-35856). Please note that interviews have been tentatively scheduled for 20 March 2024.

At UQ, our strength lies in our diverse colleagues. We're dedicated to equity, diversity, and inclusion , fostering an environment that mirrors our wider community. We're committed to attracting, retaining, and promoting diverse talent. Reach out to [email protected] for accessibility support or adjustments.

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.