The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations. The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. We call this cultural relations. We build trust and understanding for the UK to create a safer and more prosperous world. In terms of our reach and impact, we are the world’s leading cultural relations organisation. Cultural relations is a component of international relations which focuses on developing people-to-people links and complements government-to-people and government-to-government contact. We use English, Arts, and Education and Society – the best of the UK’s great cultural assets – to bring people together and to attract partners to working with the UK. The British Council has over 7,000 staff working in 191 offices in 110 countries and territories. The British Council in Nigeria The British Council was established in 1934 and has been in Nigeria since 1943. We currently operate from offices in Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port-Harcourt and continue to engage in cultural relations work, building links between citizens of the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Our activities are delivered through our Arts, Education, English and Society business units as well as a thriving exams unit providing opportunities for thousands of Nigeria to acquire globally recognised qualifications.
- Job Type: Full Time
- Qualification: BA/BSc/HND
- Location: Lagos
- Job Field: Education / Teaching
Role Purpose
The post holder will develop and deliver the HE Insights Hubs in SSA. Delivering corporate and regional outcomes and ensuring that benefit is achieved overseas and for the UK. Provides sector expertise at country/regional level. Manages senior partner and stakeholder relationships. He/she will lead the production and editorial management of British Council’s research portfolio in education. This role will have focus on conducting, commissioning and analysing quantitative and qualitative education research, ensuring that the output is highly relevant and of practical value to the international higher education customer audience and producing high quality products to reflect a rapidly developing marketplace.
Main accountabilities but not limited to the following:
The appointed candidate will have the following accountabilities, responsibilities and main duties:
- Lead the commissioning and production of high quality and scientifically robust research and report efficiently and within tight deadlines
- Gather and analyse quantitative and qualitative data using industry standard software and technology, with high proficiency
- Set and maintain global quality standards
- Leads an inclusive organisational culture where staff have opportunities for continuous professional development and are actively contributing to the British Council’s anti-racism action plan and EDI strategy to mainstream EDI and become anti-racist in our cultures and practices within our organisation and in our programmes, particularly through a time of change.
- Leads on planning process for designated portfolio within region according to global sector strategy and programming
- Contributes to pillar/region business strategy
- Strategic leadership of design, development, delivery and closure of projects and or programmes as needed
- Builds and maintains business critical relationships with key clients and partners and with leading partners in the sector with a view to identifying new business opportunities and partnerships for the British Council
- Builds and maintains the government and institutional relationships that the UK needs to succeed in region/country
- Uses sector expertise to provide insight and content for corporate responses to public consultations, representing British Council’s perspective and demonstrating our thought-leadership in relevant external fora
- Provides up-to-date and well-informed senior-level briefings on current and emerging matters in area of expertise, conducting detailed analysis and research, contributing cutting-edge sector knowledge and content to proposals, potentially contributing to the body of literature in their area of expertise
- Promotes and positions the UK education sector in country/region
- Ensures British Council’s value proposition and support to the UK sector is clear, agreed and communicated.
- Lead on business and partnership development strategy for the portfolio, aligning with regional and corporate priorities, systems and processes
- Contribute to the development of strategic responses to partner/ client needs as efficiently and effectively as possible, including developing and promoting new ideas for services
As with any business that experiences peaks and troughs of activity, there is likely to be a need to work outside office hours from time to time.
Role specific knowledge and experience:
The successful candidate will need to possess the following requirements:
- Degree in economics, statistics or a social sciences / business -related field, or equivalent
- Quantitative and qualitative research methods
- Demonstrable experience in data collection, analysis and insightful research report –writing
- Project management experience
- Extensive knowledge of UK and international policy in the sector, reform and policy and approaches to internationalisation
- Previous experience of building effective networks across organisations
- Able to lead digital events on basic platforms (Microsoft Teams) ensuring all corporate standards are met, including those for accessibility and safeguarding
- Ability to analyse relevant equality issues
