Vacancy title:
Associate Director of Academic Studies

Jobs at:
Kepler

Deadline of this Job:
25th November 2018

Duty Station:
Kigali, Rwanda

Summary
Date Posted: 14th November 2018 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed , Employment Type: Full-Time

About the Company

JOB DETAILS:

Associate Director of Academic Studies

About Generation Rwanda/Kepler

Generation Rwanda (GR) launched in 2004 and has since supported a number of young people in Rwanda in achieving their higher education goals through scholarships for universities throughout the country. In 2013, GR expanded its reach when it started Kepler, a nonprofit university program designed to reinvent higher education with a lens on readiness for 21st century careers. We aspire to be among the first organizations to demonstrate at scale that it is possible to provide excellent learning and employment outcomes to students at a low cost.

To achieve this goal, Kepler is building its academic model around the demanding, practical needs of employers. We deliver the skills that businesses seek through hands-on learning that combines world-class online content, high-quality in-person coaching, and extensive real-world work experience. To date, we have more than 550 students on our two Rwanda campuses – in Kigali and in Kiziba Refugee camp.
Currently, all Kepler students earn their degrees through our degree partner Southern New Hampshire University and that will continue to be a key part of the Kepler model. In parallel, we are working on developing a Bachelor’s degree provided by Kepler and accredited in Rwanda. This new degree would be offered in Rwanda as well as in two additional countries over the next few years.

About the position

The Associate Director of Academic Studies is responsible for the planning, development, and maintenance of the curriculum for the new degree program(s). This includes managing consultants and vendor(s) as well as supervising or managing through influence other Kepler staff members. The Associate Director of Academic Studies is a new role at Kepler so a successful candidate will get to take initiative to help define and shape the role. They will also need to work closely and collaboratively with another new role, Associate Director of Teaching and Learning Enhancement who will work on the government relations and accreditation aspects of the new degree as well as providing quality assurance reviews.

The Associate Director of Academic Studies will adapt and create curricula that is applicable to the East African context and work with the academic leadership team to develop new ways to deliver effective instruction to students at all Kepler campuses. As Kepler grows, this role will manage various projects and help determine priorities for development of new courses and platforms to meet students needs.

Responsibilities

• Work with the academic leadership team to create curriculum development standards based on innovative pedagogic and best practices
  
• Conduct research to design and develop curricular goals, outlines for new curriculum and curriculum updates. Involve instructional staff in the process
  
• Adapt existing curriculum resources to regional African context depending on the location of future campuses
  
• Ensure that all program development and revisions follow established standards across all the campuses
  
• Support quality assurance activities for all accredited curriculum and implement feedback from regulators
  
• Coordinate the regular review of all curriculum to evaluate how it meets the intended objectives, including high quality learning experience, industry relevance, accreditation compliance, etc. Use the data from the review to recommend improvements and edits
  
• Model continuous self-improvement through research, professional development, and other learning opportunities for curriculum design and provide professional development for academic staff around curriculum design and implementation
  
• Provide in-class and out-of-class support and coaching to instructors with using designated curricula, including coaching on teaching strategies
  
• Other tasks as assigned by the Director of Academic Partnerships
  

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree, preferably in Education or Instructional Design
  
• Experience in program/curriculum development, ideally with a focus on employ-ability and using competency/project based learning
  
• Practical or educational experience in either Finance, Accounting, ICT, Business, or Entrepreneurship
  
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment
  
• Willingness to experiment, try things out, fail fast, and learn constantly
  
• Knowledge of current techniques and procedures used in the design and development of curriculum
  
• Communication skills; both written and oral English
  
• Very detail-oriented and able to work independently
  
• Ability to develop long-term goals and objectives
  
• Ability to give and receive feedback
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with a university located in the East African Community (EAC)
  
• Experience working with a government education ministry within EAC
  
• Experience with assessment creation
  
• Experience evaluating the effectiveness of programs and making recommendations for improvements
  

Notes: Candidates will be asked to submit work samples they worked on such as syllabi, assessments, lesson plans, etc.

Reports to: Director of Academic Partnerships