Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academic Affairs

Academic Strategy & Leadership:

• Participate in the formulation and implementation of SUAD’s overall vision and strategy, contributing to institutional decision-making to ensure delivery of short-, medium-, and long-term objectives.
• Provide the Vice Chancellor accurate and clear information to enable sound and data-informed decision making
• Provide leadership to the Academic division by setting and directing on the vision and mission of both the University and the division, to ensure that all direct reports are aware of what they are required to achieve and how they are performing against their objectives
• Lead the development and execution of the University’s academic strategy, co-developing the Academic Division’s strategic framework with the Provost and integrating departmental strategies in full alignment with the University’s strategic plan.
• Ensure vertical alignment across academic departments and horizontal integration with interfacing divisions to promote institutional coherence.
• Ensures clear delegation and accountability through the Provost and Director of Student Experience
• Promotes a culture of academic integrity, excellence, collaboration and student success
• Manage the day-to-day operations of the division providing guidance, encouraging teamwork and facilitating related professional work processes in order to achieve high performance standards
• Drive academic innovation, program development, and portfolio optimization, ensuring coherence between academic programs, research ambitions, and student experience objectives.
• Support the Vice Chancellor in shaping the University’s long-term academic positioning, partnerships, and institutional growth.

Academic and para-academic Governance, Quality Assurance & Accreditation:

• Maintain ultimate accountability for academic standards, degree compliance and integrity, and regulatory alignment with the national standards and laws and Mother Universities.
• Ensure that academic regulations, assessment frameworks, and accreditation standards are upheld across the institution.
• Oversee institutional and program accreditation cycles, ensuring successful reviews, renewals, and continuous regulatory alignment
• Ensure institutional readiness for audits, external evaluations, and quality reviews.
• Ensure the effectiveness of academic governance structures (Academic Management Committee, committees, and other ad hoc commissions & taskforces) to uphold academic integrity and decision-making rigor.
• Monitor program performance, academic KPIs, and quality metrics to drive continuous improvement and institutional excellence.
• Report on academic and student experience performance to the Board of Trustees and relevant academic bodies.
• Monitor performance, quality standards, and compliance with the requirements of the Mother Universities and Board of Trustees

Academic Programs & Departments:

• Lead the development and strategic direction of Academic Programs in collaboration with the Vice Chancellor and the Provost, ensuring alignment of learning, teaching, and assessment with the University’s strategic plan and the standards of the Mother Universities.
• Provide leadership and strategic oversight to Heads of Academic Departments, ensuring effective academic planning, high-quality teaching delivery, and rigorous assessment practices.
• Oversee program operations, resource allocation, faculty workload planning, and income generation to support institutional sustainability and performance objectives.
• Review and endorse, with the Provost, program content, ensuring appropriate regional adaptation while maintaining full alignment with the academic requirements of Paris and other Mother Universities.
• Identify and evaluate opportunities, with the Provost, for new academic programs based on market intelligence, and present strategic recommendations to senior management and the Board for approval.
• Monitor program performance, student outcomes, and academic KPIs, ensuring continuous improvement and academic excellence.
• Foster interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation across departments to strengthen the University’s academic portfolio.
• Act as senior academic adviser to the Vice Chancellor and Board of Trustees on program-related matters to support informed strategic decision-making.

Student Experience Division:

• Provide strategic oversight of the Student Experience Division, led by the Director of Student Experience, ensuring full alignment with the University's academic vision and strategic plan.
• Oversee and validate the Division's strategic and operational plans, including major policies, structural developments, and resource planning proposals.
• Through the Director of the Student Experience Division, ensure effective supervision of the Registrar (including Exams), Student Affairs, and Library functions

Registrar (including Exams):

• Ensure the integrity and accuracy of academic records, enrolment, progression, and graduation processes.
• Oversee examination management, assessment coordination, and degree certification in compliance with Mother University and regulatory standards.
• Ensure that examinations are conducted in accordance with the rules set by the relevant Exam Boards, guarantee equal conditions for all candidates, and enforce academic integrity procedures, including the prevention and control of cheating.
• Maintain full regulatory compliance of academic administrative processes.

Student Affairs:

• Ensure delivery of student life and engagement initiatives (clubs, sports, cultural programming), housing and wellbeing services, and Career Centre activities including internships and employability initiatives.
• Promote student wellbeing, engagement, and retention through structured support services and co-curricular programming.

Library:

• Oversee the development of the academic resource strategy and learning support services.
• Ensure alignment of collections, digital resources, and research support services with academic program requirements.
• Ensure coherence between academic programs and student-facing services to deliver an integrated, compliant, and high-quality academic and student experience that supports student success and a cohesive student journey

Representation:

• Represent the Academics division and SUAD on internal and external bodies, governance committees and boards, including attendance at local, regional and international activities; ensuring the division/University is represented appropriately.

Budgeting:

• Implement the budgets and business plans approved by the Board of Trustees
• Oversee and is accountable for the allocation of financial resources within the division, ensuring that funds are allocated efficiently and effectively to support key activities.
• Ensures and Maintains Financial sustainability of academic programmes
• Monitor the division’s financial performance versus the set budget so that areas of unsatisfactory performance are identified and rectified promptly and potential performance improvement opportunities are capitalized upon
• Monitor the divisional expenditures throughout the fiscal year and take proactive measures to control costs, address budgetary discrepancies, and reallocate resources as needed.
• Provide regular reports with accurate data required to build the budget of the Academic Division and assessment of its utilization

People Development:

• Develop direct reports through setting individual development objectives, reviewing performance and providing ongoing formal and informal feedback and appraisal in order to maximize subordinate and divisional performance

Policies and Procedures:

• Endorse the Academic division policies covering all areas to ensure all relevant procedural/legislative requirements are fulfilled, in collaboration with Institutional Planning & Effectiveness and the Compliance departments
• Communicate the requirement of operational policies and procedures to direct reports and monitor adherence so that work is carried out in a controlled manner

Reporting and Institutional Accountability:

• Performs annual performance evaluation for the direct reports
• Oversee the performance evaluation of the Academic Division
• Report academic performance, compliance status, and quality metrics to the Vice Chancellor and Board of Trustees.
• Serve as the primary academic liaison with the Mother Universities on academic governance matters.
• Ensure risk identification and mitigation in academic operations.
• Ensure that all divisional reports are prepared timely and accurately to meet University requirements, policies and standards

Related Assignments:

• Perform other related duties or assignments as directed by the Vice Chancellor.