Local University Guidance Counsellor

JOB PURPOSE

The University Guidance Counsellor (UGC) is responsible for all aspects of higher education guidance and applications made by students in the sixth form. As an important part of our team the UGC will provide professional support for staff in all related matters and forge strong working relationships with students, parents and university admissions team in order to provide the best possible guidance service.

KEY RESULTS AREA

ENGAGEMENT AND INTERACTION

Promote the values of our Aide Memoire in word and action

Be the first point of contact for parents and students, and to provide guidance for students

Promote the general progress and wellbeing of students

Alert appropriate staff to problems experienced by students

Communicated effectively with parents of students, liaising with other staff as appropriate

Contacting parents on role specific matters

Create an annual UGC development plan

Be involved in the organization and delivery of secondary events, festivals, House events, Assemblies and Friends of BIS

Contribute to BIS Weekly Highlights and other media articles when needed

Maintain high-quality displays in areas which support student learning as appropriate to University Guidance

Be responsible for personal health and safety, and know how to report H&S concerns

Understand staff and department handbooks as well as all policy and guidance documents

Lead on the development of UniFrog across the school

INDIVIDUAL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING

● Establish a personalized advising relationship to students in Year 11 – 13 to offer advice on the full

range of university guidance issues including:

● Resourcing for researching universities worldwide

● Country-specific and individual university application procedures

● Financial aid information, scholarship opportunities, and application procedures

● University planning and application procedures for gap–year and National Service plans

● University courses best suited to preferred career plans

● Strategies for strengthening academic and overall profile to ensure best possible application outcomes

● Individual feedback on multiple drafts of student’s personal statements

● Provide advice to year 9 students about appropriate IGCSE options

● Provide advice to year 11 students regarding IB options.

GROUP GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS, PARENTS AND STAFF

• Inform students, parents and staff about university systems worldwide.

• Plan and deliver information sessions for parents about university destinations and application

• procedures.

• Provide guidance for year 12 and 13 students through the university application process via

• group sessions

• Deliver workshops on personal statements and college/university essay writing.

• Provide guidance for Year 11 students on preliminary university exploration and

• university/course implications of their IB choices via group sessions

• Provide guidance and support for those students encouraged to take the HSD

• Participate in the advising process to support year 9 students in their IGCSE subject selection

• Provide information and presentations to the Secondary staff to raise awareness in matters

• relating to higher education and student subject choice

• Attend all parents’ evenings and events as directed by the Head of Secondary

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF UGC STAFF

● The UGC is responsible for creating a culture of review and reflection in their faculty and providing a

structure that supports all staff in developing their knowledge to support students.

● The UGC will follow the professional development processes of the school for the people they line manage.

This will include setting and agreeing specific targets with clear outcomes.

● The UGC should work with their teams to identify their training needs and help them develop a training plan

to meet these needs, this might be met by internal training or external courses.

RELATIONSHIP WITH UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES AND ORGANISATIONS

● Host visits from universities throughout the school year

● Develop and maintain ongoing relationships with university representatives to better advocate for the students.

● Attending University fairs when appropriate;

● Maintaining and developing contact with university admissions and liaison officers;

● Maintaining and developing relations with British Council and various consulate staff

● responsible for university promotions for their countries;

● Developing professional relationships with post-holders in other FOBISIA schools; Contributing to FOBISIA conferences;

● Organising and publicising university fairs for students and parents;

● Visiting different universities that are relevant to our students;

ADMINISTRATION AND COMMUNICATION

● Continue the ongoing development of systems to ensure timely writing and delivery of teacher

references

● Keep students and staff informed of relevant deadlines and support them through the varied application

process for multiple university destinations.

● Make full and effective use of appropriate software to support and manage student applications.

● Manage and track university applications made by students, including processing school- issued

supporting documents, following up with university representatives and troubleshooting as needed.

● Contribute to MAC to inform students, parents and staff about on and off campus events, university

information opportunities, deadlines and other tertiary information.

● Make counsellor recommendations for allocated student and manage the production of high- quality

subject teacher letters of recommendation.

● Write and check UCAS and other references before the final SSLT check.

● Coordinate the collection of predicted grades for university application purposes.

● Develop alumni records and support development of Alumni community in partnership with

the MAC team.

● Making presentations to parents at options evenings and other school events as required

● Any other reasonable task assigned by the Principal or Head of Secondary.

- Be approachable, warm, resilient and good humoured;

- Have excellent communication skills, both verbal and written;

- Have excellent organisational skills, being able to prioritise and manage a varied workload;

- Be proactive and seek guidance where necessary;

- Be numerate and accurate;

- Possess strong IT Skills;

- Fluent English Speaker

- Hold a current Criminal Background Check or International Police Check or equivalent for countries lived in outside of the UK tracing employment history for the previous 10 years; Compliance with visa requirements for working in Vietnam.

- The counsellor will have a bachelor’s degree in either Counselling, Social Work, Psychology, or another related field. Additionally, the counsellor must hold a postgraduate or similar level counselling qualification from a recognised and accredited national body which also includes sufficient counselling practise and sufficient supervised counselling hours.