Position Details
External Relations
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,062 to £31,900, with potential progression once in post to £35,883
Grade: 5
Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to 12 months
Closing date: 20 th July 2026
Our offer to you
People are at the heart of what we are and do.
The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.
We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.
We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.
Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.
The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.
Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham
Background
The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.
External Relations delivers the University of Birmingham to the world. Whether it's outstanding awareness raising campaigns, recruiting and admitting students or developing strategic links with international partners, External Relations are at the heart of the activity.
External Relations is comprised of nine teams which help drive delivery of the University’s strategic framework. External Relations communicates with Birmingham’s many different audiences in order to build purposeful relationships internally, locally, nationally, and globally. We enable those who wish to apply to study on undergraduate and postgraduate courses to make informed choices whilst ensuring our partnerships, profile and reputation reflects the success of the University and delivers impact. External Relations sits within the University’s Professional Services structure which provides outstanding support to our researchers, enables an exceptional educational experience for our students, and helps the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally.
External Relations drives forward crucial strategic developments to maximise competitive advantage for the University and support flagship institutional projects.
The Outreach team are responsible for supporting the entry to the University of students from underrepresented groups. We also work with the Student Recruitment and Admissions team to develop, promote and fulfil the University-wide recruitment and admissions policy and strategy for undergraduate and postgraduate students. This involves a wide range of activities including supporting University representation at higher education fairs throughout the country and in-particular in the West Midlands and other identified areas, co-ordinating visits to schools and colleges, receiving incoming visits from school pupils, teachers, careers officers and school leaders, and planning and delivering programmes for students in identified groups.
Role Summary
The Outreach team at the University of Birmingham is looking for a recent University of Birmingham graduate to join our busy team as an Outreach Events Assistant on a one-year fixed term contract.
The Outreach team works with students at schools and colleges across the West Midlands and nationwide, providing them with information, advice and guidance about higher education. Our programmes and activities are designed to help students raise their aspirations and feel confident about applying to, and succeeding in, university level study. We work with over 250 partner schools and colleges, hosting visits for school groups and presenting at events in school.
This will be an active, varied and hands-on role which will involve supporting the Outreach team in their work with schools and colleges across the West Midlands region and also with our nationwide partners. You will be working with school groups, hosting visits for students on campus, visiting schools and colleges across the region and country to speak to students and teachers, and supporting the delivery of events for students on our outreach programmes.
The role will provide opportunities for you to develop your communication, project management and decision-making skills. You will be able to take ownership of different projects and events under guidance and supervision.
The main duties of this post will include:
- Events – preparing for and delivering events for students and teachers, including on and off campus events
- Public speaking – delivering talks to students and teachers
- Project management – taking responsibility for a wide range of administrative tasks and duties to contribute to the overall success of projects
Main Duties
- Delivering talks and presentations to school/college groups from across the wider West Midlands area.
- Providing information, advice and guidance relating to higher education and the University of Birmingham.
- Preparing resources for school talks to suit the needs of the audience.
- Liaising with contacts in schools and colleges to arrange the visits.
- Attending careers and HE fairs across the region held in schools and colleges and also those delivered by partner organisations.
- Leading on-campus visits by school and college groups and preparing resources for students to use at these events.
- Supporting the general running of events including completing tasks in advance of events and helping the smooth running of events on the day.
- Supporting Senior Outreach Officers and Outreach Officer with events-related tasks. You will be responsible for all aspects of event administration, including devising promotional materials, social media posts and management, organising invitations and monitoring responses, venue identification and booking, and booking catering. You will need to co-ordinate with colleagues in order to ensure smooth and successful delivery of events.
- Communicating via email with teachers and students. You will deal with a wide range of more complex enquiries and correspondence independently, or exercising judgement to redirect them to senior colleagues or other departments within the University.
- Evaluating events and sharing information about events on Outreach systems. You will devise methods to ensure the University receives targeted feedback from attendees; you will consider this and make recommendations for future events.
- You will be responsible for recording event statistics and measuring these against agreed key performance indicators (KPIs) such as achieving attendance rates, cost per head targets, etc.
- Supporting student recruitment events at the University including Open Days and more general HE Fairs organised by UCAS and other organisations.
- Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- A recent undergraduate degree from the University of Birmingham, or currently studying for an undergraduate degree with placement year at the University of Birmingham, with the ability to use this experience to demonstrate your knowledge and enthusiasm of Birmingham to prospective students.
- Effective public speaker with the ability to engage varied audiences.
- Excellent communication skills with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
- Excellent interpersonal skills whether dealing with students, academic staff, external organisations or other members of the office team.
- Confident in liaising with different audiences including students, teachers and parents.
- Confident user of technology including Excel, PowerPoint, Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
- Have a passion and enthusiasm for higher education, and be willing to share your experiences with others.
- Understanding of the widening participation agenda and the work of university Outreach teams.
- Aptitude to prioritise own workload, decide on short term priorities to complete all tasks accurately and to a routinely high standard even when working to challenging and/or conflicting deadlines.
- Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work.
- Willingness to engage and the ability to empathise with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds.
- Willingness and enthusiasm to travel to schools and colleges across the wider West Midlands area and across the entire country as required.
- Awareness of Safeguarding issues.
- Willingness to work at events in the evenings and on weekends.
- Valid driving license and/or ability to drive independently.
- Ability to understand policy and procedures and how to apply these.
- Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
- Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.
Desirable:
- Previous experience of working with young people.
- Previous experience of promoting the University of Birmingham e.g., as a Student Ambassador or working on Open Days.
- Previous experience of participating in a Pathways to Birmingham programme prior to studying at Birmingham.
DBS required
The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.
Informal enquiries to Elizabeth Chandler, email: [email protected]
View our staff values and behaviours here
Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.
We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .
