University Guidance Project Manager at Nova Pioneer

ABOUT THE ROLE  

As University Guidance Project Manager you will work closely with the Director of Partnerships to rapidly begin designing and implementing our university guidance and counselling programme for university readiness, counseling, application support and placement. Our overriding goal will be to deliver great university admission outcomes for our first alumni cohort who will graduate from Nova Pioneer schools in Kenya and South Africa in late 2019. Working backward from that goal, you will build a roadmap for key relationships that need to fostered with university admissions officers and representative across the world and work with internal stakeholders to prepare the students to submit strong applications. Together with colleagues you will engage directly with students and families to understand and shape expectations and aspirations, help them take early action to get a step ahead with readiness, and make them feel supported. Prior experience in University guidance & counseling whilst a plus, is not a must.

The role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Specific responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

General

• Develop and execute an effective outreach strategy that will connect Nova Pioneer with the landscape of identified domestic and international universities for lasting relationships that will result in admission of Nova Pioneer students across geographies to these universities
• Develop an outreach and relationship building that will facilitate building relationships with organizations providing support to African students applying to international universities
• Ensure that the highest standards of identified best practices for university counseling, admissions support, and alumni support are communicated, implemented and adhered to by the different programme stakeholders at Nova Pioneer

Pre-Application

• Collaborate with learning team to ensure that the students successfully transition to university based on identified students’ career interests and potential courses of university study
• Implement all the initiatives designed to engage parents in the college search and financial aid processes, and bolster their ‘college knowledge’ in a timely fashion
• Run programmes within and without the academic year that support students in building portfolios (internship, community service, projects etc) that prepare them for the transition including college preparation entrance tests , essay writing and financial aid application verified/supervised by you
• Develop comprehensive training programmes for teachers and key programme implementation partners
• Develop playbooks to ensure that key processes are documented  and updated throughout

Application and Beyond

• Using developed systems ensure that students are preparing strong University applications and that teachers and other stakeholder are working within the specified timelines to deliver the targeted number of students to Universities
• Support students to identify and enroll for full-ride scholarships leveraging partner relationships and existing knowledge
• Implement student  transition using the student transition support protocol to ensure that selected students transition smoothly from the Nova Pioneer environment into their new universities
• Develop the building blocks and strategy of alumni engagement that will ensure continued collaboration and support of alumni through university

Other

Work with the Admissions team to streamline the Scholarship selection and application process for prospective Nova Pioneer students across Geographies

ABOUT YOU

• You are passionate about supporting students through their different post high-school pathways
• You have at least 3-5 years of work experience including significant independent project management experience
• Your past supervisors have consistently perceived you as a strong performer and have given you positive feedback on your analytical and communication skill set
• Experience working in college/university counseling or admissions preferred but not required
• You love building things, you sweat the small stuff, and you take pleasure in excellence more than credit or status

Our culture resonates deeply with your values—and in particular, you are excited to challenge yourself by embracing mutual vulnerability and a firehose of feedback