We offer a job with a high responsibility for supporting the educational programme committees (EPCs) and guarding the quality assurance processes in a broad sense. You will be part of the Educational Development and Policy cluster in which you will be responsible for administrative support.

As EPC secretary, you ensure optimal support for the committees in the secretarial, administrative and organizational areas within the frameworks indicated by law or the faculty board. You are responsible for preparing, planning and taking minutes of the meetings, monitoring the implementation of decisions taken, communicating decisions to staff, students and other stakeholders, preparing periodic reports and archiving. You also ensure continuity in an EPC (which regularly changes in composition of members) by putting recurring topics on the agenda every year. You also coordinate the recruitment of new members. On a policy and legal level, you work together with the education policy officer who has the EPCs in his portfolio. As secretary, you are not officially a member of the EPC.

Your biggest responsibility as the secretary quality assurance processes is to carry out the educational evaluation. This means monitoring deadlines, communicating about the quality assurance with stakeholders, and supporting staff during the various steps in the process. As well as the coordination of course evaluations, such as sending out surveys and reporting the results. You also initiate and organize Focus Groups (panel discussions) with students and you provide support in drawing up improvement plans by the staff.

The Educational Development and Policy cluster stands for theory-based and data-driven support to all FASoS (educational) staff. In particular the Faculty Board, Programme Directors, and of course the Educational Programme Committees. Our aim is to optimize education at FASoS by collaborating with the relevant stakeholders. You work together with support staff, academic (teaching) staff, and students to achieve high-level education at FASoS. This includes guiding Programme Directors in all QA processes.

The position of secretary is closely linked to those of the other staff members in the team. Within this team, you are also prepared to support other activities and projects in an administrative and facilitating way. For example: preparation of annual discussions between the Faculty Board and Programme Directors, practical support with accreditations, organizational support for teacher professionalization.

We are looking for an independent, proactive team player who likes to support academic staff/content experts on quality assurance processes surrounding education. You are sensitive to stakeholder interests and you can think out of the box when it comes to solving problems.

You,

• have relevant experience as a secretary in a higher education environment and you have a good sense for (educational) processes;
• have experience with project-based and independent work and you are a good organizer;
• are analytical with a sense of hierarchical relationships
• are accurate and you have a proactive, positive attitude towards administrative work.
• have good oral and written communication skills in Dutch and English: level C1. (The working language in the committees is often English due to international staff and students; policy documents and laws are often in Dutch.)
• are a real team player with an open, accessible and proactive attitude and you take responsibility for both giving and receiving feedback to further improve cooperation and processes.
• have affinity with the education offered by FASoS.

We offer a dynamic and challenging job in an internationally oriented organisation where people receive an advanced education and scholars conduct exciting research.

Specifically, we offer an 0,8 fte – 1,0 fte appointment for 1 year. Thereafter, in case of good performance and equal prospects for the faculty, a tenure appointment will be offered.

Remuneration will be according to standard salary levels, depending on education and relevant work experience, in salary scale 9 (between 3.098,00 and a maximum of € 4257,00  gross per month, based on a fulltime appointment) according to the collective labour agreement (CAO) of Dutch Universities (UFO-Profile Secretary, level 2).

Each year the standard salary is supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.

(A preliminary scale might apply in case you have yet to develop certain professional skills.)

You have to be willing to move to (the vicinity of) Maastricht. If you do not already live in Maastricht (or its direct surroundings), you will be eligible for an allowance for moving costs. If you do not already live in Maastricht (or its direct surroundings), you might be eligible for an allowance for alternative housing.

Other secondary conditions include e.g. a pension scheme and partially paid parental leave.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > About UM > Working at UM.

Maastricht University

Profile of Maastricht University

UM is a European university with an international orientation, operating at the heart of society and firmly rooted in the region. Ever since it was founded in 1976, the university has worked across borders, with a particular focus on the Euregion. Here, we connect education and research internationally, analyse societal issues in their full breadth and reinforce the labour market through the triple-helix collaboration. We have an open and inclusive academic culture, an international community and a strong focus on innovative and interdisciplinary education and research. Our community is composed of students, lecturers, researchers, support staff, and alumni.

As the pre-eminent European university in the Netherlands, our core values
are diversity and inclusion, sustainability, mutual respect, integrity, democratic principles, and transparency. We take our social responsibility seriously by forging links between the university and society, from the local to the global level. Moreover, as a solid and resilient international community, we hold ourselves accountable for the future of our world. This entails paying special attention to the urgent challenges of the 21st century, such as securing a sustainable future for our society.

UM is committed to promoting and nurturing a diverse and inclusive community (https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/about-um/diversity-inclusivity). We believe that diversity in our staff and student population contributes to the quality of research and education at UM and strive to enable this through inclusive policies and innovative projects led by teams of staff and students. We encourage you to apply for this position regardless of your background or identity.

More on the mission and strategy of UM: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/about-um/organisation/mission-strategy

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

In the teaching and research at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), we highlight major developments in societies and cultures as they have unfolded during the modern and contemporary eras. We seek to gain understanding of the interrelationships of Europeanisation, globalisation, scientific and technological development, political change, and cultural innovation. We are interested in how today’s societies cope with these challenges through, amongst others, practices of remembrance, governance techniques, strategies for managing knowledge, technologies, and risks and ways of dealing with diversity and inequality. Yet, understanding our present world is impossible without insight into its past. This is why historical research serves as a key element of our scholarly and educational identity.

FASoS has ca. 270 staff members and ca. 1,730 students. More than 77% of our students are non-Dutch (65 different nationalities) and 42% of our staff comes from abroad. All programmes are offered in English. FASoS offers four 3-year Bachelor’s programmes: Arts and Culture, European Studies, Digital Society, and Global Studies. It also offers eight different 1-year MA programmes and two 2-year ReMA programmes. Research is organised around four programmes: Politics and Culture in Europe; Science, Technology and Society Studies; Arts, Media and Culture; and Globalisation, Transnationalism and Development. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is housed in the historic city centre of Maastricht.

Further information on the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is available on our website: www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fasos.