About the UK Council for International Student Affairs 

The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) supports international students and the institutions, students' unions and organisations who work with them. 

Each year, we directly support thousands of international students. We provide advice, training and policy guidance to over 400 members, which includes every university in the UK, many further education colleges, independent schools and students' unions. 

Further information about us and the services we provide can be found on our website: ukcisa.org.uk  

About the Policy Coordinator

Contract type: Permanent and hybrid contract at 35 hours a week (flexible working patterns available).  

Salary:  £22, 773 - £24,167 (dependent on experience) plus generous pension contribution.

We are looking for a Policy Coordinator to support UKCISA’s authoritative policy, advice and advocacy work. This is a new role and will support processes and action relating to the organisation’s work on issues related to international students.  Working within the Advice and Training team, the Policy Coordinator will support colleagues who analyse relevant legislation impacting international students, including student immigration. This work feeds into delivery of UKCISA’s core services – its advice to members and the public, its specialist training and its significant policy and advocacy work. 

The Policy Coordinator will support influential and responsive liaison and advocacy, particularly on immigration policy and its interaction with international student experience. This will include monitoring trends from UKCISA’s advisory services and collating evidence from UKCISA’s diverse membership on issues impacting international students and those who work with them. The role will also provide essential support and administrative assistance to colleagues within the team. This includes updating UKCISA’s online information and advice and assisting in communicating key messages and policy briefs internally and to our members.  

UKCISA’s Advice and Training function is a small team dedicated to providing advice and making technical legislation and guidance accessible to international students and key stakeholders. Our work is pre-emptive, reactionary and detailed and the Policy Coordinator will be key to facilitating our work and aiding our efficiency. 

Applications

Application Deadline: Monday 31 March 2025 at 4pm BST

Provisional Dates for Online Interview: Wednesday 30 April 2025 and Friday 2 May 2025.

For any queries about the role, including questions about reasonable adjustments, please email: recruitment@ukcisa.org.uk

Core Responsibilities

• Providing administrative support for UKCISA’s advocacy and advice work, including saving and archiving of legislation and guidance, and managing processes that support UKCISA’s advice and online publications. 

• Consulting with Members and collating responses to inform UKCISA’s liaison and advocacy with government departments. 

• Administrative support for meetings with UKCISA’s stakeholders eg practitioners networks, including convening and notetaking. 

• Support advisers to maintain UKCISA’s online information for members and students. 

• Analysing law, guidance and policy relating to UKCISA’s core advisory themes, in line with relevant experience. 

• Collecting data from UKCISA’s advisory services and members’ forum, identifying and reporting on trends to the team to inform action.  

• Collating, analysing, and writing key developments and changes relating to student immigration, including statistics taken from the Home Office's migration transparency data and migration statistics in UKCISA’s online Manual for members. 

• Collating and sharing policy relating to or impacting international students to colleagues across the organisation, and with Members, as appropriate.  

• Providing the Head of Advice with administrative support relating to UKCISA’s compliance with the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA). 

• Attending and supporting the delivery and dissemination of member events including Annual conference, working with the Training and Events Manager, as required.  

• Attending external events, reporting on event content and producing policy summaries for dissemination across the organisation.  

• Working with UKCISA’s Communications team to disseminate relevant content to members and stakeholders, where relevant. 

• Support the drafting of UKCISA annual publications by providing data and content, as required.  

  About You

This is a broad role that covers many areas of legislation and policy relating to international students and their experiences in the UK. While much of the role will have a focus on immigration, we do not expect you to have professional knowledge of this. Instead, we are looking for a dynamic team member who can work collaboratively with a diverse group of stakeholders, and who has a willingness to take on more complex tasks. We are a supportive team and can provide you with training and support needed. 

Key criteria: 

• Excellent communication skills, and the ability to communicate to inform and influence different audiences. 

• Strong attention to detail, and the ability to work proactively and reactively, to produce accurate work at pace. 

• Strong analytical skills, with experience of analysing qualitative and quantitative information and data to provide insight to external and internal audiences. 

• Skilled in building effective working relationships and working in close collaboration with colleagues and external stakeholders. 

• Experience of advice, policy or advocacy work.  

• Excellent IT skills including MS Office, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Docs, with the ability to recommend innovative actions for effective communication and knowledge sharing. 

• Highly organised and able to work independently, while knowing when to seek appropriate guidance and support.  

• A commitment to UKCISA’s vision and mission, and a keen interest in policy related to the international student experience in UK education.  

Desirable: 

• Experience of working within a membership organisation, education provider or students’ union. 

• Interest and understanding of student immigration and/or international student experience. 

• Knowledge or experience of international higher education.

  Working for UKCISA 

  UKCISA offers a supportive, reflective work culture where all the staff team are active participants in the shaping of the organisation. We’re a charity in an exciting period of transition, offering a unique opportunity to be part of meaningful change for us and the sector. 

  We are currently working on a hybrid basis. Our staff mainly work from home, but we have an office in London for collaborative work and for staff who want access to an office space. We also meet in person for regular all- staff days in London. We welcome applications from throughout the UK, as long as you are able to join us in London for one day every two months.  

  Travel to member and student events across the UK, including overnight travel, is occasionally required and costs for these are covered by UKCISA. 

  Visa requirements:  

  We are unable to sponsor visas for this role, so you must have the right to work in the UK. 

  Staff benefits include: 

  • A generous staff pension as part of the USS Pension Scheme. 

  • Annual leave allowance of 25 days plus bank holidays and additional discretionary leave between Christmas and New Year. 

  • Eye tests and contribution to prescription glasses (conditions apply). 

  • An employee assistance programme.  

  • A commitment to learning and development, including 3 days personal development leave.  

  • Free flu jab.