Associate Professor/ Professor (Permanent Appointment) and Director: Institute for Groundwater Studies needed at University of the Free State

Duties and responsibilities:

Associate Professor/ Professor

• Present undergraduate and postgraduate modules.
• Actively do research in a relevant field of Geohydrology.
• Synthesise knowledge through the publication of scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.
• Communicate research findings at scientific conferences.
• Source funding for research from international and national funding organisations.
• Participate actively in the professional community.
• Supervise postgraduate students at master’s and PhD levels.
• Participate actively in leadership and administration at Departmental and Faculty levels.

Academic Head of Department

Leadership

• Provide academic leadership and development in an academic department by creating and executing strategies to establish the department as a leader in the discipline.
• Develop an overall operational plan for the department in consultation with the Dean.
• Give academic leadership and direct department scholarship, teaching, and standards.
• Take leadership of programme accreditation and ensure national and international accreditation maintenance.
• Promote intellectual vigor and rigor in the disciplines of the department.
• Provide research leadership in the department.
• Influence the department’s overall climate and culture and grow the department into a well-functioning academic unit.
• Contribute to faculty leadership by representing the interests of the department at the faculty board, Senate, and other University structures.
• Provide leadership in the marketing of the department’s programme and assist in establishing collaborations with external parties.

General Management

• Develop various plans and execute them continuously, including Equity Plans.
• Monitor that areas of improvement identified are affected.
• Organize and co-ordinate staff, students, and activities.
• Mentor, develop and motivate staff.
• Structure and exercise overall control in the department.
• Create an atmosphere of consensus among staff.
• Communicate effectively internally and externally.
• Participate in faculty management structures.
• Lead and attend meetings.
• Lead project teams.
• Drive academic planning and development.
• Initiate, formulate and implement a visionary academic strategy for the department that is aligned with and supportive of the guiding strategic documents of the UFS and faculty.
• Manage facilities, equipment, and other department assets.
• Develop and manage the department risk register.
• Plan, manage and/or make recommendations with regard to staff leave applications.

Teaching, learning and students

• Ensure the provision of top-quality, research-informed facilitation of learning at all levels of teaching in the department.
• Ensure the enhancement of student experiences and their continuous engagement in academic debates.
• Ensure that adequate rules and regulations are in place and adhered to in order to optimally deliver high-quality teaching and learning programmes on both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
• Ensure quality and timely feedback on student work is provided.
• Ensure proper and quality-driven academic advice and support to all undergraduate and postgraduate students in the department.
• Manage the teaching and assessment quality enhancement processes in the department.
• Ensure that programme accreditation minimum criteria are maintained or exceeded.
• Manage curricula development and reviews and ensure the relevance of content, material and presentation in all modules to help position the department as a leader in the fraternity.
• Oversee the development of new programmes or offerings in order to remain relevant.
• Ensure nominations of examiners and moderators are made.
• Consult with staff and students at regular intervals.
• Teach and supervise research students up to NQF Level 10.

Research management

• Develop and maintain a visionary research strategy for the department.
• Create an environment that encourages research, leading to strong and active research practices and outputs.
• Ensure that every academic staff member is engaged in quality-driven, discipline-specific and scholarly research.
• Attract postgraduate students to broaden the research base of the department. 
• Ensure ethical research requirements are met.
• Support and assist emerging researchers.
• Guide and support senior academics towards acquiring NRF ratings.

Human resources management

• Build effective teams in the department.
• Plan and implement a fair and reasonable workload of staff members in the department.
• Monitor the progress of staff probation and manage staff performance as well as appraisals in accordance with existing university policies and procedures.
• Recruit and select staff  for vacancies and/or specific strategic needs.
• Create and maintain a scholarship-friendly environment in the department.
• Plan, drive and oversee effective and relevant staff development.
• Attend to and/or delegate routine academic and administrative matters.
• Manage academic and support staff in accordance with UFS HR rules and policies. Ensure a good flow of information to staff.

Financial and physical resources management

• Take ultimate responsibility for financial management, including, annual budgeting, financial planning, allocation of funds and financial control.
• Adhere to the UFS’s financial policies and procedures.
• Encourage and support academic staff members to apply for external research and other grants.

Inherent Job Requirements

​​​​​Associate Professor

• PhD on NQF Level 10 in Geohydrology.
• Proven experience of third-stream income generation and industry engagement.
• Experience as an external examiner for postgraduate students.
• Proven experience in presenting research papers at national conferences, where there is evidence of peer review of papers.
• Acted as an editorial board member of high-quality national scholarly journals.
• Proven national recognition for specialist expertise and research leadership in a specific scientific area of scholarship.
• An NRF rating of C3 or equivalent status.
• A proven research record of relevant publications in national and international accredited journals
• Proven experience in the supervision of graduated master’s degree students.
• Served as a member of a national scholarly society OR a national committee or agency concerned with research at higher education levels OR showed evidence of service as an active member of an international equivalent

Professor

• PhD on NQF Level 10 in Geohydrology.
• Proven experience of third-stream income generation and industry engagement.
• Experience as an external examiner for master’s degree and doctoral students.
• Acted as an editorial board member of high-quality international/lSI/IBSS journals.
• Proven international recognition for specialist expertise and research leadership in a particular area of academic scholarship (for example, regularly serves as a reviewer for international/lSI/IBSS journals).
• An NRF rating of C1 or C2 or equivalent status.
• Demonstrated successful supervision of graduated master’s-degree and preferably graduated doctoral students.
• Proven experience in delivering keynote addresses at national scholarly conferences.
• Served as a member of an international scholarly society OR an international committee or agency concerned with research at higher education levels.

Recommendations:

• Experience in successful programme accreditation management.
• Experience in research conference organisation.
• Ability to generate external research income.
• Registration with relevant professional bodies or ability to demonstrate that registration can be achieved with reasonable time.
• Experience in scholarly engagements such as industry or community service and editorial roles in journals.
• Awareness of technological, environmental, and socioeconomic issues in the built environment sector and the role of the university in addressing such.
• Experience in managing resources including people.
• Experience in administrative duties in a tertiary institution.
• Awareness of current developments and debates in tertiary education and in the built environment and the implications of these
• Knowledge of emerging technologies in learning and teaching Ability to manage change in a department and monitor and evaluate its impact.
• Knowledge of DHET, CHE and NQF policies and regulations
• Knowledge of professional programme accreditation guidelines
• At least 5 years’ experience of management of staff and resources (taking lead roles, planning, monitoring, and evaluation).
• Record of active involvement in Professional or Scholarly bodies or entities.
• Record of impactful research including publication in accredited international journals and teaching experience including student supervision at NQF level 10 at an institution of higher learning.