Marshall Scholarships & British Council Education Lead

Main Purpose Of Job

The British Government’s Embassy in Washington has an exciting opportunity for a dynamic person to join the Communications Team as the Marshall Scholarships & British Council Education Lead. This is an exciting opportunity working at the intersection of higher education, communications and diplomacy, at a time of strategic growth and development for the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission (MACC) and of renewed interest of UK Education sector in the USA.

The US Network offers a unique career enhancing opportunity and is committed to supporting its staff through a variety of benefits including generous leave, insurance packages and a highly competitive 401k programme. It also promotes a culture of flexibility which enables people to better maintain wellness through an excellent work/life balance approach that encompasses hybrid working, including working from home and flexible hours, where possible. In this role you would be working in a diverse international environment side-by-side with UK diplomats, armed forces personnel and other country-based staff operating across the British Government’s network of Consulates and Government Offices in the United States. This network provides a platform for approximately 30 Government departments and agencies to conduct their work in the United States and is made up of over 900 staff with a rich and diverse background, skill sets, and experiences.

This post will be responsible for two areas of work. It will devote half of the time to the leading and implementing the Marshall Scholarships. The other half will be dedicated to managing and developing UK-USA education connections, developing education insights and maximising the value of British Council managed UK programmes in the USA. It will set annual KPIs in collaboration with both the Marshall Commission and the British Council.

Role

This role will deliver the Marshall Scholarship programme including overseeing the US based Marshalls selection process, drive US communications, and outreach and stakeholder engagement. Based in Washington DC, the post-holder will be part of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission (MACC) Secretariat team, which is located in the UK and oversees administration of the Marshall Scholarships. The post-holder will report to the MACC CEO and work closely with the Head of Strategic Communications & Public Diplomacy at the British Embassy in Washington, concentrating on US-focused activity. Specific areas of work will include:

• Lead promotion and outreach with faculty, students and relevant stakeholders at universities and education non-profits across the US;
• Manage alumni engagement, coordinating and supporting the scholarship outreach application and selection process with UK consulates
• Oversee the creation and execution of the pre-departure orientation programme for selected Marshall Scholars;
• Other activities as assigned pertinent to the support of Marshall Scholars and successful delivery of the Marshall Scholarship programme.
  
  

As Education Lead, the postholder will play a critical role in securing UK presence in key education fora in the USA and be the main to US education sectors, ensuring that we provide relevant insights from the UK Education sector into the USA’s market; in coordination with other UK actors, create and implement Education related activities through a portfolio of British Council-managed programmes that are generally delivered on behalf of UK government departments or other local funders; strengthen our position in the USA Education markets and strategise and action new areas for bilateral collaboration, contributing to higher corporate strategic priorities, while promoting mutual benefit to the UK and US.

The role will ensure all activity and engagement initiatives uphold quality standards and evaluate a highly impactful portfolio of British Council-managed programmes in the USA. The USA portfolio is part of a global portfolio, which is managed in the Americas by a pool of programme leads and delivery teams dispersed in different locations of the Americas region and in the UK.

The role holder will serve as regional leadership in developing a viable strategy for Education collaboration in the USA, taking into account local demand, FCDO priorities, innovative financial models, and prioritising key local stakeholder engagement. It expected that role holder will be asked to fulfil institutional representation duties for the whole of the office operation and occasional administrative.

As a key member of the Marshall Secretariat located in the US, the post-holder will make a clear contribution to the continued success and future development of the UK government’s flagship scholarship programme for American graduates, and will play a key role in mapping new areas for collaboration.

Roles And Responsibilities

For Marshall Scholarships Programme:

• Working lockstep with the British Embassy’s Communications Teams and the MACC Secretariat to strategise and implement stakeholder engagement campaigns which will enhance awareness of the Marshall Scholarships programme and encourage applications from a wide and diverse range of individuals and institutions across the United States. The role holder will develop and manage content to support such campaigns, including digital assets for social media and communications toolkits for outreach events and webinars, and will help manage MACC social media accounts.
• Helping coordinate and manage regional outreach efforts with eight British Consulates staff across the US in advance of the annual application process, which typically opens in May.
• Manage and map the programme’s relations with US stakeholders, including, the National Association of Fellowships Advisors (NAFA), and US colleges and universities, as well as expanding engagement with other partners such as educational non-profits.
• Helping to facilitate and coordinate the British Embassy’s Marshall Scholarship selection process within the US and assisting teams at over eight Consulates and the MACC with recruitment of Marshall Support officers at post, application assessors, members of reading committees and selection committee members (typically from May to November).
• Develop strategy with the Association of Marshall Scholars (AMS) to engage and monitoring of the 2,500+ Marshall alumni network throughout the US, monitoring and drawing attention to individual successes of Marshall alumni.
• Manage and build a network of relevant journalists and media organizations to develop opportunities to promote and secure attention on Marshall Scholarship successes in local, state and national media, including for the annual selection of a new class of Marshall Scholars in December each year.
• Serve as the point of contact in the US for guidance and support to prospective applicants and relevant university faculty throughout the application and selection process, including assisting with related queries.
• Lead reporting and data analysis related to the selection process, assisting with arrangements for and attending meetings as required, and some administrative tasks on an ad hoc basis such as updating databases and website copy. Managing own time to ensure relevant deadlines are met.
• Assisting with periodic events for newly-selected Marshall Scholars and alumni, in coordination with the Embassy, the Association of Marshall Scholars, and the MACC.
• Understanding the British Council’s values and contributing to an inclusive organisational culture, ensuring that people feel valued and are treated equitably, and supporting wellbeing.
• Any other related duties as set out by the line managers.
  
  

Sector/subject Expertise

For British Council Education Lead:

• Utilises Education expertise and insight from other sector stakeholders, opinion formers and funders to develop external and internal relationships, raise profile and firm up opportunities to strengthen ongoing and form new collaborations that will meet the specific needs of the country while also providing value to the UK missions in USA and a diverse range of UK Education organisations.
• Through ongoing relationships with the Global sector teams, builds and maintains good understanding of UK sector priorities as well as FCDO and other HMG priorities in country, providing expert input and pro-actively connecting across FCDO and British Council for the benefit of our key audiences, as students, professors and researchers, HEIs in the USA, and the UK.
• Represent British Council in the US as a credible authority in Education to external stakeholders and audiences.
• Provides input for up-to-date and well-informed senior-level briefings on current and emerging themes in Education, especially Higher Education.
• Identify and develop opportunities for the UK sectors to work in and collaborate with peers in country.
  
  

Leadership & management

• Actively collaborates with leads across the British Council network, empowering and enabling colleagues to collaborate on British Council-managed programmes, while promoting equity, diversity and inclusion. Connects regularly with regional Cultural Engagement leadership in Education and global programme teams delivering into the USA.
• Ensures all projects meet quality assurance British Council programmes, upholding delivery standards in country and managing issues and risks, and, when locally-sourced, partner agreements and supplier contracts.
• Occasionally, may be asked to manage small budgets for activity within country.
• Actively contributes to the EDI strategy (to mainstream EDI and become anti-racist in our cultures and practices within our organisation and in our programmes).
• Occasional support and troubleshooting for British Council-managed programmes delivered in Canada.
  
  

Strategy And/or Planning

• Lead planning process in Cultural Engagement’s client-funded portfolio in the USA and support British Council leadership in overall country planning. Portfolio of focus will include British Council-managed science, research collaborations, student recruitment, and mobility programmes.
• Develop internal relationships across Cultural Engagement to ensure strategic objectives are aligned, understood and achieved
• Manages and maintains critical country partner relationships relevant to the British Council, with a focus on Education but occasionally Arts stakeholders as well, to maintain an excellent understanding of relevant themes and issues in Education. Uses this insight to identify new opportunities and partnerships for the British Council, and build favourability for the UK.
• Builds a broad, diverse and dynamic network of key sector representatives in country and a range of sector institutional relationships that will help open doors for exchange work with UK.
• Serves as a British Council representative externally and internally.
  
  

Brand And Market Positioning

• Promotes through strategic engagement and communications the diversity of the UK Education and the Arts sectors in country, promoting British Council online offers.
• Ensures that British Council’s reputation for quality and as a valued not-for-profit partner remains high and contributes to our organisational mission of building trust between the UK and other countries.
• Collaborates with colleagues and experts in the regional/UK-based Cultural Engagement department to feed market/customer insights into the programme development planning cycle, to ensure the British Council’s offer is market relevant for the countries listed above and the UK, demand-led and consistent with the British Council and FCDO objectives.
• Develops internal and external communications materials to highlight impactful stories from the CE portfolio in country.
  
  

Business Development

• Creates strategy for business and partnership development for the portfolio, aligning with country/regional and corporate priorities, systems and processes.
• Develops and manages relationships with strategic clients and partners.
• Applies due diligence requirements to potential partners.
• Coordinates research in country/regional context such as analysis of client and partner trends and opportunities. Embeds effective processes, standards and tools to support pipeline and consultant/partner relationship management and approvals.
• When and if aligned to regional strategy, manages or supports the development of high-quality bids/ proposals and participates in contract negotiations with partners and clients, and prepares agreements such as non-disclosure, pre-bid, contract and partner and consultant agreements.
• Ensures timely reporting and communication on externally funded contracts/grant funded initiatives.
• Participates in programme and project reviews and closure activities, helping to ensure learning is embedded in the development of new business.
  
  

Resources Managed

This will not be a supervisory position. Post holder would manage project expenditure delegated to them by line manager and comms team budget, and/or British Council or MACC project funds.