Example Career: Education Administrators, Postsecondary

Career Description

Plan, direct or coordinate research, instructional, student administration and services and other educational activities at postsecondary institutions, including universities, colleges and junior and community colleges.

What Job Titles Education Administrators, Postsecondary Might Have

• Academic Dean
• Dean
• Provost
• Registrar

What Education Administrators, Postsecondary Do

• Advise students on issues such as course selection, progress toward graduation, and career decisions.
• Direct, coordinate, and evaluate the activities of personnel, including support staff engaged in administering academic institutions, departments or alumni organizations.
• Recruit, hire, train, and terminate departmental personnel.
• Participate in student recruitment, selection, and admission, making admissions recommendations when required to do so.
• Formulate strategic plans for the institution.
• Plan, administer, and control budgets, maintain financial records, and produce financial reports.
• Establish operational policies and procedures and make any necessary modifications, based on analysis of operations, demographics, and other research information.
• Participate in faculty and college committee activities.
• Represent institutions at community and campus events, in meetings with other institution personnel, and during accreditation processes.
• Promote the university by participating in community, state, and national events or meetings, and by developing partnerships with industry and secondary education institutions.
• Appoint individuals to faculty positions, and evaluate their performance.
• Direct activities of administrative departments, such as admissions, registration, and career services.
• Assess and collect tuition and fees.
• Teach courses within their department.
• Consult with government regulatory and licensing agencies to ensure the institution's conformance with applicable standards.
• Coordinate the production and dissemination of university publications, such as course catalogs and class schedules.
• Develop curricula, and recommend curricula revisions and additions.
• Determine course schedules, and coordinate teaching assignments and room assignments to ensure optimum use of buildings and equipment.
• Provide assistance to faculty and staff in duties such as teaching classes, conducting orientation programs, issuing transcripts, and scheduling events.
• Write grants to procure external funding, and supervise grant-funded projects.
• Review registration statistics, and consult with faculty officials to develop registration policies.
• Review student misconduct reports requiring disciplinary action, and counsel students regarding such reports.
• Direct and participate in institutional fundraising activities, and encourage alumni participation in such activities.
• Plan and promote sporting events and social, cultural, and recreational activities.
• Confer with other academic staff to explain and formulate admission requirements and course credit policies.
• Direct scholarship, fellowship, and loan programs, performing activities such as selecting recipients and distributing aid.
• Audit the financial status of student organizations and facility accounts.

What Education Administrators, Postsecondary Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Education Administrators, Postsecondary Need to Learn

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.