Associate Dean for academic quality, accreditations and partnerships

• Accreditation Bodies

Rome Business School

Rome Business School is one of the leading Business Schools in Italy which offers Master and MBA programs both on campus and online, as well as Executive Education training programs. We always maintain an international vision , and our mission is to train global leaders equipped to manage companies all over the world from an innovative and sustainable perspective .

Rome Business School is the most international Business School in Italy with more than 2.100 students per year coming from 161 countries , counting also with 269 university partnerships and agreements in 26 countries and 4 continents worldwide. Rome Business School is strongly connected with the world of work: +616 companies partner for networking, job opportunities and Master lectures.

Descripción de la oferta

The Associate Dean for Academic Quality, Accreditation & Partnerships is responsible for leading and developing Rome Business School's academic quality assurance, accreditation, university partnership and university-project functions.

The role is expected to build a robust and scalable academic quality framework capable of supporting the continued growth of RBS, the development of Bachelor and Master programmes, new university partnerships, official or university-validated programmes, and national and international accreditation processes.

The position combines academic leadership, quality governance, external relationship management and project execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Academic Quality Governance
• Lead the development and continuous improvement of the RBS Academic Quality Assurance framework.
• Establish clear academic standards, policies, procedures and quality-control mechanisms across programmes.
• Ensure systematic implementation of programme review and improvement processes.
• Oversee the institutional quality cycle, including programme reviews, academic quality reviews, teaching-quality monitoring and improvement plans.
• Ensure that academic decisions and quality actions are documented, traceable and consistently implemented.
• Promote a culture of evidence-based academic improvement across the School.
• Accreditation
• Define and lead the School's academic accreditation strategy in coordination with the Dean and senior management.
• Manage existing accreditation requirements and new accreditation projects.
• Coordinate accreditation applications, documentation, evidence collection, self-assessment processes and external reviews.
• Monitor compliance with accreditation standards and ensure that agreed improvement actions are implemented.
• Maintain institutional readiness for accreditation audits and peer-review visits.
• University Partnerships
• Lead the academic component of relationships with partner universities and higher-education institutions.
• Support the identification, assessment and development of new academic partnerships.
• Coordinate academic negotiations regarding programme validation, franchising, recognition, credit structures, academic regulations and quality requirements.
• Ensure that RBS programmes delivered in partnership with universities comply with the academic standards and requirements of the relevant partner institution.
• University and Official Programme Projects
• Provide leadership for the development and management of university-related projects.
• Supervise the University Projects function and establish appropriate project-management and governance mechanisms.
• Support the development of Bachelor programmes and other university-linked academic initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with relevant academic and regulatory requirements.
• Coordinate internal stakeholders involved in programme approval, validation and implementation.
• Academic Standards
• Establish and monitor standards related to curriculum quality, learning outcomes, assessment, academic depth and programme coherence.
• Work closely with Academic Affairs & Research and Academic Innovation to ensure that quality requirements are embedded both in programme design and programme delivery.
• Define quality expectations relating to faculty qualifications and academic performance in coordination with the Faculty Management function.
• Team Leadership
• Lead and develop the Quality, Accreditation and University Projects team.
• Establish clear responsibilities, objectives and KPIs.
• Build the capabilities required for the future growth of the function.
• Promote effective collaboration across Academic Affairs, Academic Innovation, Research, Faculty Management and other School functions.
• Reporting and Institutional Governance
• Provide regular reports to the Dean on academic quality, accreditation, university partnerships and strategic academic projects.
• Identify academic and regulatory risks and propose corrective actions.
• Participate in relevant academic governance bodies and senior management discussions.
• Represent Rome Business School, where appropriate, in meetings with universities, accreditation bodies and external academic stakeholders.

Key Interfaces

• Dean
• Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Research
• Head of Academic Innovation
• Faculty Manager
• Research Manager
• Programme Coordination
• Partner Universities
• Accreditation Bodies
• Quality Assurance organisations
• Corporate and institutional stakeholders

Requisitos

Essential

• PhD or equivalent doctoral qualification.
• Strong academic background and understanding of higher-education environments.
• Significant experience in academic quality assurance, accreditation, university partnerships or academic governance.
• Proven experience managing complex academic projects.
• Strong understanding of programme validation, academic standards and quality processes.
• Excellent stakeholder-management and negotiation skills.
• Strong analytical, organisational and project-management capabilities.
• Excellent command of English.

Highly Desirable

• Experience in an international Business School or university.
• Experience with international accreditation systems.
• Experience with university validation, franchising or collaborative provision.
• Familiarity with European higher-education frameworks and quality-assurance systems.
• Knowledge of the Italian higher-education environment.
• Italian language skills.

Key Measures of Success

• Delivery of the academic quality roadmap.
• Progress against accreditation plans.
• Successful development and management of university partnerships
• Achievement of university-project milestones
• Timely closure of quality improvement actions
• Improved documentation, governance and institutional academic readiness.
• Effective development of the Quality and University Projects team.