Aspiring leaders
- Location:Zoom
- Date:10/03/2027
- Time:10:00 am
- Time:2.5 hours
Delivering a world-class international student experience can be extremely rewarding. It can also be a highly pressured environment with unique challenges. UKCISA’s Aspiring Leaders course was created specifically for UKCISA members experienced in working with, and for, international students.
Julie Allen has combined her knowledge of UKCISA members and their work with students, her 20+ years’ experience working in international education, and her coaching qualifications and expertise to design three short and impactful sessions. The course complements general leadership training available to staff in HE and FE institutions. It focuses on areas particularly relevant for experienced staff and managers working with international students and the teams who support them. The course comprises three highly interactive small-group sessions focusing on Observation, Teamwork and Fulfilling Tasks.
Our training is grounded in the principles of the #WeAreInternational Student Charter, a student-led document that provides guidance on delivering a world-class international student experience, from pre-arrival to post-graduation. This course will provide you with the tools, skills and knowledge to support the implementation of the Charter in all areas of your work.
Who should attend?
This course is for experienced advisers and managers who are interested in developing leadership skills to apply in their daily work and/or to progress in their role and career.
Suitable for: all staff roles
Minimum experience level: UKCISA members who are experienced advisers or managers
What the course covers
Session 1: Observation: How to see better and increase your impact at work
Wednesday 10 March 10.00-12.30
Did you know that of all the senses, sight takes up most of the space in the brain?
For most of us with the good fortune to be sighted, we are looking and seeing all the time and, as a result, many of us take it for granted. Staff working with colleagues and students from different cultures tend to already be sensitive to seeing beyond the obvious. But what if we could see even more when we look? What if we could harness this under-rated skill to be a more effective adviser, colleague, manager or leader? And how might your team’s work be made more visible?
This short interactive workshop offers UKCISA members an opportunity to hone your skills of observation which you can apply immediately in your day-to-day work with students, colleagues and staff you manage.
This session will help you to:
- Understand how the brain processes what we see
- Increase awareness of how students and colleagues see differently from ourselves
- Develop new seeing habits that will improve your effectiveness at work
- Increase your own visibility at work – and the work of your team
Session 2: Teamwork: how to develop communicative, collaborative teams
Wednesday 7 April 10.00-12.30
Are you part of a team at work? Do you lead a team? Do you enjoy being part of a team or do you prefer doing your own thing? How does your team working with international students get along with others in your organisation? We all feel differently about the teams we are part of and the teams we work with. This makes the workplace interesting, stimulating and fun but it can also make it challenging or difficult. With so many teams working hybrid, the situation is even more complex.
This short interactive workshop offers UKCISA members an opportunity to reflect on your personal experience of working in teams, explore team communication, group dynamics, and learn tools to enhance your role as team member and/or team leader.
This course will help you to:
- Draw on your own learning and experience of teamwork
- Gain insights into why some teams are effective while others aren’t.
- Discover easy-to-use tools to make teamwork more effective (and fun) in your role as member or leader
- Feel more confident about tackling challenging team behaviours
- Consider ways to engage effectively across teams
Session 3: Fulfilling Tasks: how to find focus and satisfaction in your role
Wednesday 12 May 10.00-12.30
Do you have so many tasks on your to-do list that you feel confused about what you are actually supposed to be doing at work?
Do you have so much to do that it becomes impossible to prioritise?
Do you get the sense that staff in other roles don’t full appreciate the complexity of the tasks you have to complete (and why they take as long as they do?)
The workplace can be a frustrating place!
This third workshop offers UKCISA members an opportunity to delve into their day-to-day working practices and uncover ways to manage their workload more effectively. Through discussion and case studies, members will identify more (and less) useful approaches to their work, ways to help others understand their work and ways to regain satisfaction of a job well done.
This course will help you to:
- Recognise why you – or staff you manage – get lost or ‘off task’ (and how to find the way back)
- Identify the tasks at work that really matter (and ones that don’t)
- Become more effective at prioritising tasks and managing your workload
- Become more skilled at articulating the work you do to help others support you and work with you in your role
Trainers
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![Julie Allen Image]()
Julie Allen
Julie Allen was Director of Member Services and Policy at UKCISA for almost ten years. Prior to this she held international student advice roles at the London School of Economics, University of the Arts London and Queen Mary University, London.She is an ICF accredited coach, trainer and organisation consultant working across public, private and third sectors. She is a Visiting Lecturer on two Masters programmes at the Tavistock Clinic in London. She also collaborates on a series of projects including the Highly Relational podcast with Team Development expert, Robert Digings.
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