About Kepler College
Kepler College has been established in Rwanda to offer affordable, scalable and competency-based higher education programs with best job prospects for graduates, ensuring a job for graduates being a key driver of everything being done at the College.
The key aspect of Kepler College’s pedagogy is learning by doing with a primary focus on equipping students with 21st century transferable skills that make them stand out at the labor market. In this program, students gain knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today’s global economy.
Vision: To become a leading competency-based higher education institution in Sub-Saharan Africa with outstanding graduate employment outcomes that lead to economic mobility.
Mission: To offer competency-based, accessible, employment-driven tertiary education, conduct applicable research and offer innovative and scalable community service to support the development of Rwanda.
Motto: Educating Africa’s youth for tomorrow’s opportunities
Core Values:
We work with Purpose
We drive Innovation
We embrace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We practice Transparency
We seek Balance
At Kepler College, we value diversity as a paramount aspect of growth, therefore, we do not discriminate against applicants based on gender, race, religion, physical abilities, social status, beliefs, culture and values.
About the Role:
Ensuring 90% of the graduates secure gainful employment within six months after graduation is Kepler’s key performance indicator. The role of Kepler’s Kiziba Career and Alumni Coordinator is to support students and alumni to secure internships and employment through innovative career support and alumni relations. In addition, the manager receives employers’ feedback in collaboration with Kepler’s Career and Alumni Director and communicates to the Kiziba academic team for continuous improvement. The Career and Alumni Coordinator is responsible for supporting students in their application for internship and employment by offering relevant job-readiness training and orientation on applications of classroom learning on the job.
The role includes developing and strengthening the structures and protocol for internship and job placement, modifying and implementing a revised internship and career coaching model that increases various stakeholder engagement, supporting employers as they seek to fill key roles by creating efficient and user-friendly methods of engagement and communication, supporting students through workshops, advising and coaching in varying group sizes, networking through external forums to expand the Kepler Employer base and coordinating with CfA and other departments to create job opportunities through staff networks.
This position has non-traditional work hours that may require starting work early or finishing work late, and/or working during weekends. The position is equivalent to 40 work hours/week, with some fluctuation throughout the year. Also, this position requires a high level of understanding of the policies/laws governing refugees and immigrants in Rwanda and the ability and strong desire to work with refugee communities in urban and remote areas.
The Kepler College Kiziba Career and Alumni Coordinator will be based in Karongi District, Western Province.
Job Responsibilities
Career Coaching/Advisement and Programming
Kiziba Career and Alumni Coordinator in direct collaboration with the Kepler career team and Kiziba campus leadership will:
- Coordinate the development of the Kepler Kiziba alumni relations program; recommends long and short-range goals and overall direction of alumni programs.
- Design, rethink and lead the implementation of the career development strategy to improve career services for Kepler Kiziba students.
- Design student career engagement support and contribute to the development of relevant courses, modules, workshops, and support systems to target student learning needs.
- Prepare students for finding suitable employment by enhancing their job search skills and capacity to express the relevance of their strengths to employers.
- Research and utilize effective online, in-person, and blended learning teaching techniques and facilitate specific workshops to support students who are already on the job to be successful.
- Coordinate the Kiziba work-study program and career module credits approval process.
Employer Engagement
Kiziba Career and Alumni Coordinator in direct collaboration with the Kepler College career team and Kiziba campus leadership will:
- Liaise with employers and elicit feedback from the Employer Advisory Board on curriculum and student/graduate performance to create and enhance a structured feedback loop that contributes to strategy and decision-making for expanding the internship and employment program.
- Coordinate employer engagement initiatives in collaboration with Kepler College’s Director of Career and Alumni Affairs to seek internship and job opportunities for students and alumni.
- Foster relationships with the employer community that provide students with opportunities to develop professional skills, integrate academic learning with work and find jobs.
Internship and Employment Logistics and data management
- Plan, coordinate, and schedule all logistical details and make necessary arrangements for internship and employment-related programs and/or services in accordance with the Kepler College policies.
- Track, monitor and use student and alumni data to make informed decisions to guarantee all student’s career progress and their learning needs.
- Evaluates and monitors the effectiveness of Kiziba career programs/services, identifies problems, recommends improvements, and institutes changes.
- Collaborate with the Data department to track, utilize and communicate employment data to the broader academic team
- Monitor and report the services provided and activity levels within Career Services
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree or higher
- Has experience working in a big organization (emphasis in human resources, counseling, education, student affairs, or related field)
- Must have advanced proficiency in English, both written and spoken. Preferred fluency in French, Kinyarwanda and/or Swahili.
- Has strong communication skills, including interpersonal skills, written communication skills and networking skills, online and off
- Demonstrates a strong desire to implement education through a process model of learning, implementing, reflecting, revising and re-implementing
- Has high expectations of him/herself and believes in high expectations for students
- Has the ability to be creative and innovative in the way that education can be created and delivered to students
- Is open and willing to give and receive feedback from all stakeholders within the organization including students, colleagues, and supervisors.
- Exceeds at building and maintaining relationships, online and off.
- Possesses functional knowledge and/or personal experience with technology: Microsoft Suite, Google Drive, Google Chrome
- Thrives in a dynamic environment and believes that change leads to progress
- Comfortable with not having or providing answers to students through an inquiry-based model where the facilitator of the class is not the “keeper” of all knowledge
- Finds comfort in discussing and promoting Kepler and its students.
Reports to:
- The Associate Director of Academic and Administration for Kiziba, and the Director of Careers and Alumni Affairs
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