Head of Tertiary Education, South Africa

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Head of Tertiary Education, South Africa****Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Contract Type: Indefinite Contract Pay Grade: 8 Closing date : 19 August 2026 at 21:59 UK Time

Requirements: You must have the legal right to work in South Africa at the time of application. We are unable to support with visa sponsorship and relocation.

Role Purpose - The Job:

• Lead on strategy, planning and delivery of the South Africa Tertiary Education portfolio, including Higher Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), student mobility and internationalisation, skills development, and science partnerships.
• Ensure delivery of both client-funded and British Council global programmes that contribute to inclusive economic growth, integrated work-based learning, employability, international collaboration, as well as institutional and systems strengthening.
• Lead business development and income generation in Tertiary Education, contributing to the successful delivery of country and global income targets, with support from Country Director and the global team.
• Manage senior stakeholder relationships and demonstrate expertise on behalf of the British Council and the UK in the sector, positioning the organisation favourably with government representatives, clients, partners, researchers and technical experts.
• Build market knowledge and insight about the South African tertiary education context and share this internally and externally with partners and stakeholders.
• Embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of this work so that our people and partners experience a culture that promotes respect, inclusion and diversity, and benefits everyone.

Role Context - About The Team:

Cultural Engagement (CE) is one of two global strategic departments within the British Council. It brings together our work in Arts, Education, English & School Education and research. With a workforce of approximately 1000 globally and an income in 2024/25 of £200 million, CE delivers impact through research and insights, sector engagement, policy dialogue and a mixed portfolio of commercial and Grant and Partnership Funded (GPF) work globally. CE delivers much of its work through a suite of global programmes/ programmatic frameworks aligned to the British Council’s strategic outcomes.

Our work in Tertiary Education is organised into two strands:

• Student mobility and internationalisation: We support the Higher Education sector to attract international students to the UK and ensure lifelong engagement with UK alumni through development opportunities. We also enrich the school experience with international perspectives, facilitating policy dialogue and partnerships and supporting the teaching and learning of modern foreign language partnerships.
• Tertiary Education Partnerships: We facilitate Higher Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Science Partnerships between the UK and other countries to develop more inclusive, responsive and globally connected education systems. Our work supports institutional collaboration, skills development, workforce readiness, employability, innovation and economic growth.

In South Africa, the British Council works across universities, TVET colleges, skills development agencies, employers, government departments and sector partners to strengthen education-to-employment pathways and improve access to quality post-school education and training opportunities.

We embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of this work so that our people and partners experience a culture that promotes respect, inclusion and diversity in support of mutual benefit.

This role contributes to the successful delivery of the Global Tertiary Education portfolio and strategy by ensuring strategic alignment and high-quality delivery of projects and programmes in South Africa and contributing to the success of the global Education income generation plan.

Main Accountabilities:

Strategy and planning

• Lead on the development of the country's Tertiary Education strategy and annual plan, aligned with the global strategy and with the Cultural Engagement plan for South Africa.
• Ensure that the country's Tertiary Education strategy meets the needs of local stakeholders and partners and aligns with the HMG country plan working with the Country Director and the local British High Commission.
• Develop and nurture internal relationships across Cultural Engagement in-country and across the wider organisation to ensure that the Tertiary Education strategy is aligned, understood and achieved.
• Consider the role of digital products, services and channels in optimising the impact and sustainability of the portfolio, working with country marketing and digital colleagues, and the global team.
• Ensure that strategy development, programme design and partnership development reflect the needs and opportunities of both the Higher Education and TVET sectors and support stronger connections between education, skills development and employment.

Leadership and management

• Develop and own country project management plans for Tertiary Education.
• Deliver the Tertiary Education programme, ensuring compliance with British Council programme standards across delivery, planning, reporting, evaluation and EDI.
• Contribute technical expertise to the design of Tertiary Education programmes and contracts, assuring quality and impact and managing issues and risks.
• Use digital platforms and technological advancements to improve the efficiency, impact and quality of programme design and delivery.
• Incorporate specific actions to address EDI priorities in programme delivery, based on analysis of local EDI context.
• Manage day-to-day aspects of the portfolio ensuring global standards of programme and contract management are achieved.
• Provide direct line management where applicable, with matrix management support provided to sector programme teams in country as required.
• Ensure effective financial management and compliance - manage and deliver to target, budgets, profitability, timelines, and to corporate quality standards in all areas.
• Act as the Senior Responsible Officer for smaller projects and programmes, relating to the sector specialism, as required.
• Monitor, review and ensure that the portfolio is achieving agreed impact measures, and that monitoring, evaluation and learning plans (MEL) and reporting is in place.
• Lead by example and model compliance with British Council policies and processes, Code of Conduct, values and behaviours in all day-to-day activities, line management, and liaison with colleagues and external stakeholders.

Business development

• Lead on business development and income generation, with support from Country Director and the global business development team.
• Identify and pursue funding and partnership opportunities across Higher Education, TVET, workforce development, employability, innovation and skills ecosystems.
• Use networking opportunities to develop contacts with potential funders, clients and partners in the country context.
• Identify specific business development opportunities aligned with the country and global business development plan.
• Develop strategic partnerships with universities, TVET colleges, industry bodies, employers, sector education and training authorities (SETAs), development partners and government stakeholders.
• Apply due diligence requirements to potential partners.
• Lead the development of commercial proposals