Head of Undergradaute Studies

The Faculty of Law, Business and Government

The Faculty of Law, Business and Government of the Francisco de Vitoria University is constituted as an open innovation ecosystem to promote the global common good through training, research and impact on society. In accordance with the Catholic identity of the Francisco de Vitoria University, and to contribute to its ideology and mission, the Faculty promotes a persons-centered approach to education and research and a constructive dialogue between the social sciences (particularly the legal, business, economic and political sciences), and between the social sciences and the humanities (mainly philosophy and theology). To that end, it deploys an educational model that creates friendship-based communities of teachers and students that seek to achieve progress, through dialogue, in the search for truth, beauty and the good. Thus, its pedagogical model encourages students to formulate, at the beginning of their university life, the big questions about the meaning of their life and the world, to rigorously learn the methodologies of the sciences that will enable them to understand and analyze the world, and to grow in the virtues needed to commit to the improvement of society in line with the intellectual tradition of Christian humanism. 

The Faculty integrates undergraduate, master’s and continuing education studies. In addition, it has an applied research unit that bears the name of the Center for the Global Common Good, and a unit dedicated to promoting the training and accompaniment of political, business and civil society leaders, which is called the School of Government and Leadership “Isabel la Católica”. Moreover, the Faculty is in the process of constituting a doctoral program that integrates the aforementioned sciences into lines of research oriented towards the practical and concrete application of the global common good. 

In the field of undergraduate degree studies, the Faculty has made an ambitious commitment to reconfigure its curriculum in accordance with the defining notes of the “liberal arts college” model, with five fundamental goals:

1. to facilitate multidisciplinarity (the dialogue of the social sciences between them) and transdisciplinarity (the dialogue between the social sciences and the humanities);
2. to accelerate the implementation of its educational model, with its pedagogical model based on the sequence “awakening—discovering—committing”;
3. to increase the ability to attract excellent students and teachers from other countries;
4. to promote a culture of community work between professors and students that facilitates open-minded learning and research;
5. to increase the impact of the UFV and the Faculty in the global arena, for which it is in the process of signing agreements with numerous institutions in the academic, political, economic and financial fields, and with civil society. 

Although there are numerous declinations of the concept of a liberal arts college, the vast majority of the institutions that have adopted it share four essential dimensions:

1. the first stage of the training process is geared to prompt students to formulate the big questions about themselves and about the world in which they live;
2. in the second stage, the students opt for a degree (a major) and very often for a formative complement (a minor) that allows them to broaden their humanist training;
3. throughout their entire training they are accompanied by a tutor who helps them choose the itineraries and subjects most appropriate to their interests and gifts;
4. throughout their training, students are expected to read a long list of classical books and to work in multidisciplinary groups with active methodologies that allow them to deepen their knowledge of society in order to contribute to its improvement.

In the model of College implemented by the Faculty of Law, Business and Government, it has been decided to take a step-by-step approach: as from September 2023, the college will include five degrees out of the total of 11 degrees that are included in the Faculty (not counting double degrees). Those five degrees will share a common first year, so that students can choose their major and minor at the end of the first year; In September 2024, two more degrees will be included in the College, so that its size in term of students will go from circa 260 entry students to around 600 students. The Faculty as a whole has close to 3000 undergraduate students. It is expected that in the 27/28 academic year the first students of the College will graduate from their studies. 

Beyond the number of degrees that participate in the common first year, the College philosophy must permeate all the degrees of the Faculty. This will be accomplished in a variety of ways, including but not limited to creating minors that are offered to students of all grades, working on challenges and cases that include students from different grades, designing minors with other colleges, and joint degrees with excellent universities throughout the world. In addition, the College must form an integral part of the Faculty, articulating fruitful collaboration mechanisms with student societies, with the Center for the Global Common Good and with the School of Government and Leadership, among other institutions. 

Nature of the position and fit into the governance structure of the Faculty 

The Head of Undergraduate Studies will join the Faculty at a key moment in its life, since the college model begins already in September 2023, and will need to become fully integrated into the Faculty as soon as possible. 

From the point of view of the governance structure, the position reports directly to the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Business and Government. 

The Head of Undergraduate Studies team is made up of the directors of all grades of the Faculty. He will work closely with all the vice deans of the Faculty—who report hierarchically to the dean—in managing their responsibilities. 

The Head of Undergraduate Students, together with the director of the master’s unit, the director of the executive education unit, the director of the School of Government and Leadership, the director of the Center for the Global Common Good, the financial manager of the Faculty, and the director of institutional and business relations, are members of the Board of Directors of the Faculty. Those persons, together with the programme directors, compose the Faculty’s Management Committee, which approves the Faculty’s strategy and submits it to the University’s management committee. 

Responsibilities of the Head of Undergraduate Studies

The Head of Undergraduate Studies will be responsible, together with the Dean, for developing the Faculty’s strategy in the field of the undergraduate degrees, and will be directly responsible for its execution, in full coordination with the Dean. This function includes both the degrees that participate in the first common course as well as the other degrees, seeking fully alignment of the entire programme portfolio with the identity, vision and mission of the University.  In relation to the degrees that are part of the College, the Head´s key mission will consist of anticipating and making, in a timely manner, all the decisions leading to the successful deployment over time of the model, which must be measurable according to four fundamental dimensions:

1. contribution to the mission of the university;
2. increasing internationalization strategy;
3. degree of achievement of the desired graduate profile and of the desired professor profile;
4. participation in relevant international institutions and accreditation by international accrediting agencies in the fields of activity of the Faculty. It is hoped that the Faculty can form a full part of the most prestigious institutions in the world in its field, and that it has a preponderant role in the field of Catholic universities and colleges. 

In addition, it will work closely with the director of masters and the director of executive education to guarantee full coordination in the development and management of the Faculty’s training proposal. 

In the exercise of his functions as Head of undergraduate studies, and in full coordination with the Dean, the Head of Undergraduate Studies will regularly confer with the people of the university—particularly the directors of degrees from other faculties whose degrees are linked to the degrees of the Faculty of Law, Business and Government, of the general directorates, in particular the department of orientation and university information, development and experience, the department of institutional relations, the Vice-rectorate for Faculty and Training Project, the Vice-rectorate for Academic Management, Quality and entrepreneurship, and the Office of the Vice President for students and comprehensive training.  

Job Characteristics

The Head of Undergraduate Studies will have three key tasks:

1. the management of undergraduate studies at the Faculty;
2. teaching, in accordance with the parameters of the university for managerial positions;
3. the contribution to research, taking into account the management load that the position implies.

The person occupying the position must meet the following requirements: 

• Knowledge of, and commitment to, the ideology, vision and mission of the Francisco de Vitoria University;
• Demonstrated experience of university academic management in the international arena at the equivalent level of program director or vice dean for at least 10 years;
• Proven experience in managing large teams and complex projects for at least 10 years;
• Status of tenured professor or equivalent (senior lecturer/reader/associate professor);
• Internationally relevant research career, which includes relevant stays at internationally prestigious universities, preferably with a Liberal Arts Education model, and top-level publications in their field of knowledge, some of which can be considered in line with the Expanded Reason methodology as designed and evaluated by the Expanded Reason Institute of the UFV. High-quality publications on educational and management aspects related to the liberal arts college model will be especially valued;
• Obtaining and managing competitive research projects;
• Spanish level equivalent to C2;
• Level of English equivalent to C2;
• Advanced level knowledge of a third language will be highly valued. 

Selection process

The selection process will open in July 2023 and will conclude in September 2023. The process will include online and face-to-face interviews by a selection committee. The incorporation will be as soon as possible, ideally at the beginning of the academic year or in January 2024. A selection committee formed by the Dean of the University will participate in the process. Faculty, the Rector of the University and other senior managers of the institution. 

To apply, a CV and cover letter will be attached. The CV must include:

• Personal data
• Education, training, qualifications
• Positions occupied in reverse chronological order
• References, if applicable. 

For any questions or queries related to the process, you can write to [email protected], indicating in subject: College Selection (Head of Undergraduate Studies)  

Compensation package 

The compensation will be competitive and commensurate with the experience and level of excellence of the selected candidate. It will include relocation costs if applicable, bonus, life and health insurance, among other advantages. 

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