Annabelle Barlow is the TNE & Global Online Operations Manager in International Operations & Student Recruitment
Annabelle shares her career story in this Q&A
Annabelle's top tip for career success is:
“Be pro-active and take opportunities to learn from others by getting involved in different working groups."
Tell us a bit about your career to date?
My background is working in school administration. I started at Edinburgh Napier in February 2014 as Overseas Programme Administrator, where I learnt a lot from my colleagues in the team and quite quickly got involved in some process improvement projects. When the role of International Programmes Co-Ordinator came up at the end of 2014, I didn’t feel I had as much experience as I would have liked but I decided to apply anyway as the role really interested me. I wasn’t successful on that occasion but the feedback I received and the experience of going through the recruitment process was really helpful for me. When the role came up again about a year later I applied again and was successful.
How did you secure your current role?
I was in the International Programmes Co-Ordinator role from 2016 and gained a lot of experience in transnational education (TNE), of managing projects, managing people and a whole host of other things, which led to me having the skills and experience to be appointed to my current role in October 2021.
What difference has working at Edinburgh Napier made to your career?
I have a degree and have also attended various training courses which have helped me in my career, however I also wanted some formal recognition of my administrative experience. At the time, the University had an SVQ in Business and Administration on offer so I undertook this. I was also able to do a staff Erasmus visit to a German university and have also completed the Edinburgh Napier ENRoute programme and gained an associate fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. I was also able to get involved in a University-wide project on the migration of SharePoint which helped me develop technical skills, project management skills and an understanding of how decisions are made at a University level, at the same time building my network of colleagues around the University.