Education Administrators, Postsecondary
Plan, direct, or coordinate student instruction, administration, and services, as well as other research and educational activities, at postsecondary institutions, including universities, colleges, and junior and community colleges.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Instructing
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
- Customer and Personal Service
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Communications and Media
What the work involves
- Recruit, hire, train, and terminate departmental personnel.
- Plan, administer, and control budgets, maintain financial records, and produce financial reports.
- Represent institutions at community and campus events, in meetings with other institution personnel, and during accreditation processes.
- Participate in faculty and college committee activities.
- Provide assistance to faculty and staff in duties such as teaching classes, conducting orientation programs, issuing transcripts, and scheduling events.
- Establish operational policies and procedures and make any necessary modifications, based on analysis of operations, demographics, and other research information.
- Advise students on issues such as course selection, progress toward graduation, and career decisions.
- Direct, coordinate, and evaluate the activities of personnel, including support staff engaged in administering academic institutions, departments, or alumni organizations.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Enterprising, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Master's Degree (47.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (33.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (25.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Education Administrators, Postsecondary is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 60% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 59% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 67% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 89% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Higher on time pressure than 57% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 72% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 62% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 79% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0.69%
- Contact with others about half the time: 9.95%
- Contact with others most of the time: 26.57%
- Constant contact with others: 62.79%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 11.18%
- Fairly important: 11.65%
- Important: 20.31%
- Very important: 15.73%
- Extremely important: 41.13%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2018
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 7.95%
- Important: 3.92%
- Very important: 21.92%
- Extremely important: 66.2%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2018
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 2.28%
- Some freedom: 32.11%
- A lot of freedom: 65.61%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2018
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 24%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 56.71%
- Every day: 19.29%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2018
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 35.51%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.53%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 38.23%
- Every day: 7.73%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 5.76%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 25.82%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 38.29%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.69%
- Every day: 5.45%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2018
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 28.34%
- Fairly serious: 38.37%
- Serious: 14.42%
- Very serious: 7.31%
- Extremely serious: 11.57%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2018
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
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O*NET-SOC 11-9033.00 · SOC 11-9033 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8