Academic Admissions and Advising Addiction

Professions > Human Resources

Description

Academic advising, based in the teaching and learning mission of higher education, is a series of intentional interactions with a curriculum, a pedagogy, and a set of student learning outcomes. Academic advising synthesizes and contextualizes students' educational experiences within the frameworks of their aspirations, abilities and lives to extend learning beyond campus boundaries and timeframes.[1]

Purpose/Activities

According to UNESCO, academic advising fulfills the following purposes:[2]

1. To assist students in developing educational plans that are consistent with their life goals.

2. To provide students with accurate information about academic progression and degree requirements.

3. To assist students in understanding academic policies and procedures.

4. To help students access campus resources that will enhance their ability to be academically successful.

5. To assist students in overcoming educational and personal problems.

6. To identify systemic and personal conditions that may impede student academic achievement and developing appropriate interventions.

7. To review and use available data about students academic and educational needs, performance, aspirations and problems.

8. To increase student retention by providing a personal contact that students often need and request, thereby connecting them to the institution.

Further, the organization has identified the following activities as typical of those found in academic advising processes:

1. Assisting students with decision-making and career direction.

2. Helping students understand and comply with institutional requirements.

3. Providing clear and accurate information regarding institutional policies, procedures and programmes.

4. Assisting students in the selection of courses and other educational experiences (e.g. internships, study abroad).

5. Referring students to appropriate resources, on and off campus.

6. Evaluating student progress towards established goals.

7. Collecting and distributing data regarding student needs, preferences and performance for use in refining or revising institutional/agency decisions, policies and procedures.

8. Interpreting various interest/ability inventories that provide students with information related to their career choices.

9. Utilizing a variety of supplemental systems such as online computer programmes to deliver advising information.

History

Academic Advising traces its beginnings to the earliest of American colleges including Harvard University[3]

Standards

Of significance to the profession of academic advising are the Standards and Guidelines for Academic Advising that have been developed by the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) and endorsed by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). These Standards and Guidelines are available at the NACADA web site. The Standards and their accompanying Guidelines cover thirteen areas from Mission to Assessment. The current Standards and Guidelines were last updated in 2005.[4]

Quotes

An excellent advisor does the same for the student's entire curriculum that the excellent teacher does for one course.
-Marc Lowenstein, 2005

References

1. ^ National Academic Advising Association. (2006). NACADA concept of academic advising.

2. ^ United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2002). The role of student affairs and services in higher education: A practical manual for developing, implementing and assessing student affairs programmes and services. Paris, pp 25-26.

3. ^ Gillispie, Brian. (2003). History of Academic Advising

4. ^ White, E. R. (2006). Using CAS Standards for Self-Assessment and Improvement. National Academic Advising Association, Manhattan, KS.