What academic advisors need to provide better student support : lessons from a Malaysian medical school

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Background: Academic support programmes have an important part to play in addressingthe needs of students experiencing difficulties. A quality assurance exercise by the nationalaccreditation body highlighted the fact that academic staff involved in non-academiccounselling had no prior training.Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the academic advisor programme in a Malaysianmedical school from the academic advisors' perspective in order to determine theirunderstanding of their role, their experiences and needs.Method: Focus group discussions (FGDs) involving 10 academic advisors were conductedusing a semi-structured interview schedule.Results: Study participants demonstrated some instinctive understanding of their role(especially as role models in their professional development) although they did not haveclear guidelines. They strongly expressed a need for training in counselling skills and betteradministrative support. There was some reluctance to undertake the task of academicadvising as there were no perceived rewards or incentives.Conclusions: The training of academic advisors needs to be addressed in facultydevelopment programmes. Strong institutional administrative support is important withefficient channels of communication to academic advisors on student performance and otherrelevant information. Teaching activities need due institutional recognition and reward.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University