Study On Professionalization Of College Student Affairs Administrators In China

Originated from an innovation on the initial purpose of ideological education of college students, student affairs administrators have been undergoing a developing course for over half a century in China's universities and colleges. At present, they undertake responsibilities for the all-round development of college students. Going far beyond fulfilling ideological education tasks, their daily concerns involve various fields of student affairs in terms of education, management and service. Entering the second decade of the 21st century, college student affairs administrators have emerged as an independent professional community with a population of more than 100,000 all together. The problems of the emerging profession's stability and sustainable development have gained great attention from policy-makers, college executives, researchers as well as students and their parents. With the rapid spreading of mass higher education in China and further introduction of modern college mechanism into China mainland from western countries, the issue of professionalization of college student affairs administrators should be examined from a broader perspective, and different points of view drawn from different research fields should be put together.Firstly, by picking up key points from historical review of the development of college student affairs administration, this dissertation tries to figure out the connotation and essence of professionalization of college student affairs administrators. Secondly, the current situation and problems existed in professionalization of college student affairs administrators has been revealed according to investigation and analysis from various dimensions. Thirdly, by drawing lessons from developed countries and regions in terms of working concepts on student affairs administration, its management mode and personnel training, solutions to promote further professionalization of college student affairs administrators have been proposed.The very contributions in both theory and practice of this dissertation are:First, it grasps the essence of professionalization of college student affairs administrator on the big background of both the historical origin of the system itself and modern college mechanism system. Second, it draws insights and successful experiences from government policies, college exploration and international comparison; The last but not the least, it proposes practical measures to promote further professionalization based on research foundations and a thorough analysis on the issue itself.Chapterâ… . Introduction. The positioning of research has been found based on proposing questions and literature review of related research.Chapterâ…¡. Historical Research and Definition of Concepts. Starting from tracing back important events and research on historical literature of China's higher education, this section aims:firstly, at clarifiing some important research points such as the origin of student affairs administrators, qualification and working tasks required; secondly, at inquiring different roles and responsibilities endowed by "college student affairs administrator" such unique working group during different periods of historical development; finally, at revealing the connotation and essence of professionalization of such working group by focusing on the historical origin of this issue.Chapterâ…¢. Research on Current Situation and Problem Analysis. First, analysis on current situation of the profession itself was carried out based on feedbacks from questionnaires getting from student affairs administrators and student in 13 multi-level colleges and universities. Second, measures taken, effectiveness achieved and difficulties met in the process of professionalization of this professional community have been carefully analyzed according to investigations and interviews done among policy-making level and higher education institutions. Then,7 core issues including job qualification, competencies, cultivation, positioning, stability, appointment and role-analysis, which need to be emphasized on professionalization of college student affairs administrator have been generalized.Chapterâ…£. Comparative Research. This chapter carries out a comparative research, focusing on student affairs administration and its professionals from 6 most typical countries and regions in North America (especially the US), Europe and East Asia. Their different history, working concepts, management mechanism, especially the competencies of student affairs professionals and their efforts to achieve professionalization are carefully studied and references are drawn based on the analysis.Chapterâ…¤. Solution and Strategy. The dissertation proposed practical solutions and strategies on how to further promote professionalization of college student affairs administrators for formative, application and additive stages. The focus lies on establishing cultivation channel, strengthening school-based in service training, creating innovative management mechanism and ranking system, as well as optimizing incentive measures.