Research On Academic Advising In American Higher Education

With the increasing diversity of college students in China,students' academic development needs and learning problems are more complex.Therefore,universities in China begin to attach importance to academic advising,and take it as an effective measure to ensure the quality of talent training.After more than a century of development,academic advising in American universities has become a specialized work,and a relatively perfect system guarantee has been established.This study tries to explore the formation and basic characteristics of academic advising system in American universities,and takes Boston College as a case to analyze the implementation process of academic guidance system in American colleges and universities from two aspects of institutional operation and faculty-student interaction,in order to provide reference for the academic advising of our universities.By sorting out the results of the national academic advising survey in the United States,it is found that most universities in the United States have established school and college level two academic advising institutions,which have formed the academic advising system based on faculty advisors and professional advisors,and have formulated corresponding training,encouragement and evaluation methods.In order to further analyze the implementation process of academic advising system in American colleges and universities,this study,taking the Boston College as a case,interviewed three groups of the school leaders,academic advisors and undergraduate groups,and proposed to answer three questions: 1,the operation process and characteristics of academic advising institutions;2,students' evaluation of academic advising services;3,academic advisors' cognition and understanding of their work.This study finds that the operation of academic advising institutions in American universities is hierarchical,continuous and collaborative.The academic advising institution at the two level of the school is responsible for providing academic advising for different types of students.Through the establishment of a special and continuous academic advising relationship between advisors and students,the academci advisors can help students plan the choice and use of professional,curriculum and extracurricular educational resources so as to promote the realization of the students' personal goals.The work of academic advising institutions is not carried out independently,but with different departments of schools,so as to form an integrated student support network.In the process of interaction between academic advisors and students,the emotional support of the academic advisors to the students can enhance the students' perception of the effect of academic advising and encourage the establishment of their personal goals.The interaction between responsibility sharing and equal care can improve the effectiveness of academic advising.Based on the existing academic advising system,this study puts forward some suggestions on the development of the academic advising in Chinese universities from the aspects of personnel training,work content and work strategy.