Some international students may also feel they are discriminated against because they may pose a security threat to the United States. Ultimately, advisors can intervene this fall to identify international students and assist them in adapting to a new environment and new security measures. Often an understanding voice or face can do more than we know in helping international students make the necessary adaptations as they study in the United States.
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As our world becomes a global community, the significance of producing globally-competent citizens is turning into a hot topic on university and college campuses. As academic advisors move away from a “service”-oriented role to that of a “teacher”, we also need to fulfill our duty in the name of critical pedagogy.
As NACADA begins the adventure of internationalization, the Theory and Philosophy of Advising Commission focuses on expanding the theoretical and philosophical foundations of academic advising to better inform the practice of advisors, the scholarship of the field, and the performance of the organization.
Making lasting and meaningful changes requires commitment and effort. Advisors have been long committed to promoting and practicing diversity; the discussed approaches offer advisors down-to-earth ways to make the most of their efforts.
All students, whether intentional or not, are subject to their school’s plagiarism policies. As advisors, we can work to curtail the proliferation of plagiarism on our own campuses and help students succeed.
Our world is becoming ever more interconnected, and the ability to examine life from a truly global perspective is a valuable skill that everyone should possess.
Academic advisors should work closely with their global education/study abroad/international programs office to stay on top of the Bologna reforms and how these reforms impact advising at their schools.
Frost (2000) indicated that the field of academic advising has progressed through three eras: higher education before academic advising was defined, academic advising as a defined and unexamined activity, and academic advising as a defined and examined activity. I assert that academic advising is now facing a fourth era due the societal changes emerging from the globalization process.
The most important lesson I learned while studying abroad was the importance of adaptation...
When we learn more about individual international education systems, accept cultural differences, and learn basic greetings in the native languages of our students, we can better serve all of our international students.
For many advisors, the increased international presence on campuses is both exciting and challenging as they adjust to meeting the needs of an entirely different population of students.
Students will not go to a stranger – especially a member of faculty – when their world is collapsing. We needed to change our model of Personal Tutoring from reactive to proactive.
While never oblivious to the world outside the US, over the last few years NACADA leaders have actively pursued the idea of a “global community for academic advising.” Clearly this raises the need to find common ground between advisors from wildly varying backgrounds.
What we believe is generally missing from the body of critical literature on academic advising and retention is the reference to the different issues in American-style education outside the borders of the United States. We have identified a host of issues specific to our student population which we believe must be addressed in order for us to best perform our roles as academic advisors.
Inaccurate assumptions, coupled with the steady increase of international enrollment all over the U.S., have resulted in a number of racial incidents targeting international students… University administrations across the country have proposed that we need to create safe and welcoming environments by encouraging cross-cultural interactions between domestic and international students.
Some institutions are removing pastoral support from residences, saying that 18-year-old students are adults and shouldn’t need it. The University of Leeds takes a different view, arguing that to be placed in a hall of 1,200 almost exclusively first-year students is by its nature an unnatural and sometimes alienating experience.
During the NACADA International Conference sponsored by Zayed University in Dubai in February 2016, members of the NACADA Academic Advising Consultant and Speaker Service (AACSS) led a discussion panel during which delegates from institutions across the globe began a conversation about gaps of academic advising at their campuses. Such conversations are vital for improving and enhancing academic advising programs at the international level.
UK Advising and Tutoring (UKAT), the first allied association of NACADA outside of North America, aspires to lead the development and dissemination of innovative theory, research, and practice of student advising and tutoring in the UK higher education sector. In early 2016, UKAT ran a pilot survey open to all 164 UK higher education institutions (HEIs) to gain some initial insight into personal tutoring and academic advising practices in the UK. This article addresses the results of UKAT's survey and compares them with the results of the NACADA (Carlstrom, 2011) survey to offer some comparisons of academic advising in the differing higher education environments of the US and the UK.
All around the world, educators find that parents of college students today are more involved than ever before. Culture is an important factor in exploring the role of parental influence on college students. The author discusses some of the cultural factors that are particularly salient at her institution, the American University of Sharjah.
Advisors who learn to assist students with alleviating and mitigating culture shock can contribute to students’ success and their enjoyment of their time in their host country. In order to do so, advisors must understand the cultural and individual characteristics that influence a student’s experience of culture shock.
The author advocates for increasing professional development opportunities related to study abroad.
Academic advising is a term that has not yet been clearly defined in Japanese higher education.
Every year, the government of The United Arab Emirates grants numerous scholarships to distinguished Emirati students. The author discusses the role of advisors to these students and discusses the challenges they face.
Cooperating with NACADA, Tsinghua University has been probing a new path for international professional development in the cross-cultural context. This cross-cultural training program could bring more possibilities for global members from different countries who are willing to improve core competence effectively.
