Academic advising models and practices of two Asian universities

Abstract

Academic advising is a valuable academic service and an essential component of higher education. This service is very important for students' satisfaction, retention, recruitment and success. This paper compares a successful example of decentralized academic advising from Malaysia and a successful example of centralized advising from Japan. Using a qualitative approach, the study focused on students' perspectives on academic advising practice at their universities. Ten undergraduate students volunteered for semi-structured interviews focusing on their academic advising experience. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. The themes emerged from the analysis were roles of academic advising, delivery of academic advising, and outcome of academic advising. Each of these themes produced three more sub-themes. It can be concluded that the respondents need some elements organizational practices of academic advising. This result has broad implications for administrators in establishing, maintaining and improving their institutions' academic advising system.