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Essay on Administration of Advising Should Remain Decentralized
Academic advising involves "the provision of educationally-related information and guidance to students confronted with choices and alternative paths in their education" (Trombley, 1981). Key components of this process include: continual contact between advisor and advisee, goal-related activity concerning academic, vocational, and personal issues, integration of academic and student professional knowledge and skills (Ender, 1983). Essentially, the provision of information within the context of a sensitive and supportive advising relationship can allow a student to more successfully adapt to the larger institution, the university, by providing a critical human link.
There are many ways to deliver advisement services to students. Implicit in the developmental model of advising is that services are consistently available to students and allow for on-going contact between student and advisor. Because no two campuses are alike, advising systems although similar in some respects, also have features that make them distinctive to their campus. Although the organization of advising differs from institution to institution there are some defining patterns that exist. According to Habley (1983, 2000) organization structures of academic advising can be broken down into three major categories: centralized, decentralized and shared structures. The decentralized and shared structures both have two or more models that further define how advising can be done.
This paper will emphasize that only a decentralized advising system should be used to meet the need of students. This paper will also emphasize on the advantages of decentralized advising system.
Review of Related Literature
In light of decreasing student enrollment and budgetary limitations, effective academic advising has become a focus for university administrators and student affairs professionals in their efforts to retain students and maintain a positive image of the university (Koerin, 1991). However, despite this new emphasis, advising continues to be perceived as having low status, and thus low priority, particularly for faculty whose efforts in this area are not generally rewarded through the granting of tenure or increased pay.......
