The Review 2013

The new four-year curriculum offers students more choice and opportunity than ever, but that also means they have to make more decisions. Many students may be unsure what their options are, or which options are best. Moreover, the new intakes are one year younger than their classmates in the three-year curriculum and they may struggle more with balancing academic demands and other activities. HKU's academic advising system, introduced across the whole university in September 2012, is intended to provide academic guidance and support not only in the classroom but beyond. Every first-year student is assigned an adviser in their faculty to guide them on academic matters, whether it is their transition into a new academic environment, decisions about majors and minors, or understanding options for learning experiences such as exchanges and internships. Some faculties also have advisers for specific major programmes or years of study, and temporary advisers who can help students considering joint major or minor options outside their declared major. A few faculties also have student advisers who are in the senior years and can advise students based on their own experiences. Students can also seek help in their halls, in keeping with the University's vision of offering a total learning experience. Residential student advisers offer freshmen advice on balancing academic demands and hall life, where sports, societies and other activities might distract from intellectual work. The programme started on a pilot basis in some halls in 2011-12 and was extended to all halls in 2012-13. ‘Advisers are all around’ is the slogan of the University's academic advising system, but it does require students to take the initiative. During 2012-13, at least two-thirds of students visited their faculty-based academic advisers as intended. Some students may have got advice from other supporting units or found themselves coping well with their studies. Students in the four-year curriculum were more likely to see their advisers than those in the three-year programme, and some students sought support from the central Academic Advising Office on cross-faculty issues. Wherever they turn, the academic advising system can help students to better understand their options and receive support if they are struggling. Efforts will be stepped up to ensure all students benefit from this valuable service in future. The University of Hong Kong ⎜ 19 Academic Advising: Helping Students Deal with Choice THE REVIEW 2013 ⎜ Teaching and Learning Peer Support Senior students and recent graduates are helping to advise freshmen on how to cope with university life. At Swire Hall, discussions between BSc student Amanda Cheung Yuen-ying and her hall adviser, Ken Ng Kiu-fung, helped her decide to switch majors after she struggled in her first year. Ken had also switched majors as an undergraduate and is now preparing to do an MPhil. "Without the hall academic advising system I would not get so much advice from someone who faced the same problem as me," she said. Ken also advised students on balancing hall and academic demands. "I met these problems when I was a student and I wanted to share my experiences," he said. Cyrus Li Chun-kwan, a BEng student, found talking with his adviser helped him decide his major. "He also studied at HKU so I felt he could understand me more." Developing the Whole Person St John's College is as old as HKU and it has a long tradition of encouraging all-round development. Key to this has been the hall's tutoring system, which has many layers in which senior students and staff advise those just behind them. At the top of the advising system are two professors, recruited and paid for by the college, who act as academic tutors to masters students and also teach at the University. Postgraduate students tutor senior undergrads while senior undergrads tutor students in their first and second years. With the introduction of HKU's residential student adviser system, a new level of tutoring has been added - second-year students help freshmen adjust to university life. "The residential tutors are responsible for character formation and help the students to grow from adolescents to adults," St John's enthusiastic Master, Dr Eric Chong said. The college has ambitious future plans, such as hiring more academics, supporting research and funding needy students from China. Dr Chong is overseeing the building of new residences at the college that will help to fund these ambitions. "Academic tutoring is a cog in our huge clockwork," he said. "I am not thinking about what we will be doing in one year or one decade, but what we can do in the next 100 years." Above : Dr Eric Chong chats with students of St John's College Left and centre : Student adviser Ken Ng (centre) with Cyrus Li and Amanda Cheung