Rationale

Academic Advising at PolyU aims to help students to make informed and intelligent academic decisions/choices about their study at PolyU that suit their intellectual, professional and personal goals. It is instrumental to promoting student success and plays a vital role in enhancing students’ overall learning experience at PolyU.

Objectives:

• To build up an early connection between the students and their home departments and to promote their sense of affiliation to the department and the University;
• To provide students with accurate information about the academic regulations and requirements regarding their Major programme, as well as GUR;
• To assist students to explore their interest, abilities and values on academic pursuits, and formulate appropriate intellectual, professional and personal goals;
• To provide advice and guidance to students that enables them to develop and pursue a study plan for their 4 years of study appropriate for meeting their intellectual, professional and personal goals ;
• To connect students to resources, opportunities and support within and outside the University to enhance their educational experiences and success.

Responsibilities of Academic Advisors

The main responsibilities of Academic Advisors include:

• Building rapport with the students, serving as bridge that connects them to the department;
• Being accessible and available to students, and responding to their questions and concerns;
• Helping students to consider and clarify their intellectual, professional and personal goals
• Helping students to develop an appropriate study plan (particularly with regard to their Major), and assisting in their selection of appropriate courses to achieve their identified goals;
• Helping students to understand academic regulations and requirements, particularly those relating to the Major;
• Identifying students with special learning needs or early signs of learning problems, and referring/encouraging them to seek help or support.

Responsibilities of Student Advisees

Effective academic advising requires an active participation of student advisees in the process. The main responsibilities of student advisees are to:

• Understand the academic regulations and requirements of their chosen Major programme, as well as the GUR requirements;
• Actively obtain information, and seek advices and resources on a regular basis and as needed;
• Take the final responsibility for making decisions and choices regarding their academic study based on the information and advice given.

Departmental Academic Advising System

1. All full-time Bachelor’s degree students will be assigned to one full-time academic staff who will act as his/her Academic Advisor (AA) throughout his/her course of study. Students will be notified of the details of their AAs at the beginning of the academic year. Appropriate arrangement will be made if the AAs retire/depart/take leave for the semester/academic year concerned.
2. AAs are expected to keep in contact with their advisees regularly and make themselves available to the advisees for consultation when they have academic issues. On the other hand, students are expected to take initiative for seeking academic advice.
3. AAs should arrange at least two meetings (i.e. face-to-face or electronic means such as Skype/ZOOM/Teams) with their advisees during an academic year either individually or in small groups. The meetings should normally be scheduled before the subject registration period. Students who do not turn up will be invited for a second time. After meeting the students, AAs should submit a written report in a survey for review of the relevant Programme Leaders.
4. AAs should work together with the Programme Leaders for giving support to students having special difficulties in their academic study or personal issues For students who will be put on academic probation in the following semester, the AAs should arrange to meet the students concerned individually and as soon as possible before the beginning of next semester to discuss the study plan including the maximum number of subjects and which subjects should be taken.
5. Self-paced students and those who are not following the recommended progression pattern as specified in the Definitive Programme Documents are required to submit a detailed study plan for the approval of AA before subject registration.
6. AAs should review the cumulative GPAs of students at eAcademic after BoE meetings in each semester for giving academic counseling to students who are being put on academic probation or having such a risk.
7. In addition to giving academic advices, AAs should take care of the personal issues of students and make referrals if necessary. AAs should observe strictly the confidentiality of the personal data collected for academic advising purpose and only discuss/release/disclose those information to the authorized persons or units on a need-to-know basis. For issues related to the programme level or to a particular cohort, the Programme Leaders should work with the AAs for a solution.

Programme Team

Relevant Website of PolyU for Academic Advising

https://www.polyu.edu.hk/sao/counselling-and-wellness-section/academic-advising/academic-advising/what-is-academic-advising/