Study: Advisers helpful, effective

? Hard to reach. Helpful. Irritating. Caring.

Students’ descriptions Thursday afternoon of Kansas University advisers were across the board. But according to a study of academic advising at Kansas universities released earlier in the day by the Board of Regents, most students view on-campus advising as both effective and useful.

“I suspect the data is skewed a bit positive, because the kind of student who tends to fill this out is engaged and liking where they are,” Regent Gary Sherrer said.

Nonetheless, he added, the results do indicate universities are doing a good job of advising.

“That being said, in the world of customer satisfaction, I don’t think 60 percent is a desired level,” he said.

Nearly 86 percent of responding KU students said they can see their advisers when they need to. Another 87 percent said their adviser is knowledgeable and reliable in helping them select courses.

If anything, advisers seem to be at their best when helping students enroll. It’s questions of graduation, adding or dropping classes after enrollment and changing schools or departments that see a drop off to the 60 percent range.

Valerie Matzler, a Bonner Springs junior, said her adviser usually has been helpful. Her main complaint is the amount of time and energy that can go into just being advised.

“It’s sometimes irritating because we may already know what we need, and yet we have to jump through hoops when meeting with them,” she said.

Matzler said she has turned to advisers in the anthropology department many times in order to understand graduation requirements.

“It can get confusing, and they’re really helpful in sorting things out,” she said.

About 78 percent of KU students who responded to the survey – 7 percent responded overall – said they were satisfied with their advising experience.

Regent Donna Shank, who chairs the board’s academic affairs committee, said she hoped the state’s universities use the survey results – all of which were roughly the same – to improve their students’ experiences.

“My hope would be the institutions take this information, analyze it, share it with your advising departments and have a dialogue about it with your student leaders,” Shank said.