The core of student’s affairs business is a widespread realization that students are the pivotal element in the entire education process and it is the prime responsibility of educators and management to create conditions for an active and engaged learning experience and all related affairs must be dealt at a centralized point in educational institutions. Student’s affairs offices have come a long way and their role is not just to provide a shoulder to cry on but, in today’s complex world its methodology is to adopt a holistic approach in addressing student’s problems. It therefore is concerned about all areas of a student’s life, academic, personal, psychological etc.
The cultural diversity prevailing at educational institutes requires cross-cultural communication and necessitates people having specialized skills in handling students matters in educational institutes which have students of different ethnicity and religions. Let’s deliberate a little on the significance of having student’s affairs offices at educational institutes.
A Liaison Between Students, Faculty and Administration:
The student’s affairs office is required for settling all queries and issues of students related to faculty members and administration. The issues may include fee discount, not being satisfied with a teacher’s behavior, racial discrimination complaint or policy issues.
The student’s affair officers must be trained in grievance handling issues and cross campus communication. Since students are consumers for any educational institute, keeping them fully satisfied and addressing their problems swiftly the # 1 requirement from a staff of student’s affair office.
Admissions, Enrollment and Retention:
Student’s affairs offices are important in getting new admissions for institutes. They keep an eye on prospective customers through the visit to schools and colleges and education fairs. Their well-trained staff satisfies all queries of students and parents.
These offices do effective supervision of the registration and enrollment process and help students in each phase of their admission process. After admissions are complete, the student’s affairs team arranges meaningful orientation session for fresh students.
All students’ affairs offices monitor student’s retention rate and strive to help to improve retention. It identifies factors responsible in each case (Cost, isolation and social difficulties etc) and effectively makes efforts to resolve the issue. Their approach in this regard is pro-active as they reach the students at risk, before they leave the institute.
Promote Healthy Social and Cultural Environment:
Student’s affairs offices are responsible for promoting healthy social and cultural environment in institute. They arrange concerts, literary functions and special events. Their responsibilities in this regard are selection of venue, arranging key note speakers, fund raising and getting sponsorships etc.
Student’s affairs offices take care of all co curricular activities which students need. They arrange sports festivals, exhibitions, field trips, picnics etc to provide fun and entertainment to student’s fraternity.
Advising and Counseling:
The students need various types of counseling which might relate to their personal issues like financial hardships or some psychological issues as well as to career counseling requirements. An effective Students affairs officer guides students emphatically on each issue. For example, he makes referrals to career openings and may also advise the student about selection of jobs. For academic counseling .students affairs office has a separate department working under its control. This department helps students selecting a major, selection of necessary courses and referrals for tutoring in relation to needed academic skills.
For needy students, student’s affair’s people arrange loans, grants or part time jobs etc in order to keep their learning journey on track.
Arranges Training Sessions and Workshops:
The training requirements of students identified by educators are communicated to students’ affairs office who arranges, necessary training and mentoring sessions through workshops, seminars or training sessions both in house as well as off-campus.
Fixers During a Crisis:
One of the major responsibilities of Students affairs office is to maintain high quality campus safety in operation in order to keep students safe. Crisis handling is their forte. They maintain a good liaison with local police, district administration, fire brigade department and hospitals in the city in order to face any mishap, accident or calamity.
Conclusion:
In a nutshell it may be concluded that student’s affairs offices now have a holistic approach and supervise each affair and area of a student’s life, while he is studying at their institute. Its overall purpose is to enhance quality of student’s life both in and outside campus. It deals with their financial, social, cultural and personal issues and strives to make their stay at institute a pleasant experience. The all encompassing nature of their responsibilities makes them a central point of contact for students because they can find one-window solution of all their problems.
Author Bio: The writer of this blog is Sarah Taylor, she is Custom Dissertation Help provider and an educationist cum free lance journalist who contributes her articles on a wide range of topics. Her special areas of interest however include, class room management, innovative technologies in education and student’s behavioral issues.
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