Interview with Hamdan Yoshida (BEng Mechanical Engineering with Management) by Beth Rotherham (Graduate Officer, Institute of Teaching and Learning)
What is Academic Advising?
Your Academic Advisor is a member of academic staff from your department who is there to help you out in navigating your journey throughout university. Whether it’s about your academic development and skills, meeting academic commitments, your personal well-being or planning for your career and life after uni.
Why do we have Academic Advising?
It’s part of the framework of support offered by the University for all students, so that they can they can discuss progress and receive advice from experienced members of staff teaching and working in their field of study. Academic Advisors know about the inner workings of the department, as well as university services, and they are available to help students tackle any problems they might encounter through their time at university.
How do we do Academic Advising here?
I think it’s different for each year. So I think in first year, at least for the first semester, meetings with my Advisor were scheduled in my university timetable. Then it was different during the Covid-19 pandemic and we could meet online, but now, in my third year, we just reach out to our advisor through email whenever we need to – the meetings are not formally scheduled in the timetable.
What is your experience of Academic Advising?
My experience has been fantastic! Especially in my first year, when I joined the university a bit late because of a few medical issues. I was sick at the time when university started, so I couldn’t join at the beginning, which meant I missed some coursework. Because I was in first year and didn’t know what processes to follow, the work I eventually submitted wasn’t marked, and I didn’t know how to tackle this. I reached out to my Academic Advisor, who told me to apply for mitigating circumstances. Later there were further complications, and my department was taking a long time actually giving me the marks from the mitigation, but I reached out again. She did not stop and was really committed in her job, and I’m very grateful.
Do you have any tips for making the most of the advising relationship?
Sometimes students don’t even see the point of talking about certain issues with their advisor. But my advice would be just to respond when they make contact with you, even if it’s just to let them know how things are going, and I’m really sure they’ll be surprised by the support and advice they can offer. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them.
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