Journal of Medical Education Development (Mar 2023)

Current status of the academic advisor system in the faculty of dentistry and recommendations for improvement from the perspective of students and professors: A cross-sectional study

  • Ayla Bahramian,
  • Katayoun Katebi,
  • Rahman Moloodi,
  • Fatemeh Dabaghi Tabriz

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 49
pp. 1 – 6

Abstract

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Background & Objective: Academic advising during study helps students to overcome problems, achieve educational goals, and enjoy success. The study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the success and failure of the academic advisor system at Tabriz Faculty of Dentistry from the perspective of faculty members and students. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study that was conducted in Tabriz Faculty of Dentistry in 2018, two researcher-made questionnaires were used to collect data after the confirmation of their validity and reliability. The questionnaires consisted of 20 questions, which included 10 items related to existing challenges and obstacles and 10 questions on proposed solutions. A total of 80 faculty members were selected via stratified random sampling method and 203 students were selected by simple random sampling. Thereafter, they completed the questionnaires. The results were analyzed in SPSS software (version 17) using descriptive statistics, percentage and mean, and the U-Man-Whitney test. Results: The most important obstacles from students' perspective were the advisor's unsuccessful experience over the past years (84.1%), followed by the lack of a management system 68.3%. Holding orientation workshops was the most frequent solution suggested by students (85.5%). The most important obstacle from professors' perspective was students' dishonesty with the advisor(86.3%). According to 83.8% of professors, the most practical solution regarding the exciting challenges was the allocation of sufficient time for the student by the academic advisor. Conclusion: As evidenced by the results of this study, it seems that holding orientation workshops, gaining students' trust, and allocating sufficient time for each student can be effective in improving the academic advisor system.

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