Academic guidance plan for the Department of Business Administration
First: The nature of the plan:
It is a group of activities that the Academic Advising Unit in the Department of Business Administration seeks to provide guidance services to female students that will contribute to developing their personalities academically and socially and developing their skills in various fields. These activities are conducted through the academic advisor during a specific period of time so that these activities are provided over successive time periods. It starts at the beginning of the semester and ends at the end of the semester.
Second: Objectives :
1- Spread the culture of academic advising among female students.
2 - Guide the student in choosing the appropriate academic courses according to the academic plan to successfully obtain the academic degree.
3 - Overcome the difficulties that the student encounters in her studies and provide advice on matters that affect the course of her education.
4 - Help female students with special needs to face academic difficulties during their lives and assist them in academic achievement according to their abilities.
5 - Spread awareness of academic regulations among female students and help them understand study plans and regulations.
6- Follow up on students who are struggling academically and help them acquire the necessary skills to improve their academic achievement.
7 - Provide the student with all accurate information about her university programs, rules, and regulations.
8 - Encourage academically outstanding female students to achieve further.
Third: Plan procedures:
The department's academic advising coordinator takes a set of measures to communicate the plan:
1- Distribute the academic advising guide to new female students in the department at the beginning of the semester.
2 - Distribute the new students to the faculty members, while the old students continue with their advisors at the beginning of the semester.
Fourth: Duties of the academic advisor:
The duties of the student’s academic advisor are determined as follows:
First: Technical tasks: The tasks of the academic advisor can be determined as follow:
1- Prepare the student’s file:
The academic advisor prepares a special file for each of the female students. The file contains the following:
1- Student data form.
2- The student’s study plan.
3- Registration form at the Deanship of Admission and Registration.
4- A recent copy of the academic record.
5- Medical excuses.
6- Other administrative documents.
7- Direct the student to someone who can answer her inquiries and discuss with the student the following topics:
Course registration process:
The academic advisor studies the student’s file and fills out the registration form for each student before her registration date.
Selection of courses:
1 - The academic advisor must verify the following information:
The student’s success in all required courses and the pre-requisites for studying each course, as the student will not be allowed to register for a course for which she did not pass the previous requirement. Knowing the minimum and maximum number of credit hours that the student is allowed to register in her current situation (the student’s academic load).
2- Study timetable:
The academic advisor must ensure that the students know the place and time when lectures begin and that there are no conflicts in the dates of the student’s academic timetable.
3- Explanation and clarification of graduation requirements:
The student must successfully pass the credit hours to obtain a bachelor’s degree, distributed as follows:
1- Completion of major requirements.
2 - Completing all required courses with a GPA of no less than (2.00). The academic advisor must assist the student in preparing a timetable and plan to complete graduation requirements, ensuring that the maximum number of years allowed is not exceeded.
3- Explanation of the GPA (semester and cumulative): The student’s semester and cumulative performance is measured by calculating the average semester and cumulative grade point average.
Each of them is calculated using the following equation: Grade point average (cumulative/semester) = Grade points * Number of hours assigned, Total credit hours calculated.
Second: Administrative tasks:
1- Changing Major:
Student transfer is allowed with the approval of the dean and within the controls set by the College Council. The academic record of the student transferred from one major to another includes previous courses completed by the student. This includes academic and cumulative grades and averages throughout her university studies.
2- Add/drop courses:
The academic advisor must distribute the form prepared for dropping or adding courses to female students who wish to make amendments to their original registration during the first week of the semester (and in accordance with the regulations).
3- Withdrawal from a course:
The academic advisor must sign the form for female students who wish to withdraw from a course and be marked as (Withdrawn) in their academic record within the specified period.
4- The student’s absence:
Absence is counted from the first day of study, as the general policy of the college requires that a first warning be given to the student if she is absent for 5% of the approved teaching hours for the course. A second warning be given to the student if she is absent for 10% of the approved teaching hours for the course and not allowing the student to sit for the final exam her absence reaches 25% of the number of approved hours for the course. The student who is denied taking the test due to absence is considered to have failed the course.
5- Postponing and dropping out of study:
It is a temporary withdrawal for a specific period of time (for two semesters or three consecutive semesters as a maximum), and the student may submit a request to postpone study during the specified period, by submitting a study postponement form to the Department of Female Student Affairs at the college.
6- Withdrawal from college:
It means permanent withdrawal from the college without the possibility of returning. A college release form is obtained from the Deanship of Admission and Registration
Third: General and organizational tasks:
1- Problem solving:
The academic advisor can help students face difficulties related to their studies by identifying the causes of the problem and proposing appropriate solutions to it. These problems include the following:
Course management:
It addresses which part of the course requires the most attention, how to spend time studying the course, and how to organize reviewing lessons. Time management: Do students understand the time required to study, do they waste their time, what are their priorities, and how do they manage time to study the course.
The relationship between faculty members and students:
Do female students face difficulties because of the professor or course?
Test-specific skills:
Do female students suffer from test anxiety, and how do they deal with this anxiety? Does the female student have the basic skills to prepare to take the exam?
Drop a specific course:
It is preferable to take steps to drop a specific course before the specified final date in the following cases:
1- When the student’s academic load increases and she passes
2- To obtain better performance in the remaining courses.
Non-academic problems that hinder the student’s performance and affect academic achievement:
The academic advisor must help the student face her problems before her studies are affected. Sometimes the student fails to adapt and becomes mired in psychological or social challenges. Here, the student must be directed to the second level of guidance, which is student guidance in the college.
Fifth: Timetable for the plan’s tasks and activities:
The plan’s activities and events shall be performed through the Business Administration Department:
Weekly tasks and activities:
Weekly tasks and activities
Week 1
Prepare the plan and the student
Distribute the form prepared for drop/add to students who wish to make changes to their original registration.
Directe students to their classrooms.
Respond to female students’ inquiries, guide them, and provide all possible support.
Week 2
Hold a meeting with the new students to welcome them, get to know each other, and clarify the duties of the academic advisor
Allocate new female students to faculty members, while old female students remain with their academic advisor
Week 3
The first meeting is held for each academic advisor with the female students she is charged with advising, in which the role of the academic advisor is discussed, and the forms are distributed by the Academic Advising Unit for female students to fill out and informing them of conflicts in course timetables. Add, drop, or apology, absence from lectures, absence from exams.
Activate the guidance hours for each academic advisor by hosting all female academic guidance students with her.
Week 4
Hold a meeting for the academic advisors of the Business Administration Department to coordinate with them in performing tasks.
Receive a list of the names of female academic guidance students from each academic advisor.
Prepare a special file for each of the students assigned to guide them.
Week 5
Prepare a list of the names of the female students and their academic progress in terms of whether they are struggling or excelling.
Identify low-achieving female students.
Hold a meeting for low-achieving female students to find out the reasons for their low academic level and suggest appropriate solutions to improve their grades and follow up on that.
Week 6
Prepare a list of the names of female students who did not attend 75% of the lectures and contact them to inform them of the difficulty of their situation and to find out the reasons for this and whether it is possible to provide assistance.
Week 7
Psychological preparation and solving problems related to the first semester exam.
Hold a group of individual counseling sessions for female students who suffer from academic problems, including special sessions for female students who suffer from psychological problems such as anxiety about exams and feelings of frustration.
Week 8
Conduct a questionnaire to measure female students’ satisfaction with the academic advising system.
Week 9
Hold a second meeting for each academic advisor with the female students she was assigned to guide.
A list of the names of female students who did not attend 50% of the lectures and contacting them to inform them of the difficulty of their situation and to find out the reasons for this and whether it is possible to provide assistance.
Week 10
Identify outstanding female students through their grades in semester tests and guide them to the best ways to strengthen their skills, develop their methods of studying, and maintain the good level they have achieved in the form of individual and group counseling sessions.
Struggling female students are determined through their grades in semester tests and are guided on the best ways to overcome their problems and deal well with the current situation in the form of individual and group sessions.
Week 11
Prepare a list of the female students who did not attend 25% of the lectures and contact them to inform them of the difficulty of their situation and to find out the reasons for this and whether it is possible to provide assistance.
Week 12
Obtain a report from the academic advisors in the Department of Business Administration regarding the development observed in the cases of female students.
Week 13
Hold a meeting for the advisors of the Business Administration Department in which the conditions of the students who were struggling academically were addressed based on the quarterly results and the support given to them, as well as the outstanding students who should be motivated.
Determine cases of students who suffer from problems related to tests and ways to overcome them.
Week 14
Hold a third meeting for each academic advisor with all of her female students, in which “test anxiety and how to deal with it” was discussed as part of the students’ preparation for the end-of-semester exam.
Conduct a survey to learn about students' impressions of the academic advising activities of the Business Administration Department in general at the second semester level.