How students connect with academic advisors has changed this year, with some faculties pooling advisors into a shared booking system rather than assigning students to advisors based on their majors or specializations.
Students in participating faculties can now book appointments with any academic advisor in their faculty or select “anyone” when seeking more general information.
In the faculty of fine arts and communications, for example, students were previously directed to a specific advisor based on their program. Under the new system, students can contact advisors for questions that do not require program-specific advice, which could alleviate pressure on academic advisors.
In an email sent to fine arts and communications students, academic advising said it hopes that this new approach will provide students with “increased access to advising services.”
However, the new booking system does not list each academic advisor’s specializations. This could make it difficult for incoming students to determine which academic advisor is best suited to their concerns.
The new booking system is now live for the faculty of fine arts and communications and the faculty of health and community studies. Academic advising appointments in the Triffo School of Business and the faculty of arts and sciences are currently unavailable until Sept. 15.
Advising in the faculty of nursing and the school of continuing education appears to remain divided by specialization. Nursing students use different booking portals based on their enrolled program, while the school of continuing education lists separate email addresses for different programs.
