Evaluation of academic advisor's performance perceived by students: A study at health faculty of Semnan University of Medical Sciences

Educational studies have revealed the significance of advising students in higher education to ensure training and educational success. The purpose of this study was to explore the views of students concerning the advising performance of faculty members in 2016.
This study was descriptive and analytical with a cross-sectional design. One hundred sixty two students enrolled at faculty of health at Semnan University of Medical sciences (Semnan, Iran) randomly included in the study. A questionnaire with 14 items was used to collect data on various expected activities of academic advisor performance.
Students evaluated “Signing and controlling course selection and other forms” as the strongest performance and “advising students on their expectations and demands” as the weakest performance of their advisors. Students mostly referred to advisors to seek for educational and training support (34%) and rarely referred for mental advisory (3.4%). The results showed that 24.1% of surveyed students rated their advisor as doing good, 67.3% as doing fairly good, and 8.6% as doing poor performance.
This study indicated that students experienced an overall fair satisfaction of advisors. Importantly, students suggested that faculty members being more available to meet with students to improve advisor performance. Also advisors should provide more professional guidance to students.