Special Edition of Frontiers in Education – Leadership in Education

“Academic Advising and Tutoring for Student Success in Higher Education: International Perspectives”

Special Edition - Overview

There is a recognised lack of international literature on advising and tutoring in Higher Education (HE), particularly in the UK context.  Advising and tutoring is of great importance internationally and, in that regard, global research can help to build a credible evidence base for our practice and to acknowledge the centrality of high quality advising and tutoring to teaching, learning and student success.  The promotion of personalised, even individualised, learning is now at the heart of most HE institutional missions, a large number of which are currently reviewing their strategic and operational tutoring infrastructure.  Indeed, agendas align worldwide to both expand and diversify HE and there is a firm focus, globally, on understanding the factors that drive student persistence, student outcomes and employability.  Tackling these issues effectively will require strategic, connected, purposeful and efficient ways of working across recognised institutional and international boundaries.  This significant shift in the national and international learning, teaching and student experience policymaking landscape cannot be addressed without due regard to the strategic placement of advising and tutoring within universities, on an international scale, in a bid to continuously improve HE learning cultures.  Recently, Effective Personal Tutoring in Higher Education was published, this is the first UK monograph on the topic in twelve years, promoting a more evidence-based approach to practice and situating advising and tutoring within the wider, international literature on student retention and success.  Nevertheless, there are still a number of gaps in our knowledge and many fruitful avenues for future research in this area, all of which can help to acknowledge and articulate the ongoing importance of advising and tutoring to fostering independence of thought and enthusiasm for lifelong learning.   We can also learn much by embracing international approaches to research and best practice in advising.  The aim of this collection of articles is to address the need to further stimulate discussion in this field whilst addressing some of the most pressing gaps in the current literature, promoting further international research in this area and connecting several disparate HE policymaking agendas. The collection will consider the impact of high-quality advising and tutoring practices and is intent on advancing evidence that advising and tutoring is fundamental to helping universities achieve their strategic ambitions for student success.  We will, therefore, feature a number of edited contributions from research articles, review articles, reflective essays, opinion pieces and evaluative case studies.

Guest Editors

• Emily McIntosh, Director of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience, Middlesex University, UK: https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/654176/overview
• Professor Liz Thomas, Professor of Higher Education, Edge Hill University, UK: https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/654447/overview
• Wendy Troxel, Director of NACADA Research Center, Kansas State University, USA: https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/654277/overview
• Oscar Van Den Wijngaard, EDLAB: Maastricht University Institute for Education Innovation, Maastricht University, Netherlands: https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/666901/bio
• David Grey, CEO, UKAT, UK: https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/654199/overview

View the recording of the special webinar held to mark the launch of this special edition

Availability

We are delighted to announce that all articles from this collection are now published and available online. You can download the entire collection as an e-Book in e-Pub format.