Session Outline

In September 2023, Oxford Brookes University launched a new Academic Advising* Policy as part of its Academic Advising Strategy . Three years on, this presentation will explore how the policy has become embedded across the institution, highlighting the structures, practices, and quality enhancement initiatives that are now shaping a consistent and developmental Advising experience for students.

As part of the wider structure of Academic Advising, the re/organisation of the Senior Faculty Academic Advisors (SFAAs) has significantly contributed to embedding the policy across the institution. Their role sits alongside other elements of the Advising framework, helping to promote coherence across faculties, support consistency of practice, and provide institutional guidance on processes. In addition, they have played a part in strengthening referral pathways that connect Advising with other student services. Flowcharts and process maps have been developed to illustrate these routes, giving staff and students clearer insight into how Advising links with wider support. This has advanced academic advising to meet the additional demands being placed on institutions, for example to support wellbeing and mental health needs.

Quality enhancement has been further advanced through the creation of a new institutional Academic Advising curriculum, designed to support both staff development and student engagement. Alongside this, a poster campaign aimed at students has raised visibility and reinforced the value of Advising as a core part of the academic experience. These initiatives have already been warmly received by staff, who appreciate their practical contribution to strengthening the Advising framework and supporting their work with students.

Central to our improvements has been using consistent evaluation criteria for Advising which has demonstrated measurable progress: staff are consistently following the policy by inviting students to scheduled meetings and logging attendance at tutorials, while student evaluation indicates positive improvement in their experience of Academic Advising. This iterative approach reflects a commitment to ongoing enhancement, ensuring that Advising is embedded in practice and continues to deliver meaningful benefits for students across the institution.

The presentation will situate this work within the broader literature on whole‑institution change (Thomas, 2017) and dialogic approaches to Advising (McIntosh, Gallacher & Chapman, 2022), while acknowledging the continuing challenge of reconciling dissonant discourses of Advising and Personal Tutoring (Brown & Thomas, 2022).

This session will be of particular interest to coordinators of Academic Advising / Personal Tutoring seeking to understand how policy can be embedded institutionally through leadership structures, process guidance, and quality enhancement work. It will also address the ongoing sector‑wide issues of standardisation, professionalisation, recognition, and value, showing how continual evaluation can drive improvement across complex organisations.

*The term “Academic Advising” is used for the activity known as “Personal Tutoring” (or variants thereof) in other universities.

Learning Outcomes

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