Chronic under-staffing affects York’s advising centres, leaves students without guidance
Samantha Osaduke
Staff Writer
The shortage of academic advisors at York is becoming a serious issue.
As of this year, the faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies is no longer taking walk-ins at their Central Square location for academic advising.
Instead, students will find a sign redirecting them to a York website where they can sign up for online advising—a system that is most often fully booked.
Alastair Woods of the York Federation of Students (YFS) feels students shouldn’t be sent on “wild goose chases” across campus just to get help and feedback.
“The academic advising centre doesn’t have enough staff or resources to keep up with the demand for their help,” he says. “[Students] across the campus go from faculty to department simply to get the information they need on their degree or program.”
Woods may very well be correct. The advisors at the Schulich School of Business—which is to say, all two of them—are constantly busy.
According to Keshia Gray, associate director of undergraduate programs at Schulich, the business school currently has only two academic advisors who share the responsibilities for advising approximately 1,500 undergraduate students.
“We are always trying to find new and innovative methods to facilitate the student experience,” says Gray.
She says that aside from advising, advisors manage the Schulich Ambassador Program. In addition, they host orientations and workshops for at-risk students to aid them in their academic careers.
Running from September to March, advising appointments at Schulich remain fairly consistent, save for higher requests before course drop deadlines and exam periods.
The YFS is looking to address this shortage issue through releasing a “Student Rights Handbook”, which is currently in production.
“[It] will be a resource for our members looking to find the basic information they need about program and degree requirements as well as their rights inside and outside the classroom,” explains Woods. “This will at least give our members one easy place to find the important information they need about their faculties, departments, and programs.”
In Woods’ opinion, without provincial funding, academic advising may be seen as a “less essential” service and cut back from post-secondary institutions.
“It’s important to see this in the broader context of a continued underfunding crisis of colleges and universities in Ontario,” warns Woods. “Academic advising centres without the staff, finances, or resources to adequately serve the student body,” he says, will send countless students on a “mission, just to figure out which courses they need to graduate.”
