Professionalizing Higher Education Student Affairs and Services…..An International

Perspective

Keynote AddressInaugural Conference of the

Southern Africa Federation of Student Affairs and Services in Higher Education

(SAFSAS)Durban, South Africa

4 August, 2014

Roger B. Ludeman, PhDIASAS President EmeritusEugene, Oregon, USAAlso, Honorary Citizen of South Africa!Email: iasas@hotmail.com

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Title of UNESCO/IASAS Book - 2nd Edition

(2009)

STUDENT AFFAIRS AND SERVICES IN HIGHER EDUCATION: 

GLOBAL FOUNDATIONS, ISSUES, AND BEST PRACTICES

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001832/183221e.pdf

Several universities use as text for student affairs course.

Characteristics of a Profession by Bob

Kizlik

• 1. Professions are occupationally related social institutions established and maintained as a means of providing essential services to the individual and the society.

• 2. Each profession is concerned with an identified area of need or function (for example, maintenance of physical and emotional health, preservation of rights and freedom, enhancing the opportunity to learn).

Characteristics of a Profession,

cont.

• 3. The profession collectively, and the professional individually, possesses a body of knowledge and a repertoire of behaviors and skills (professional culture) needed in the practice of the profession; such knowledge, behavior, and skills normally not possessed by the nonprofessional.

• 4. Members of the profession are involved in decision making in serving clients. These decisions are made in accordance with the most valid knowledge available, against a background of principles and theories, and within the context of possible impact on other related conditions or decisions.

Characteristics of a Profession,

cont.

• 5. The profession is based on one or more undergirding disciplines from which it builds its own applied knowledge and skills.

• 6. The profession is organized into one or more professional associations, within broad limits of social accountability, are granted autonomy in control of the actual work of the profession and the conditions that surround it (admissions, educational standards, examination and licensing, career line, ethical and performance standards, professional discipline).

Characteristics of a Profession,

cont.

• 7. The profession has agreed-upon performance standards for admission to the profession and for continuance within it.

• 8. Preparation for and induction into the profession is provided through a protracted preparation program, usually in a professional school on a college or university campus.

Characteristics of a Profession,

cont.

• 9. There is a high level of public trust and confidence in the profession and in individual practitioners, based upon the profession's demonstrated capacity to provide service markedly beyond that which would otherwise be available.

• 10. Individual practitioners are characterized by a strong service motivation and lifetime commitment to competence.

Characteristics of a Profession,

cont.

• 11. Authority to practice in any individual case derives from the client or the employing organization; accountability for the competence of professional practice within the particular case is to the profession itself.

• 12. There is relative freedom from direct on-the-job supervision and from direct public evaluation of the individual practitioner. The professional accepts responsibility in the name of his or her profession and is accountable through his or her profession to the society.

Seven Characteristics of a

Professional

by Dianne Walker

What makes someone take the leap from being a regular

employee to being a professional?

Do you consider yourself a regular employee or professional?

Seven Characteristics of a Professional

by Dianne Walker

1. Possess specialized knowledge based on extensive preparation. Being a professional does not happen overnight. It requires many hours of study and preparation. Professionals are expected to maintain a high knowledge level and expertise. Organizations compensate professionals for their knowledge.

Seven Characteristics of a Professional

by Dianne Walker

2. Participates in ongoing training and development. A professional firmly believes in staying current in her/his field. This means that a professional is committed to continued training and development.

Seven Characteristics of a Professional

by Dianne Walker

3. Accepts responsibility. Professionals seek and accept responsibility. They can be trusted and given high levels of responsibility within the organization. A professional is handed tasks at such a high level, that poor performance can reflect poorly on the entire organization not just the individual. 

Seven Characteristics of a Professional

by Dianne Walker

4. Have a sense of ownership of their work. Professionals feel a sense of ownership and pride in everything they do. Professionals work, not to just meet organization standards, but most importantly, meet the standards of their own pride in their work. Professionals work for the organization as if they were working in their own business.

Seven Characteristics of a

Professional

by Dianne Walker

• 5. Maintain a collective networking spirit outside of the organization. Professionals understand that their work is not limited to their organization. They understand the importance of professional relationships outside of work with others in the same field. 

Seven Characteristics of a

Professional

by Dianne Walker

• 6. Maintains high standards of ethics and integrity. Professionals are driven by a code of ethics. They have a strong sense of right and wrong. Their integrity ensures that they adhere strongly to a set of values about how they do their work. Integrity leads management and others to trust the professional. They say what they will do and do what they say.

Seven Characteristics of a

Professional

by Dianne Walker

• 7. Maintains high standards of performance. Professionals have high levels of expectations both of themselves and others. They are determined to always do the right thing and do it well. Doing a job well is more important to a professional then the number of hours that they log on the clock. A true professional is unsatisfied with poor performance. While money may be important, it is not the driving force behind the professional’s desire to put forth exemplary work. 

Examples of a Viewpoint:

“Profession” or Not a

“Profession”

So, let me take a look at a few country examples and explain why I place them in the profession-based category or the non-profession category

Clearly do not follow a professional model (by choice), but still strive for quality in

everything they do

• France – organized by government outside of university. See themselves as civil servants

• Germany – Most efficient of all, but clearly see themselves as legislative and not profession based. Public employees

• China and Japan – have the look of profession but not organized and no required specialized qualification

• Mexico (with one exception: ITESM)• Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Chile – just

emerging• Brazil and Venezuela – nothing yet.

Those striving toward a Professional

Model

• Ecuador – want to organize• Hong Kong – long history of being organized,

no specialized qualification• Italy – Two groups are organized, but no

specialized qualification• Japan – have organized in the international

area (JASSO) but no specialized qualification• Lebanon – have begun meeting• Lithuania – trying to organize• Malaysia – meet regularly, but no specialized

qualification• South Africa – you tell me, but later during

discussion

Clearly follow a Professional Model

• Canada – organized nationally, setting out standards, hire mostly people with student affairs related degrees (varies by province)

• Australia/New Zealand – similar to Canada

• United Kingdom – similar to CA/AU/NZ

• United States – more detail later

History and Evolution of Student Affairs

Slides prepared by Dr. Marcia Caton, LaGuardia Community College,

City University of New York

History and Evolution

•Student personnel services or college student personnel, or student services or student development or student affairs: a field with a long/complicated history in the United States

•Roots in the 17th century and became a 20th century phenomenon

History and Evolution

• The Beginning: Early 1600’s –Early 1900’s

• Emerged with the creation of the colonial residential colleges (modeled after Oxford and Cambridge)

• Morrill Act of 1862 & 1890 that created the Land Grant institutions (colleges of the people – Agriculture and Science

History and Evolution

• Development of public colleges and universities (William and Mary, North Carolina, Georgia were first in late 16th century)

• Rise in coeducation and the increase in numbers of women

History and Evolution

• Rapidly growing heterogeneous student population needing assistance in other than curricular matters

• Institutions becoming more complex, new types of students, changing expectations, and need for new services

History and Evolution

Student Affairs Philosophy Emerged from:

•Colonial Residential Colleges

•Students needed to be housed and fed •Paternalistic Faculty assumed the role of parent (Loco Parentis)

•Faculty were responsible for the academic and social dimensions of students

History and Evolution

Student Affairs Philosophy Emerged from:

•Faculty focused on moral development, building character and ensuring responsible future leaders

•Faculty began shifting their focus from research to training of the student (German Model)

History and Evolution

Student Affairs Philosophy Emerged from:

•Staff were hired to reduce the faculty’s burden of managing students, the “unpleasant duties”

•This was the beginning of the divide between faculty and student affairs (specialization and silos)

History and Evolution The Birth of a Profession: 1900-WW II

College Student Personnel Movement Began

•Changes in purpose of institutions, faculty’s roles/ responsibilities, and in types of students

•New organizational structure •New professional organizations

History and Evolution

The Birth of a Profession: 1900-WW II

•American Council on Education appointed a committee to study student personnel practices in colleges and universities •1937-ACE published The Student Personnel Point of View emphasizing the importance of looking at the student as a whole

History and Evolution The Birth of a Profession: 1900-WW II

The Student Personnel Point of View Identified 23 specific functions that should be in the job description of student personnel professionals:

•Use research to understand the individual needs of students

•Become experts at management of programs and services

•Synergy between student personnel programs and the mission of the institution

History and Evolution The Birth of a Profession: 1900-WW II

•1949- Revised “The Student Personnel Point of View”

•Emphasizes of importance of including student growth and development, administrative, organizing, and governance issues

•Again, research on students and their development was seen as critical

•All these new expectations of student personnel workers meant that specialized graduate study programs needed to be developed to turn employees into professionals

History and Evolution

The Birth of a Profession: 1900-WW II1945-1975

•GI Bill •Activism and demand for access

•Change in social policy through federal legislation •Demise of loco parentis-court struck down this concept paving the way for viewing a student’s tertiary education experience as the pathway to independence

History and Evolution

1960s

•Significant changes in student affairs – Vietnam War, Civil Rights, Women’s Rights

•Organizational structural changes – emergence of vice president for student affairs positions

•Rise of the student consumer or contractual model

History and Evolution

• From Personnel to Student Development • Emergence of student development theory • Chickering Seven Vectors of Development • Cross Model of African American Identity • Helm’s Model of White Identity • Tinto’s Model of Student Engagement • Astin Model of Input/output • Research to theory to developing models of

practice

New role: Student Development Educator responsible for the affective and cognitive

domains of students

History and Evolution

Unintended Consequences •Student Affairs staff blamed for campus unrest

•Competition between student affairs professionals and teaching academics regarding resources

History and Evolution

1990’s-Call for Accountability

Retention and Throughput became big issues

Student Affairs staff were asked: What are you doing to help students be

successful and graduate (throughput)?

History and Evolution 1990’s-Call for Accountability

Then came the biggest philosophical breakthrough of the 20th century: 1994-ACPA’s The Student Learning Imperative and its

Implications for Student Affairs

Student Learning Goals/Outcomes became the focus of our work. How does student affairs contribute to student learning and success?

This paradigm was built to narrow chasm between Academic Affairs/Student Affairs

PARADIGM IS BEING REVISITED/REFINED AS WE SPEAK

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music!”

Friedrich Nietzsche

Professionalizing Student Affairs & Services :

There IS a place for Us IF we secure it ourselves!

So let’s dance to the music!

Roger B. Ludeman First President/Executive Director(Now retired)

International Association of Student Affairs and Services (IASAS)1270 Brickley RoadEugene, Oregon 97401Tel: 541-484-0706Email: iasas@hotmail.com IASAS Website: www.iasasonline.org