THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELECTED INSTITUTIONAL/PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THE BELIEFS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ADVISORS ON THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF EIGHT COMPONENTS OF THEIR WORK

The study was conducted to ascertain the beliefs of international student advisors about the relative importance that should be given to eight components of their work and to determine the relationship between these beliefs and each of three personal/institutional characteristics. The eight components of work are: Counseling/Advising, Immigration and Naturalization, Social and Cultural Programming, Orientation, Program Planning and Review, Inter-institutional Relations, Liaison and Public Relations and Office/Budget Administration. The personal/institutional characteristics are: educational background of the international student advisor, years of experience as an international student advisor, and size of the institution in terms of international student enrollment. The following research hypotheses were postulated: (1) There is a significant relationship between the educational background of the international student advisor and his/her ordering of eight components of work; (2) There is a significant relationship between the years of experience as an international student advisor and his/her ordering of eight components of work; (3) There is a significant relationship between the size of the institution in terms of international student enrollment and the advisor's ordering of eight components of work. Two instruments were developed and distributed to 188 international student advisors at four-year post-secondary institutions with enrollments of 300 and more international students. Responses from 155 subjects (82.4 percent) were analyzed and profiles were drawn to determine the modal characteristics of the respondents. Each of the three study hypotheses was rejected. The relationship between the international student advisor's ordering of the "should be" importance of the eight components of his/her work was not significantly related to: his/her educational background, years of experience as an international student advisor, or size of institution in terms of international student enrollment. In addition it was found that International student advisors believe the following should be the most important components of their work: Counseling/Advising, Immigration and Naturalization, Social and Cultural Programming, and Orientation. A study conclusion was that international student advisors prefer work tasks allied to the helping professions. This suggests the implication that development of counseling skills should be an integral part of their job preparation.