On the Construction of a New Collaborative System for International Students Advising

The International Student Advisor's Room of the International Center is supposed to play an important role for international students advising at Okayama University. In the past, the university did not succeed in constructing a campus-wide international student advising system which consisted of the advisor's room and the seven lecturers in charge of international students in the faculties and the graduate schools. The author introduces the history of the trials to build a collaborative system in the past two decades, and he analyzes the reasons why the university failed in building an efficient system. Unlike the U.S., international student advisors are teaching staff at national universities in Japan. But, recently administrative staff have come to be expected to take the place of teaching staff Taking this new nationwide trend into consideration, the author would like to offer a loose collaborative system for international students advising at Okayama University. He also refers to the important points to be kept in mind when we try to build a successful and effective system for international students advising