NEED ASSESSMENT OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING SERVICES AMONG HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS
Keywords:
Academic Counselling, Career Guidance, Guidance and Counselling Services, Higher Education Students, Need Assessment, Student Mental HealthAbstract
The current study examined academic, emotional, social, personal and career problems of college and university students as well as the need for guidance and counseling among college and university students. The present educational system puts students of higher education on several hurdles which have been seen to affect their academic performance, mental health, personality development and future job planning. If appropriate support systems are not in place, these difficulties could have a detrimental impact on students' academic performance and general wellbeing. Therefore, guidance and counselling services are seen as important part of educational institutions as they help the student to maximize his abilities and to cooperate with problems encountered in his personal and academic life. Thus, guidance and counselling services are considered to be essential components in educational institutions as they help students to achieve their potential, solve their academic and personal problems and make better decisions in life. This study aims to determine the importance of guidance and counseling in the educational institutions and the needs of the college students for counseling. The context of the study focused on academic advice, career counseling, emotional counseling, social adjustment, stress management and personal development needs of students. In addition, the study examined students' perceptions of the usefulness of counselling services in improving their academic performance, mental health and decision making. The descriptive survey research design was used in combination with quantitative research design which was used to collect all the information from the participants. In order to obtain the data, 250 students enrolled in higher education institutions were selected using a self-developed structured questionnaire which is on the scale of five points ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. The following statements were included in the questionnaire on academic counseling, emotional support, career guidance, social counseling, mental health awareness, interpersonal relationship, stress management. The study findings indicated that a great percentage of students strongly agree on the importance of providing suitable guidance and counselling in HEIs.
Downloads
References
American Counseling Association. (2014). The importance of counseling services in educational institutions. American Counseling Association.
Baker, S. B., & Gerler, E. R. (2008). School counseling for the twenty-first century. Pearson Education.
Corey, G. (2017). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Gibson, R. L., & Mitchell, M. H. (2011). Introduction to counseling and guidance (7th ed.). Pearson Education.
Gladding, S. T. (2018). Counseling: A comprehensive profession (8th ed.). Pearson
Khan, A., & Mahmood, N. (2015). Students’ perception regarding guidance and counseling services at university level. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(15), 1–6.
Kolo, F. D. (2015). Guidance and counseling needs of university students. Journal of Educational Research, 5(2), 45–52.
Latif, M., & Malik, S. (2016). Role of counseling services in students’ academic achievement at university level in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 36(1), 201–210.
McLeod, J. (2013). An introduction to counseling (5th ed.). Open University Press.
Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory. Houghton Mifflin.
Santrock, J. W. (2011). Educational psychology (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Sharf, R. S. (2012). Theories of psychotherapy and counseling: Concepts and cases. Cengage Learning.
UNESCO. (2019). Supporting student well-being in higher education. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Yusuf, F. A. (2012). The need for guidance and counseling services in schools. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(6), 36–40.
Zunker, V. G. (2012). Career counseling: A holistic approach. Cengage Learning.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Mehwish Rani, Dr. Saira (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
