Approaches to Improving Counselors’ Professional Ability in Chinese Local Universities
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study aimed 1) to examine the current and desired professional ability levels of local university counselors, 2) to develop approaches to improve the professional abilities of local university counselors, and 3) to evaluate these approaches in terms of clarity, relevance, and feasibility. The study employed an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. First, we synthesized policy documents and prior research and combined them with interviews with 10 experts to develop a three-level, eight-dimension framework of counselors’ professional abilities. Second, a dual-rating survey was administered to 247 counselors from 13 local universities in Guangxi, with each item rated for both current and desired ability levels. In the IPA step, desired ratings were used as a defensible operationalization of “importance” (perceived expectations), whereas current ratings represented “performance,” linking gap diagnosis to prioritization. Third, improvement approaches derived from the gap analysis and Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) were reviewed by an expert panel.
The results revealed that 1) desired ability levels were significantly higher than current performance across all eight dimensions, signifying pervasive professional ability gaps. The most substantial gaps were identified in ideological and political education, career and entrepreneurship guidance, and professional growth, whereas daily affairs management showed the smallest gap. Mean gaps (desired − current) ranged from 0.43 to 1.47 on a five-point scale, pointing to sizable ability shortfalls in several domains. 2) Using IPA with overall mean performance of 3.32 and overall mean importance of 4.27 as reference points, the study developed a two-level priority scheme that placed ideological and political education at Priority Level I and employment and entrepreneurship guidance and professional growth at Priority Level II, and translated these priorities into a structured improvement package. 3) The expert panel confirmed that the proposed approaches were clear, relevant, and feasible for implementation in local universities. Overall, the study’s core contribution is an evidence-based diagnostic-to-intervention cycle that integrates measurement, prioritization, and action planning for counselor development in local-university contexts.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Views and opinions expressed in the articles published by The Journal of MCU Peace Studies, are of responsibility by such authors but not the editors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors.
References
American College Personnel Association, & NASPA. (2015). Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators. Washington, DC: ACPA & NASPA.
Bai, H. (2022). Construction of an Evaluation System for the Ability Maturity of College Counselors. Ideological Education Research, (1), 154–158.
Chen, F. F. (2007). Sensitivity of Goodness of Fit Indexes to Lack of Measurement Invariance. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 14(3), 464–504.
Dreyfus, H. L., & Dreyfus, S. E. (1986). Mind Over Machine: The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer. New York, NY: Free Press.
Eraut, M. (1994). Developing Professional Knowledge and Competence. London, England: Falmer Press.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
He, D. (2016). Research on the Career Development of College Counselors in Higher Education. (Doctoral Dissertation). Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff Criteria for Fit Indexes in Covariance Structure Analysis: Conventional Criteria Versus New Alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55.
Li, P., Chen, L., & Xu, W. (2021). Exploring KPI-Based Performance Appraisal for University Counselors. Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing (Social Sciences Edition), 37(5), 493–498.
Martilla, J. A., & James, J. C. (1977). Importance–Performance Analysis. Journal of Marketing, 41(1), 77–79.
Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2014). Provisional Standards for the Professional Ability of University Counselors. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201403/t20140331_166419.html
Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2017). Provisions on the Construction of Counselors in Ordinary Colleges and Universities. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A02/s5911/moe_621/201709/t20170929_315781.html
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric Theory (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Pope, R. L., Reynolds, A. L., & Mueller, J. A. (2019). Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Rovinelli, R. J., & Hambleton, R. K. (1977). On the Use of Content Specialists in the Assessment of Criterion-Referenced Test Item Validity. Tijdschrift voor Onderwijsresearch, 2, 49–60.
Shi, N. (2023). A Historical Review and Future Prospects of Research on University Counselors’ Professional Ability. Journal of Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute, 35(3), 59–65.
Tull, A., Hirt, J. B., & Saunders, S. A. (2009). Becoming Socialized in Student Affairs Administration: A Guide for New Professionals and Their Supervisors. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Wang, R. (2023). Problems and Paths of the Professional Development of College Counselors in the New Era. Education and Culture Materials, (16), 111–114.
Yang, B. (2016). A Study on the Counselors’ Professional Ability and Its Development in Local Colleges and Universities. (Doctoral Dissertation). Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.