engleski

Analysis of some aspects of student support services in higher education: Comparison of Albanian, American, Austrian and Croatian students

Success achieved by students in higher education depends on a number of learning environment factors, including internal factors, such as students’ knowledge, skills, and motivation, as well as external factors, such as access to supporting services and programs and availability and cooperation of professors and administrators. Today’s higher education institutions attempt to be more effective by becoming more sensitive to students’ needs. There is evidence of a greater willingness to support students’ efforts in successful learning and learn from their expectations. One facet of student success is the creation of an effective learning environment, an open system of variable factors, which influence the effectiveness of student learning and can be assessed differently from the perspectives of learners, faculty, administrators and professional staff. Success is dependent upon number of factors related to such social aspects as collaboration between faculty, administration, student support staff, and the students. This research was undertaken on a core sample of Albanian, American, Austrian and Croatian students. The results demonstrate the importance of such aspects of a learning environment, as collaboration of college administration, availability of professors and academic advisors, as well as easy access to tutoring and various student services. Some variations in the organization of different educational systems in different countries are presented, as well as some examples of good practices in each state.

Effective learning environment; higher education; cross-cultural differences

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