The Power to Transform Higher Education Through Excellence in Academic Advising

NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising has joined with the Gardner Institute to advance student learning, success, persistence, retention, and degree completion through a comprehensive, standards-based strategic planning process to promote excellence in academic advising.

This partnership brings together the national and global academic advising expertise of NACADA with the Gardner Institute's 18 years of experience in guiding institutions through evidence-based decision-making, planning, and implementation to effect positive change in the student experience.

Excellence in Academic Advising Difference

There are scores of vendors that offer technology and other solutions for academic advising. These solutions, while often good, may do little to change the actual processes, practices, and culture associated with academic advising  at a college or university—at least in any intentional way.  The Excellence in Academic Advising initiative addresses these gaps by engaging institutions in a holistic and systemic review of academic advising from a teaching and learning perspective, with support and guidance from experts in the field and experts in educational and organizational change. The evidence-based decisions and action plans that emerge from this focused and intentional review not only make this initiative different from others, but also more sustainable for institutions committed to supporting student success in college. 

NACADA and the Gardner Institute—along with a cohort of charter institutions—will refine, validate, and establish the aspirational standards for colleges and universities to evaluate and improve academic advising. These standards, or "Conditions of Excellence in Academic Advising," acknowledge the role of academic advising in promoting student learning, success, and completion as well as the complexity of higher education and organizational change. Thus, this process invites institutions to examine academic advising through multiple institutional lenses.