THE STATUS OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICE IN ETHIOPIAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

It is evident that guidance and counselling service disentangles students’ educational, vocational, personal, and social problems. The main objective of this study was to explore the current status of guidance and counselling service in Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU) and Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU). By setting relevant criteria, the study attempted to identify the most appropriate model of guidance and counselling services for the study population. The main sources of information were six guidance personnel and 333 graduating students of the two universities. The guidance personnel were purposefully included in the study, while the students were selected randomly. To gather information from the respondents, questionnaires with open ended questions and Likert scale type were developed based on the theories and circumstances affecting the provision of guidance and counselling in Ethiopia. Interviews with guidance and counselling unit heads were also used to substantiate the data obtained through the questionnaires. In the analysis of data, qualitative description of information from the open-ended questions and interviews and quantitative interpretation of data obtained from closed-ended questions and converted to statistics such as frequency and percentage were employed. The study reveals that there is lack of awareness among the student population on the availability of guidance and counselling service in their campus and its benefits. It also highlights that there is lack of confidence in guidance and counselling service personnel to solve students’ academic, career, personal, social, and psychological problems. Overall, there is low status of guidance and counselling service in alleviating students’ problems On the basis of the findings, some criteria in the selection of a model relevant to the Ethiopian context were set. A model was developed and reviewed for two rounds by experts before it is taken for granted. Suggestions for further investigation were also made.