Construction of a Student Counseling System: Collaboration between Psychology and College Education

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to propose a model for constructing a student counseling system that could meet the needs of recent college education, including providing support for students with their study problems. The present authors' student counseling system provided both study counseling services and psychological counseling services as a result of collaboration between psychologists at the counseling service and university faculty. Practical fieldwork was undertaken to describe the process of constructing the system, and a circular model of system construction through collaboration was developed as a result of the analysis of that process. The model consists of 3 processes: (a) evaluation of services and assessment of needs, (b) design of new services and systems, and (c) the practice of the new services and systems. With each of these processes, there should be an ongoing dialogue and cooperation toward shared goals among the individuals involved, including counselors, faculty, students, and staff of other organizations, thus leading to mutual professional development.