The goal of the advising program is to ensure the student progresses toward his/her academic goals, and towards the completion of their degree requirements. However, the student is responsible for his/her education. The student must decide what his/her academic and career goals are, and take the initiative in contacting his/her advisor in assuming the responsibility for their schedule of classes. As in any counseling relationship, what the student discusses with his/her advisor is confidential.

At the One Stop Services Center, academic advising is done following the Self-Contained Model. This requires that all of advising occurs through one office.

This means that the OSC Advisor is responsible for advising all GUST foundation and undergraduate students from the point of enrollment to the point of graduation.

The following students’ categories will be advised by the OSC advisor:

The advisor can suggest, recommend, and remind the student of rules and requirements, but the advisee has the primary responsibility for meeting program and degree requirements.

In order for each student to have a balanced schedule, they have to have a mix of their major sheet’s different categories.

In your first year, you are recommended to take General Education courses, pre-requisites, and introductory courses that are essential to your major.

In your second year, continue to take General Education and pre-requisite courses and some of your college core courses as long you have met their pre-requisites.

In your third year, you should be taking mostly major courses, and the pre-requisites courses of your upper division courses (300-400 levels).

In your fourth year, make sure that you are completing all your major courses. Always make sure to complete the pre-requisite for the courses you are trying to register for, so you can enroll and graduate on time.

The university’s attendance software system assists instructors and the administration to enforce the attendance policy. You should be aware of the attendance policy approved by the university. Automated warnings are generated by the PeopleSoft Student Information System (PSIS) and the alert is e-mailed to your GUST e-mail with a copy to the instructor. It is your responsibility to check your GUST e-mail for absence warnings and all other important announcements. An e-mail from GUST is considered as an official communication. It is your responsibility to access your e-mail on a regular basis and to respond to any concerns or questions raised in all e-mails. It is also your responsibility to ensure that your GUST e-mail account is kept active by periodically deleting old e-mails. Class attendance is mandatory for credit and noncredit courses.

Foundation Courses: you are allowed 30 hours of absence in ENG 097/ 098 and 15 hours in MATH 094/ 095/ 096/ 098 before you are dropped from a class.

Credit Courses:-

• In Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday: classes, you are allowed 8 hours (8 days) of absence in any course; you will receive an (FA) grade on the 9th hour of absence.
• In Monday-Wednesday: classes, you are allowed 5 hours (5 days) of absence; you will receive an (FA) grade on the 9th hour (6th day) of absence.

The Retention area’s purpose is to work with at-risk students on academic probation. The OSC advisor reviews the student’s academic record and learning history before coordinating with the student to define personal, educational, and career goals as well as the skills needed to achieve these goals.

In addition, the OSC advisor assesses the student’s skill level in areas identified as essential to achievement. The OSC advisor helps to establish the competency level that the student should strive to achieve. The advisor identifies curricular, co- curricular, experiential and community learning strategies that will enable students to develop these skills.

Finally, The OSC advisor reviews and evaluates progress toward goal achievement and skills development. Individualized plans are devised to provide clarity for the students in order to ensure success.

The program is designed to identify and assist students who have issues that are negatively impacting their classroom performance. The faculty member will need to complete the online midterm Warning Form through apps.gust.edu.kw indicating the issues impacting the student’s success and any recommendations. Students receive a midterm warning letter automatically after submitting the report.

The student will also be directed to take advantage of the academic support services offered on GUST campus (such as tutors and tutoring center workshops).

The Retention area holds a Success Information Session aimed at all students with a GPA below 2.00, with the goal of explaining the consequences of having a low GPA and the rules and policies of the university. These sessions are held at the beginning of each Fall and Spring semester. Students are contacted by e-mail and by text message to ensure their mandatory attendance.