The link between university counselling services and students’ needs

This paper is derived from a study conducted at the University of East Africa, Baraton (UEAB). The study sought to: identify the counselling services that were being offered; establish the counselling services that students needed and determine whether students utilised the services that were being offered. The study involved 627 students and 10 administrators. Data from students and administrators were obtained using questionnaires and interview schedules respectively and analysed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) computer package. Tyler’s evaluation model was used to define the parameters of evaluation, the concepts to study and the process and methods needed to extract data. The results revealed that the counselling services were not adequately offered and hence not effective. This implied the university had not recognized the counselling services as an important aspect in the students’ lives. The concern of the counselling services should be a responsibility of all involved. It was thus recommended that counselling services be made available, expanded, made accessible and helpful to the students. In addition, a programme of sensitization on the importance of the counselling services should be initiated.