University education is an important milestone in the life of a person who has had the privilege of going through one. The purpose of university education is to train the mind to learn to think and develop virtues that will prepare you for life. University education is essentially the last step a person takes before venturing into their prospective careers. University education gives a person the necessary skills and knowledge so that he/she will be ready for employment or self-employment and to build their potential careers.
There exist many aspects a student will encounter during his/her stay in the university. Some of these aspects include the faculty, the staff, fellow students and outside community. These relationships formed during the university will have an impact in the professional and social life a person will have after completing the university program. The professional life is the main occupation that a person will work in order to get income while the social life involves the interaction of the people you will live within the society. In order to succeed in the university and later in life, a student should be able to handle and use all these aspects to put them to good use by building healthy and positive relationships with the faculty, fellow students, staff and the community which will lead to having a fruitful university experience.
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Student Relationship with Fellow Students
During the classroom and after the class sessions in the school, students get a chance to interact with each other. These interactions can come in the form of seeing one another in class, asking questions to one another about the courses you are undertaking and even discussing affairs that are not related to the courses you are learning. These interactions are important as students are able to build friendships and look for people who they have something in common with in the university. Some of the friendships formed can result in strong bonds among students that last beyond their university education. The friends that you will find will probably have an effect over your behaviors and how a student conduct himself/herself while in school. Students’ relationships with friends shape the amounts of time they spend in the content of what they have come to learn in the university. Students can spend time with their friends through studying together, group projects, engaging in clubs and recreational activities. Good friends are those that will let you spend more time with the content of what you are seeking for in school while the bad friends are those that will make you unfocused on the personal goals that you had when joining the school. The bad friends will bring more insignificance to your life rather than bring more value in your life. Therefore, it is important for students to look for good friends who will let you follow your goals and can actually assist you in meeting your educational goals.
Aside from having friendships, interactions in the schools could be as a result of class activities such as group projects where you are required to work with diverse people. More and more lecturers of large classes are introducing some form of small-group learning activities to the course (Kinsella, Mahon & Lillis, 2017). These group projects are made to prepare students to respond to situations in work places where you have to work in teams in order to complete tasks. Group works is also meant to gauge students on how capable they are in working with other people to achieve an objective. Universities are appreciating the value that having group projects as it has a plethora of benefits for learners from enhanced discipline-specific knowledge and communication skills to increased motivation to devote additional time to studying, alongside greater enjoyment of the class (Kinsella, Mahon & Lillis, 2017).
Students can build networks with their fellow students during their interactions. Networking is a good way to connect with other people in your field to get opportunities for yourself after completing your university education. Network connections can help in advising a student on what to do and what not to do when it comes to your potential career (West, 2016).
Student Relationship with the Faculty
The faculty is the scholarly staff at universities that are concerned with the division of knowledge. The faculty’s main mandate is to impart education to the students in the university. The faculty differ from the staff as the staff is mainly engaged in administrative functions. The faculty consists of professors, lecturers and teachers. The faculty is a key component in the university. Lecturers will disseminate knowledge, information and the relevant skills to students during class sessions. The lecturers are also responsible in grading the students and gauging their capabilities and the level of knowledge they have required through giving out tests and examinations to students to see the level of the content the student has acquired. Lecturers have a key role in guiding you during your coursework. Students and the faculty have a somewhat compulsory relationship with one another because the students and lecturers will have to engage with one another during class sessions and test examinations. Therefore, it is necessary for a student to try his/her best to build a good relationship with the school faculty because of the weight of the importance that the faculty have over your ambitions of acquiring a degree, masters or doctorate. Positive relationships with teachers contribute to commitment, effort, motivation, satisfaction, achievement and intellectual development (Hagenaur & Volet, 2014). Hagenaur and Volet also suggested that positive relations between the students and teachers could prevent the student from dropping out of school due to “connectedness” between the tutor and the student.
The relationship between the student and the faculty is rather confusing. This is because in the university, the faculty is required to share the knowledge to the students. So, there is a doubt whether the relationship should be subordinate like the ‘teacher teaches student’ relationship as experienced in primary school and high school or treat the students as peers and independent thinkers who want a share of the knowledge the professor or lecturer has. Students respond to informal interaction more than just formal interaction (Endo & Harpel, 1982). Therefore, it is important for the student to build a healthy learning relationship with the faculty to get knowledge and support so as to make the learning exercise as beneficial as possible. Students are required to attend sessions in classes where they would get knowledge and information from the lecturers and apply them as skills to use in their lives.
On the value of the relationship between the student and the faculty, the student will acquire the necessary skills to pursue their career aspirations. A pharmacy student will learn from faculty how medicines work, how to measure the right amount of medicine needed and how to manage diseases and disorders. The faculty can also provide referrals for students whenever they are faculty can give a student a plus when they are applying for job opportunities.
Student Relationship with the Support Staff
Aside from the faculty, students should endeavor to create healthy relationships with other members of the support staff. It should be remembered that the university does not only revolve only around the classrooms between the students and faculty. There exist other departments that also play a big role in the student’s university experience. If universities and colleges of higher education are deficient in providing support to their students, then it does not serve the purpose of education, but only distribution of degrees (Kaur, 2016). The school staff is the administrative staff of the school and are in charge of running different activities that are geared towards improving the student’s university experience. They serve as the interface between the institution and the learner. Some of the members of the staff include the dean, the library staff, the registrar, sports directors, the cafeteria, finance offices and also includes lecturers.
The work of the school staff helps to enhance the students learning experience in the school. The relationship between the staff and the students is based on service. The staff provides the service to the student to make his/her university education. For example, the library avails a wide variety of books and other learning materials to the students for their references and studying. The library will purchase the books and the cataloguing and records department will prepare the book by placing serial numbers and identities on them then record them on the school library record book before arranging the to the shelves in the order of the courses they are related to.
The service aspect is important to the students to show them how different departments work indifferent lines of work but are ultimately working for the same goal which is to improve the university experience for the student. In their professional lives, students will be required to perform work and services that are in line with the goals of the employer or company they are working with. Also, students will appreciate the value of working together in different specializations for the benefit of one cause.
Aside from just giving service to students to better their learning exercise, the staff can serve as an example to students of how they would provide services to people in their career aspirations. The support staff is an example of how different departments engage in different works but ultimately work for the same goal that is providing a conducive learning environment for the student. Therefore, it is important for the students to recognize and appreciate the indirect work that the staff performs as the work is geared towards improving your university education learning experience. Also, the relationship between the students and the staff can reveal to the students how people conduct themselves in the work area as the support staff are usually employed individuals working for the school. Students can learn from the support staff what it takes to work in various offices and how to deliver your work and provide services to those who have approached you at the workplaces.
Student Relationship with the Community
The student should be aware of the community he/she encounters outside the school premises. The community outside the school is also another important facet of the school. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. The community is where the students and staff live, where the school gets some of its amenities such as water. The outside environment is beyond the control of the school meaning the community is not subjected by the ideologies and objectives of the university but they still play a role in how the university is shaped up. Students should create a connection with the community surrounding the school and respond to providing assistance to the community whenever possible. As public administration is faced with the challenge of making governance work, the university is being called upon to become more involved in the civic engagement movement (D’Agostino, 2008). The public recognizes the value that a school can bring to the community, hence, students should step up and try to make their community a better place for the people to live in.
University education should be about creating responsible citizens rather than just careers. Students should recognize this so that they may be aware of the conditions facing the community and how they can provide assistance or make some changes to improve the lives of the people in the community. Universities have valuable resources like students, staff, faculty and expertise that become accessible to the community when partnerships address community needs (Bringle & Hatcher, 1996). The university should harness their resources to assist in improving the community they live in. In a way, this will prepare students to be responsible citizens who will work in their careers with the aim of serving the community they live in rather than just working for a source of income.
Some of the actions that students can take to build their relationships with the community is through working in community group projects, working in clubs to find methods of assisting the community and community service learning. Programs concerning the community will help students in developing problem solving skills because of the interactions they will have with the people in the community by discovering where you can provide assistance in. Building relationship with the community also gives a chance for students to practice their academic lessons outside the classroom and onto real-life situations. These relationships bring context to why a student is studying and whether his/her career aspirations can have a positive impact on the community he/she lives in.
Conclusion
University education is aimed at creating capable professionals to the world who are able to apply the skills and knowledge they possess in trying to create a better world for themselves and for the community. A student should be able to utilize the facets namely the faculty, fellow student, the staff and the community effectively in order to meet their university educational purposes.
The effective utilization is made by building positive and healthy relations with the different facets as has been written throughout the paper. Once the student has been able to build the relationships, they will now be ready to face the demanding situations that will be experienced during their professional and social life successfully.
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