In 1975/76 Kuwait University was transferred to an Elective System and initially, the article re;iews the rationale and objectives of such a change. Guidance or 'advisement' is considered a key means to achieve these objectives. The major focus of the article is an examination of several attempts to assess/evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of 'advisement'. Recommendations for practical solutions to those problems which surround this practice are also discussed.
In the academic year 1975/76 Kuwait University was transferred to the Elective System. This epoch-making step was made after a long period of deliberation and agitation by some members of the faculty seeking a thorough change in the academic structure, outlook and philosophy of university education in Kuwait. The system to which the University was shifted is quite analogous in structure and operations to all its predecessors but with a character of its own. Generally, it relinquished the old requirement of going through the four-year program with its pre-fixed courses of study in which the students had no choice except the take-it-or-leave-it option. Instead, it adopted a credit hour graduation requirement, the successful completion of 120-126 CHS. This requirement was divided into four distinct but articulated areas: general education, a major, a minor, and a number of electives.
The general-education concept was geared to meet the student's basic needs for personal and social development. The major and minor were intended to promote the student's intellectual, scholastic and professional training. The electives were assumed to be instrumental in enhancing the student's freedom of choice and amplifying his role in planning his programmes of studies and, thus providing him *Paper submitted to the International Consultation Conference on Career Guidance in Higher Education convened by IRTAC and Robinson Colleg6 -