2023 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 48-58
This study examined the factors that promote cooperation between career centers and faculty supervisors at Japanese universities to foster the studentsʼ ability to independently plan their careers and make career choices, based on interviews with career center staff. Drawing on domestic and international research on career support services and knowledge of inter-professional collaboration in adjacent fields, this interview survey was conducted with seven career center staff members at one public and six private universities. The questions concerned “Your career at the university and related background of career services or qualifications,” “Collaboration with supervisors. If not, why not?,” “Do you think you have a mutual understanding of each otherʼs duties?,” “Have you created an environment in which you can talk easily with supervisors and build a personal relationship with them?,” and “Do you think the employment status of the career center staff is a disincentive to cooperation?” The results of the survey showed that four factors overlapped with those of a previous study: “active communication,” “understanding of the roles of both parties,” “dissemination and sharing of information,” and “leadership of management.”
On the other hand, the factors that differed from the previous study were “whether or not career center staff are directly employed,” “differences in faculty membersʼ areas of expertise,” “management awareness,” and “quality of career center staff,” and these factors might influence the promotion of collaboration. Therefore, in addition to supervisors and career center staff providing support in the same direction and improving the quality of the career center, it is important for supervisors to push students and career center staff to provide support suited to individual students by making use of their expertise in career support. As supervisors have a significant influence on studentsʼ career aspirations and their realization, it is suggested that supervisors and career center staff cooperate to support students so that they can attain the future they desire.
