Journal of Student Affairs in Africa | Volume 5(1) 2017, vii–ix  |  2307-6267  |  DOI: 10.14426/jsaa.v5i1.2477   vii

www.jsaa.ac.za

Guest editorial

Special Guest IASAS Edition: Issues and Challenges in 
Student Affairs and Services Around the World
Kathleen Callahan* & Chinedu Mba**

*  Dr Kathleen Callahan is Lecturer for Leadership Studies at Christopher Newport University. Email: 
kathleen.callahan@cnu.edu 

**  Chinedu Mba is English as a Second Language/English for Academic Purposes Professor at Algonquin 
College, Ontario, Canada. She also serves as student advisor and as member of the College’s Academic 
Advising Steering Committee.

The mission of the International Association of Student Affairs and Services (IASAS) is 
to serve “as a global advocate for students in higher education, student affairs and services 
practitioners, and the profession itself ” (IASAS, 2017). It seems appropriate that the special 
edition of JSAA focuses on issues and challenges in student affairs and services around the 
world. IASAS was formed from the awareness of and need for a global network for student 
affairs and services. It was in the mid-90s that the leadership in professional associations and 
institutions, along with key individuals, began to recognise a need for growth. It was the 
leadership within IASAS, specifically Roger Ludeman and his colleagues, who pushed for 
dialogue, connection, and networking around the world. Since its establishment and the 
recognition of the internationalisation of higher education, we have seen an increase in 
literature, meetings, presentations, and a general interest in global issues within the field of 
student affairs and services.

Global professional organisations such as IASAS are providing a space for professionals 
to engage with one another, to share common issues and concerns, and to dialogue with 
colleagues around the world. Events such as the Global Summits that have taken place over 
the past few years and other national, regional, and international professional conferences 
are allowing the sharing of knowledge, ideas, and best practices. Moreover, with journals 
such as JSAA, the field of student affairs and services is starting to hear more voices of 
professionals, and learn of both common and new issues and challenges within the field 
around the world. 

Due to this growing shift in perspective, this issue highlights a few of those challenges 
as well as providing reviews of resources available to better our own understandings of 
student affairs and services around the world, and how we support our students. Authors 
in this issue as well as scholars are discussing the topic of professionalisation, training of 
student affairs staff, and the continual emphasis on students. We received submissions from 
South Africa, Botswana, China, and the USA with a total of five articles and three reviews 
of seminal works. 

http://www.jsaa.ac.za
mailto:kathleen.callahan%40cnu.edu?subject=


viii   Journal of Student Affairs in Africa | Volume 5(1) 2017, vii–ix  |  2307-6267  |  DOI: 10.14426/jsaa.v5i1.2477

These articles not only bring thought-provoking and original viewpoints to discourse 
on the practice of student affairs, they promote and stimulate new dialogue around these 
topics, especially in developing contexts. In their paper ‘Professionalisation of Student 
Affairs Educators in China: History, Challenges, and Solutions’, Yongshan Li and Yuanyuan 
Fang address issues of the apparent lack of a consensus on the required professional 
training/background of student advisors in universities and its effect on the profession; the 
roles of government and institutions, and applicability of North American theories and 
practices in China and other countries with different socio-political realities. The second 
article ‘Advocating for Standards in Student Affairs Departments in African Institutions: 
University of Botswana Experience’, by Barbra Pansiri and Refilwe P. Sinkamba of the 
University of Botswana, underscores the benefits of having standards and functioning 
professional associations. The authors argue that ‘quality assurance’ should not be left to 
academic programmes but should be required of other units in institutions. According to 
them, the absence of professional associations responsible for accreditation and regulation 
of practice has been identified as a key challenge in Botswana, thus requiring student affairs 
practitioners in tertiary institutions to constantly have to defend their role and importance 
in the student success cycle. 

From the USA, Maria Martinez and Kevin Colaner submitted a paper which has 
broader applications for institutions with different psychosocial and socio-political realities. 
Their article which explores themes around the experiences of East Asian international 
students in English-speaking countries suggests that the increasing diversity of student 
population in tertiary institutions has made meeting students’ needs more complex and 
complicated. They identify factors (psycho-social, institutional, socio-economic and 
linguistic) that affect students’. The case of East Asian students as a case in point reaffirms 
the importance of role clarification, standards, and professionalism in serving international 
students well. Another submission with equally global applicability is that submitted by 
Munita Dunn-Coetzee and Magda Fourie-Malherbe. Titled ‘Promoting social change 
amongst students in higher education: A reflection on the Listen, Live, and Learn senior 
student housing initiative at Stellenbosch University’, this submission shares an innovative 
initiative at the Stellenbosch University, which demonstrates one of the institution’s more 
tangible efforts at addressing the struggle around access, success, and transformation. 
The Listen, Live and Learn (LLL) initiative is one way of becoming more relevant and 
participating more actively in graduating empowered citizens ready to contribute to 
building South Africa. The final article comes from University of the Witwatersrand. 
Written by Danie de Klerk, Linda Spark, Andrew Jones and Tshepiso Maleswena, the paper 
‘Paving the road to success: Reflecting critically on year one of an undergraduate student 
support programme at a large South African university’ is a reflective piece on the creation, 
execution, and results of a holistic student success intervention programme. Like the others, 
the authors have very interesting and relevant content that add value to the discourse. 

The first review comes from an important contribution to the literature from editors 
Roberts and Komives entitled Enhancing Student Learning and Development in Cross-border 
Higher Education. The second review is the second edition of Supporting Students Globally in 



Kathleen Callahan & Chinedu Mba: Issues and Challenges in Student Affairs and Services ...   ix

Higher Education from editors Osfield, Perozzi, Bardill Moscaritolo, and Shea. This follows 
the first edition published 10 years ago in one of the first books published on the topic 
of internationalisation of student affairs and services. Next, a review of the first volume 
of the Asia-Pacific Journal for Student Affairs: The Official Journal of the Philippine Association 
of Administrators of Student Affairs (PAASA). And finally, this issue includes a reflection on 
the third Global Summit of Student Affairs and Services that took place in South Africa 
in 2016. 

We truly want to thank JSAA for allowing this guest edition and providing a wonderful 
publication that allows scholars and practitioners from around the world to contribute in 
meaningful work. And the authors for submitting thoughtful research and reflections that 
can contribute to a gap in the literature in many topical areas within student affairs and 
higher education. 

References
IASAS (International Association of Student Affairs and Services). (2017). About IASAS. Retrieved 

from http://iasas.global/aboutiasas/

http://iasas.global/aboutiasas/