On May 7th (Wed) and 8th (Thurs), OIC SSP’s Peer Supporters held Consultation Hours during the 3rd and 4th periods (13:10-16:30). Students' concerns and questions were collected through Google Forms. Our SSP Peer Supporters regularly accept concerns and questions from students on campus via Google Forms, which can be accessed from our Instagram page.
In early May, about a month after the start of the new semester, many students had worries lingering that had yet to be resolved. Thus, this event was created to support especially new students who were struggling to adjust to their new lives as university students, to help address their concerns. We wanted to assure them that we can help them and let them enjoy their university lives! A total of 15 students participated in our event over those two days, ranging from first-year students and above, revealing the wide variety of issues students face whether it be about university classes, or even about their personal lives and goals. This shows the importance of providing spaces for resolving questions and we wanted to provide that space to the students.
Previously, OIC SSP Peer Supporters only held these kinds of group-based events about once every six months. This made it difficult to respond to the changing needs of students throughout the year. Therefore, although we held Consultation Hour events in April, we decided to hold another one in May as the first step of increasing our events’ frequency.
Atmosphere and Student Voices
The atmosphere during the event
This event was held in front of the Student Office, in an open space which encouraged students passing by to be able to drop by casually if they have any concerns. This was a good way of promoting, as students who may have missed the notifications of manaba+R or Instagram will happen to see and perhaps be interested in participating. The topics of consultation ranged widely from classes, part-time jobs, and job hunting to graduate school entrance exams.
Classes: students sought advice on preparing for final exams or on their seminar research classes. Our Peer Supporters listened to students’ concerns attentively, and helped them based on their own experiences by discussing study methods and offered research-related advice together with the students.
Part-time jobs: There were concerns from students who contemplated between prioritising workplace location, human relations, or job context when choosing part time jobs.
Job hunting: There were also a bunch of questions regarding job hunting, where many students were particularly concerned about internships. Some were unsure whether they should apply for internships at all, and thus Peer Supporters used their own experiences about part-time jobs and job hunting, explaining the relevant industries that may interest them. We also connected them with the Career Center, and even looked through job-hunting websites together, guiding them through each process.
Graduate schools: First-year students also already have started looking for graduate schools, and asked how to prepare for the entrance exams. On the other hand, fourth-year students inquired about how to write statements of purpose and research plans, showing the variety of questions we received from a range of students. Separate from this event, SSP also held Consultation Hours specifically for Graduate School Entrance Exams (Psychology) Edition, were similar to this, Peer Supporters addressed each concern with care to help students to be more motivated and prepared.
Additionally, other inquiries ranged from international students voicing their concerns regarding Japanese language studying, questions about preparing for English proficiency tests, to studying abroad and even on how to use printers in-campus, as well as life questions. The consultations ranged from the everyday to deeper, profound concerns.
Although the event initially targeted first-year students, our event appealed to first to fourth years and even graduate students. By listening attentively to each students’ experiences, Peer Supporters believed that they were able to help address students’ worries and uncertainties. Participants were asked to fill out a survey at the end of their consultation, and from there, many participants reported that they felt that the event has helped resolve their concerns, which was very encouraging for us to hear!
Reflections and Future Improvements
This Consultation Hour event was held rather differently compared to previous ones, both in venue and in publicity approach. Our previous event, Intensive Study Session, was in a more exclusive venue, and was also advertised differently. This time instead of a partitioned room, Consultation Hours was held in front of the student office to let anyone feel comfortable dropping by.
Furthermore, Peer Supporters created a survey in Google Form and requested participants to fill them out after their participation in the event, and collected the responses to help us reflect deeper and further improve our future events.
Figure 1: "Did this event help you
resolve your concerns?" on a scale of 1 (unsatisfied) to 5 (very
satisfied)
The majority of respondents indicated that their concerns were either fully or mostly resolved, showing that the event provided meaningful support for them. This was very encouraging for Peer Supporters as our main goal is to help address students’ concerns and make them be more motivated throughout their university lives. Figure 1 confirmed that our Consultation Hours event was successful in resolving student concerns.
Figure 2: How did you find out about this event?
As for how students participated in our event, there was a high number of participants who happened to pass by and walked in on our event. Figure 2 addressed how participants found our event. 53.8% said they happened to pass by our event venue and decided to join on the spot, 23.1% said they were recommended by SSP's Coordinators, while the other 23.1% reported saying they discovered our event from manaba+R, and 0% cited seeing posts through our Instagram account. This shows that it was a good choice to hold our events in an open space where people can directly participate without hesitation, as the majority of participants said they were just passing by when they noticed SSP was holding our Consultation Hours.
Weighing our past surveys from previous events, few participants said that they attended because they saw the event posters. This does not necessarily mean posters were ineffective, but Peer Supporters this time mainly relied on digital publicity through OIC SSP’s Instagram accounts and manaba+R. Announcements were made on Instagram four days before (May 3) and on manaba+R the day before (May 6). During the event itself, Peer Supporters also posted live updates on Instagram to convey the atmosphere.
While no participants cited our Instagram account as their reason for attending this Consultation Hours event, this does not necessarily mean that Instagram or posters are ineffective. Rather, the main challenge was the post started too late and overall preparation was delayed, hindering the maximum usage of our Instagram account. It is possible to consider that not having posters may have reduced reach to students who do not regularly check Instagram or manaba+R. Since there is a big limitation on publicity through Instagram, improvements should not only be in how Peer Supporters use OIC SSP’s Instagram account, but also how to combine all publicity methods such as posters (where to place posters to attract students’ attention), manaba+R, and other channels (perhaps continuting to upload in our X, formerly Twitter, account), to maximise outreach.
Future improvements will have to be done through having more precise timing, content, and clarity of our publicity, so that we can reach more students and increasing the number of participants in our future events. Above all, starting preparations early is important so that there is sufficient time to advertise our events to reach students. Thus, it is important to reflect on what was good and what needs improvement in our events.
In conclusion, this Consultation Hour was both a success and a valuable learning opportunity. It demonstrated the importance of holding events in open, visible spaces, using approachs to support students’ diverse needs, and of refining our publicity strategy. Going forward, OIC SSP Peer Supporters will share these reflections within the team, strengthening what worked well, and continue to improve areas such as early preparation and communication. Our goal is to deliver events that are more responsive to the needs of the student community. We hope to improve and create events that will suit many students’ needs, and we are looking forward to more participation from students.
SSP Peer Supporter - Nagisa