How to set up a new counselling department from scratch
Setting up a brand new counselling department is exciting – but also potentially daunting. How do you go about it?
Marsha Oshima
An increasing number of schools are recognising the importance of university counselling as more than an additional role for a teacher or administrator.
Here are some considerations for those who are tasked with the exciting but potentially daunting role of setting up a new university advising department or office.
Whether you are an experienced or new counsellor, set realistic short-term goals. Depending on your familiarity with the school and the students, this goal may simply be getting through applications this year – and that is OK.
Assess what is in place
Assess what you already have. Look for past application and matriculation data to help you see the most popular destination countries and regions. Ask if there is a process to create transcripts or predicted-grade documents, as well as who creates them and where they are stored.
Make sure you understand who else is or should be involved in counselling, and establish communication lines. This includes exam coordinators, homeroom teachers, mentors or pastoral heads, school leadership and parent groups. And, importantly, build fast and strong relationships with administrative staff, who are key in helping navigate school bureaucracy.
For applications, such as Ucas or Common App, which require a school or counsellor account, check if there are existing accounts and add yourself to them, or create new accounts.
The short-term essentials
Establish a basic overview of who your students are and where they are in their university-planning journey.
Start with the most senior class. A short online questionnaire can help you gather initial information about their plans and, importantly, their questions and concerns about applying.
Depending on the size of the class, schedule short one-to-one introduction meetings; with larger numbers, try to stop by during homeroom lessons, or during back-to-school assemblies. Any contact with students will help.
Establish good communication lines with students, parents, teachers and school leadership. This does not need to be extensive. It can simply mean writing short messages in staff and school newsletters, sending update emails or attending meetings.
Set appropriate boundaries about how you wish to work and meet with students and parents. Will you take walk-ins? How do you prefer to schedule appointments? (Using a scheduler such as Calendly or a personal booking page on Google Calendar saves a lot of time.) And remember to block time in your weekly schedule for administrative tasks and planning.
Let technology help you. AI can support your work with students while not undermining your role. Think of AI as a tool to allow you to jump further along into the conversation, for example in university list building, or refining recommendation letters. Using a university planning platform such as MaiaLearning, Unifrog or Cialfo takes initial time, money and effort to set up, but offers robust tools to better manage an advising programme.
Managing your learning curve
Manage the expectations you place on yourself and those from others. You do not need to master it all. Your responsibility is to guide students to find information, not always to have the answer.
Take advantage of formal and informal counsellor networks such as International ACAC, IC3 or local or regional counsellors’ groups. If you are unsure what networks exist, find other counsellors at nearby schools and reach out.
Seek information and professional development. A simple and free first step is searching through past articles on THE Counsellor. There are Facebook groups such as “” or “”.
Professional membership groups such as International ACAC, NACAC or CIS offer free and fee-based training.
Final tips for future planning
Keep good records from the start. Start off with a process that works for you to keep track of applications and outcomes. Know in advance what data you will be expected to report on at the end of the academic year.
Keep brief notes from student meetings. Online records are recommended so that they can be accessed by others.
Share updates with your school leadership to help educate them on what is involved with establishing a university counselling programme. The more they can understand, the better you can advocate for you and your students.