Under the patronage of His Excellency Prof. Hamid M.K. Al Naimiy, Chancellor of the University of Sharjah, and in the presence of a number of University Vice Chancellors, College Deans and faculty members, the Disability Resource Center at the University of Sharjah organized an interactive workshop on the latest international academic advising practices. The Center ensures the best practices at the University level through adopting the latest global theories in advising in line with the University's vision and its five-year strategic plan 2019/2024, and achieving an integrated model for academic advising that is based on scientific foundations and global methodological practices.

The workshop began with the welcoming speech given by Prof. Esam El-Din Agamy, Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of Quality Assurance Institutional Effectiveness and Academic Accreditation, on behalf of the Chancellor of the University, through which he emphasized the keenness of the University of Sharjah to provide all forms of support and care for students. The University of Sharjah, in which over 15,000 students who belong to nearly 98 different nationalities are currently studying, is home to a vast cultural diversity. The University of Sharjah now offers the largest number of accredited academic programs (108 programs) in various academic disciplines. This is in addition to the qualitative leaps and the distinguished achievements made by the University in the fields of scientific research, international classification, and community service. Faced with this cultural diversity of University students and the number of programs and colleges, there are many challenges and difficulties that academic advising contributes to overcoming during the educational process.

In light of recent developments and current circumstances, the University of Sharjah attaches special importance to advanced academic advising services, due to their great impact on developing the academic and personal skills of university students and developing their sense of responsibility and ability to solve problems that may hinder their progress and deepen their sense of loyalty to the university community and enhance the quality of life in order to reach more achievements whose positive effects will be reflected not only on students and the university, but also on the segments of society, its entities, institutions and its various social and national components.

For his part, Prof. Ahmed Falah Alomosh, Director Of Disability Resource Center at the University of Sharjah, indicated in his speech that academic advising, in its modern form, is one of the most important pillars in achieving academic success, reducing failures and maintaining high rates of retention of students in their academic tracks. That is why the Center is keen to provide advising services to identify students' abilities, potentials and conditions, and to assist them in the proper choice of specialization and to clarify their academic, professional and personal goals, in addition to achieving effective partnership with the family, peer community and all departments throughout the University.

He emphasized the keenness of the Disability Resource Center to include students with disabilities by providing the latest practices for academic advising through group work and in coordination with all concerned departments at the University, and since the beginning of the Center's work in the activities of the strategic plan 2019/2024 and according to the University's vision, the Center has adopted interventional proactive advising approach, which aims to implement a number of proactive strategies to achieve the best results and reduce academic failures, as the Center was keen to participate in the membership of the National Association for Academic Advising (NACADA), which is the global reference for academic advising, from which the Center drew its vision and advisory practices based on global foundations derived from the results of the latest studies and global practices in higher education.

Dr. Ahmed Sallam, the psychological counselor at the Disability Resource Center, gave a presentation in which he dealt with the definition, origin and development of academic advising, the elements of the advising process, its steps, and its various types in terms of compulsory advising, developmental advising, and proactive intervention mentoring, along with presenting a number of theories that explain the mechanism of academic advising, and undertaking a set of global experiences in this field.

Ms. Youmna Nassouh, the psychological councilor at the Disability Resource Center, presented a practical report on the academic advising at the Center in accordance with the University's strategic plan (2019/2024) with several models and illustrative examples for students in its various stages, whether for a new student, during the educational process, or for a graduate student.

Whereas, Mr. Yousif Al-Imamy presented an explanatory note of the proactive intervention counseling system program, which was designed by the Center's team and is being applied to University students now.