Counseling needs of students and evaluation of counseling services at a large urban university in Turkey

This two-stage research project began with a survey designed to learn about the counseling needs of Middle East Technical University students (METU). Specifically, 599 students were surveyed with the Students Needs Assessment Survey. The results showed significant differences in counseling needs of students with respect to GPA, gender and age. However no significant differences were found with respect to college. Qualitative research, intended to examine the perspectives of the METU counseling staff about the counseling needs of the students and current counseling services provided at METU, followed the initial survey. Counseling staff members were interviewed to obtain information about their perspectives about the counseling needs of the students and counseling services provided. The results of the interviews revealed that students with different needs use different counseling services. The results also provided a descriptive profile of the current counseling services and pointed out to the necessary changes that should be accomplished for improving current counseling services.