Copyright © 2018 Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (3.30) (2018) 269-273 International Journal of Engineering & Technology Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET Research paper Item Analysis for Measuring Student and Academic Advisor’s Perspective towards the Function of Academic Advising in Malaysian Public Universities Nguyen Thuy Van 1* , Hamdan Said 1 , Mohd Rustam Mohd Rameli 1 , Aqeel Khan 1 1 School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia *Corresponding author E-mail: thuyvanpy2000@yahoo.com Abstract In Malaysian public universities, academicians are appointed as academic advisors. This action often leads to misunderstandings on the function of academic advising among students and academic advisors. Previous studies examining this misunderstanding were conducted using standardized instrument. These instruments were developed by researchers from advanced countries where professionals are em- ployed as academic advisors. These standardized instruments lack of local context, differentiatition between academicians and profes- sionals, and statistical properties including individual item quality and ability. This study fills this gap by identifying the rank of each item of the self-developedquestionnaire regarding the function of academic advising from the perspective of student and academic advi- sor. The questionnaire in this study was developed based on the findings of the preliminary qualitative study. The questionnaire consists of three constructs: academic, social, and personal. A total of 400 students and 80 academic advisors from two public universities ranked each item of the questionnaire based on four-point scales. The questionnaire was analysed using Rasch measurement model. The findings showed that students perceive academic aspect while academic advisors perceive personal development aspect as the most important function of academic advising. Students and academic advisors perceived social aspect as the least important of academic advising. Fi- nally, students perceived personal development aspect while academic advisors considered academic aspect as the second important function of academic advising. The findings could serve as a guideline to improve the quality of academic advising programme in Ma- laysian public universities. Keywords: Academic Advisor, Academic Advising, Item-Person Map, Higher Education 1. Introduction University administrators are enthusiastic to investigate the extent to which students feel connected to their campus environment and campus resources. One of the important tools that many universi- ties employ for examining this purpose is academic advising. This service requires academic advisors to play an active role to sup- port students to complete their studies. Academic advising is re- garded a partnership between academic advisors and students throughout their studies. Other researchers considered academic advising a process where academic advisors assist students to develop their potentials in three areas: academic, personal, and career [1, 2, 3]. In this process, an academic advisor is someone that students can trust as they transition from high school or ma- triculation college to university [4]. This process encompasses the development and delivery of information regarding educational programs, courses, resources, policies, procedures, and career options. In developed countries, academic advising are carried out by pro- fessionals, those who are trained and get their tertiary education in the fields related to counseling and student affairs [5]. Unlike advanced countries, in Malaysia context, academic advising is considered an extra-job of academic staff. The academic advising programmes are managed and handled by the students’ respective faculties. In this academic advising programme, academicians (lecturers) of respective faculties are appointed as academic advi- sors [6, 7, 8]. The educational background of these academicians are not necessarily related to counseling and student affairs. This practice invites many controversial issues particularly with regard to the functions of academic advisors [6, 7, 8]. Studies showed that many universities tend to establish academic advising programme prior to knowing the needs of their students and academic advisors about the service [9, 10]. As a result, aca- demic advising process can be negatively affected by the incorrect perceptions of students and academic advisors as well as those who may have limited understanding of academic advising pro- gramme [11, 12]. Additionally, students and academic advisors who misunderstood the functions of academic advising may not get much benefit from the academic advising process including it effects on the students’ academic achievement [12, 13] 1.1. Students’ Perspective on Academic Advising’s Functions Review of literature indicated that academic advising closely link with making meaning in the practice [12, 14]. Academic advising facilitates the development of meaning through engagement and interaction between academic advisor and student. As a result, students’ and academic advisors’ perspectives toward the func- tions of academic advising have a significant influence on the outcomes of academic advising process [2, 12].