academic advisor
Academic advisors assist students, at post-secondary level, in recognising and achieving their educational goals. They advise students on their schedule selection of school programmes, communicate to them degree requirements, and assist them in career planning. Academic advisors also discuss the student's academic performance and its implications and make suggestions for improvement including study advice. They also work closely with other university administrators and professors and ensure they are up to date on university or college regulation, program, or requirement changes.
academic advisor academic advisors assist students, at post-secondary level, in recognising and achieving their educational goals. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include counselling methods, curriculum standards, assessment processes, education law, curriculum objectives.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £34,396 a year for Teaching professionals n.e.c. (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £28,753 to £43,208 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2319). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only academic advisor, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Therapy and Counseling
- Education and Training
- Psychology
- Administrative
- Administration and Management
- Sociology and Anthropology
What you'd actually do
- Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- Counsel students regarding educational issues, such as course and program selection, class scheduling and registration, school adjustment, truancy, study habits, and career planning.
- Provide crisis intervention to students when difficult situations occur at schools.
- Counsel individuals or groups to help them understand and overcome personal, social, or behavioral problems affecting their educational or vocational situations.
- Review transcripts to ensure that students meet graduation or college entrance requirements, and write letters of recommendation.
- Prepare students for later educational experiences by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does academic advisor do?
Academic advisors assist students, at post-secondary level, in recognising and achieving their educational goals. They advise students on their schedule selection of school programmes, communicate to them degree requirements, and assist them in career planning. Academic advisors also discuss the student's academic performance and its implications and make suggestions for improvement including study advice.
What skills does academic advisor need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include counselling methods, curriculum standards, assessment processes, education law, curriculum objectives, provide information on school services. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace academic advisor?
Our AI-durability model gives academic advisor a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.