Mexico City, June 30, 2025. Every stage of life has its key questions. For university students, these questions revolve around their identity, their purpose, and their place in the world. Who am I? What do I want to achieve? How can I do it? In this context, the role of the university advisor becomes crucial: accompanying students in their process of self-discovery is perhaps one of the most valuable tasks in university life.
With this conviction, SMART Center at the Universidad Panamericana has developed training Tools for University Counseling: Self-Awareness.
This training aims to educate advisors so that they gain an in-depth understanding of the vital moment that students are going through, from a physical, emotional, and professional perspective, and to recognize themselves as significant adults on that journey.
"You can't accompany someone well without getting to know them first. And you can't guide someone without understanding where they're coming from,", says SMART Center.
Connection and support
During this training, advisors explore tests and practical tools that help identify strengths, challenges, learning styles, character types, and areas for improvement in both the student and themselves. This dual exercise (seeing others clearly and seeing oneself honestly) allows for building a real bridge of connection and support.
One of the key resources discussed is the DPI, an information-rich tool that can be the starting point for personalizing support. Through the DPI, the advisor can find out how confident the student feels about their study habits, what their reading comprehension level is, what their skills are, and in which areas they feel they need to improve.
This diagnosis, far from being a simple administrative detail during the preparatory phase, becomes a compass to better guide counseling.
Self-awareness as an academic tool and guide
In addition, the training includes a module on characterology, which allows for an understanding of different personality types and how they manifest themselves in the university. Recognizing these differences helps to identify not only potential challenges, but also potential that sometimes even the student themselves cannot see.
But self-knowledge is not just an academic tool; it is a guide for life. That is why this training also looks ahead, offering a vision of future trends, so that the advisor can talk to the student about what is coming: emerging professions, soft skills development, the value of adaptability, and continuous learning.
Accompanying students on this journey is not simply part of the advisor's role. It is a vocation. It means being there while the other person discovers what they are made of, what they are passionate about, how they react to challenges, and what they need to take their next step.
The counselors who have taken this training emphasize that the process of self-awareness also transforms them, allowing them to rediscover themselves as more empathetic, prepared, and humane guides.
SMART Center invites all advisors who have not yet had this experience to take the plunge. Because getting to know each other is the first step toward growth, and growing together—advisor and student—is the essence of our institutional mission.
Learn more about SMART Center at: https://smartcenter.up.edu.mx/
