Abstract:

In recent years, mentoring practice in higher education has been discussed intensively under the elements that contribute to the achievement of a high-quality education. Due to the Bologna Process and a two-cycle system adoption, mentoring university undergraduate students is usually perceived in the context of guiding them through the production of a final undergraduate paper, also known as Bachelor’s thesis. Thus, the final year of undergraduate degree studies which is characterized by a demanding transition period in a student’s life involves, among other obligations, cooperation with a mentor. As any mentoring practice, this guidance also implies the multidimensional competencies in order to respond to the individual needs of every student. Even though higher education mentoring is a popular field of interest among researchers, not many studies focus on undergraduate students and cooperation with their mentors during Bachelor’s thesis writing. This paper focuses on this particular area of mentoring guidance and, with the analysis of quantitative data obtained by the research, aims to provide insight into students’ viewpoints and experiences related to the Bachelor’s mentors’ competencies underlying that role. The data were gathered through an online questionnaire survey based on a five-point Likert scale, thus allowing the Croatian university undergraduates to express their agreement and disagreement with a particular statement referring to the mentors’ activities in general and in relation to their individual experience. The purpose of this paper is to provide basis for future research that would consider the results with regard to potential influencing factors and give rise to solutions for the improvement of Bachelor’s mentors’ practice, thus placing emphasis on continuous progress and greater engagement in this area of higher education.

Keywords:

European higher education system, undergraduate students, Bachelor’s thesis, undergraduate mentoring in Croatia, mentors’ competencies.