Abstract:

The tutoring program is a program that is often used for better monitoring and integration of any student. It is implemented at any level of education and whenever the directions of educational institutions so understand. Higher education is also sometimes contemplated with the implementation of this type of programs and the results that are known are positive and seen as an added value in the training and integration of a citizen in the active life.

In higher education this type of program usually has two key people to help the student: the tutor teacher and the student mentor. The tutor is a professor who can be a teacher of the course where this program is implemented or not, because it is not mandatory to be a teacher of the respective course. Normally, the tutor is the responsible for the supervision of a mentoring student’s team and follows the academic performance of the students. The student mentor helps the student in the reception of academic life, in the participation in the various events that academic life can provide.

In this paper we are going to address a case of a Portuguese university in the north of Portugal, where a Tutoring program has been implemented since the beginning of academic year 2015/2016. The study that we are going to present in this paper also concerns the Biomedical Engineering course and whose sample consists of 6 students of this course: 3 students of the 1st year and 3 students of the 2nd year related to the 2017/2018 school year.

In this academic year we had five meetings with the students of the 1st year and three meetings with the students of the 2nd year. None of these meetings were attended by mentors, only the tutor and the students and the meetings were not held with the first year students together with the second year, just for the sake of timing and student availability.

We investigate what are the advantages and the disadvantages of this program and to understand what kind of help was offered to students.

We adopt qualitative methodology, following a case study design and the data collection instruments were questionnaires with seven open questions applied to all students at the end of the academic year 2017/2018. Data analysis was focused on the students’ responses to the questionnaires with the use of content analysis through the formulation of categories concerning some of these questions.

A great help in the student integration, a great support to academic and personal level, a great help in solving problems and in clarification on the functioning of higher education institutions, it was some of the results that we have obtained with this study. Also the role of the tutor was highlighted as the person with whom the students establish a great relationship, so much friendship as that person who is always concerned about everything that concerns students.

Keywords:

Tutoring program, higher education, academic integration.