Abstract:

Mentoring is part of the professional role of university teachers, with teaching and research. This process of student guidance requires qualities and specific skills by teachers. Several studies over the last decades agree on the need for the tutors have a good knowledge of the subject and an understanding of the degree or degrees (career, learning paths...) and the institution (guidance services, resources...). But at the same time, the studies also indicate other qualities such as communication skills, ability to dialogue with the students, empathy and sensitivity to the problems of students, among others.
This paper includes some results of an investigation in relation to the perception of teachers and students at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) about tutoring. Specifically, we analyze one of the specific objectives formulated: to identify the qualities required for the tutor, such as empathy, confidentiality, communication skills, etc. With this purpose, two surveys have been elaborated, for teachers and for students. These surveys were postal, e-mail and voluntary. The sample has included one total of 653 students and 224 teachers.

Keywords:

Qualities, tutoring, higher education, study.