Abstract:

From the 2016-2017 academic year, a peer tutoring system has been developed at the School of Industrial Engineering (Eii) of the University of Valladolid (UVa) that facilitates their incorporation into university life for new students. This program is called Mentor Tutorial Attention Program (Mentor TAP) and is a program with and for students. It consists of a student of higher courses, "mentor", supervised by a professor, "tutor", that guides and advises a group of new students, "mentored", to help them in their incorporation to the Eii and to contribute to the success of their university studies. In addition, this Mentor TAP seeks that the “mentor” students can develop some transversal competences that constitute a basic part of the professional and training curriculum of the Industrial Branch Degrees. For all this, this program responds to the formula "accompaniment" + "training".

Although objectives and work methodology have remained constant in the successive editions of Mentor TAP, from one edition to another different one some aspects have been modified to improve and strengthen it in the School. But, without a doubt, the edition of the 20-21 academic year is the one that has undergone the most changes in its implementation due to the pandemic. When the total confinement in our country was decreed on March 13, 2020, the diffusion of the program for the edition of the 20-21 academic year was about to begin and it stopped short. Uncertainty invaded everything and, of course, also the edition of the program that, subsequently, was considered more necessary than in previous courses for tutored students. But health restrictions hinder proximity and closeness between students, two key characteristics in mentoring programs. In this communication, the adaptations that have been carried out for adequate development are exposed (recruitment of tutored students, virtual meetings of the mentors with the tutors and the tutored students,...) and the advantages and disadvantages found in each of them are analyzed, through the opinions indicated by the three groups involved in the satisfaction surveys that have been carried out. The study shows that, even if some of the advantages of being present are lost, the online format (e-mentoring) also provides good results, both for those under tutelage and for mentors. Therefore, a combination of both formats is possible when the situation requires it, always seeking to maintain the accompaniment and training of the students.

Keywords:

University mentoring, mentor.