FACTORS THAT CAN INFLUENCE MENTORSHIP RELATIONSHIPS IN ADVANCED EDUCATION: CRITICAL INSIGHT

摘要

"Mentoring is a brain to pick, provide an ear to listen, and give a push in the right direction" John C. Crosby. Mentoring, by definition, is a relationship between a more experienced or more knowledgeable person and a less one. This relationship improves the personal and professional growth for the mentee. However, mentoring brings benefits for both individuals involved in such relationship. The mentoring process must be regarded not only from the mentee point of view, but also from the mentor perspective. In effect, both sides work together in order to achieve the best outcome considering the initial defined objectives. Mentoring is a growing phenomenon that has demonstrated positive results. This reality is due to the increase number of students applying for postgraduate training and search for guidance. To verify how this process on advanced studies is conducted, several semi-structured interviews were carried out under the postgraduate engineering programme of a Portuguese university. The focus of these interviews was the identification of the parameters that influence the mentoring process. Topics such educational background, age, previous experiences, gender and longevity of mentoring relationship were queried in this study. This paper aims to understand the perceptions of the mentorship relationship from a group of engineering students in advanced education and connect their point of views with some aspects of the mentoring literature.