Mentoring Relationships: Shedding Light on PhD Student Perspective - New Contributions in Information Systems and Technologies - page 219

Mentoring Relationships: Shedding Light
on PhD Student Perspective

Celina P. Leão * and Ana C. Ferreira

Centro ALGORITMI, School of Engineering, University of Minho,
Campus de Azurém, 4804-533 Guimarães, Portugal
{cpl,acferreira}@dps.uminho.pt

Abstract. The Mentoring relationship improves the personal and professional
growth for the mentee. In Portugal there is an increasing number of students
applying for postgraduate training and search for guidance. To verify how this
process on advanced studies is conducted and to gather evidence concerning the
way in which each student recognize and perceive their own reality, several
semi-structured interviews were carried out under the postgraduate engineering
programs of a Portuguese university. The focus of these interviews is to identify
how students perceive the mentoring process impact in their academic path.
Also, one of the objectives is to identify the key-factors that power mentoring
relationship. The findings revealed motivation as the most important factor in
the mentoring relationship, being gender the least important. Wherever
appropriate, students' perception of the mentoring relationship attained was
connected with mentoring literature references.

Keywords: Higher Education, Mentoring, Motivation for Learning, Reflection,
University Education.

1 Introduction

“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. In other words, mentoring is
the process of influencing the intellectual development of students or trainees in order to
promote their psychosocial and career-related skills [1]. Mentoring relationships are not
always easy to manage. They work differently according to diverse personalities, ages,
gender, life practices and work methodologies. Good quality of mentoring relationships
mostly results in invaluable gains for mentees' education and experience. Mentoring
programs are designed to guide mentees, who are encouraged to begin the relationship
with specific goals and expectations that are typically met by a well-designed program.
If the mentoring relationship is satisfactory, mentee can enjoy from an additional
perspective on his career and a clearer understanding of skill gaps. A good match
between mentors and mentees, like two pieces of a puzzle, turns into a profitable and
symbiotic mentoring relationship (Figure 1).
* Corresponding author.