Mentorship in Higher Education

Abstract

Mentorship in higher education has been shown to have a productive influence on the mentee’s vocational pathway. It is a combination of academic knowledge and practical experience that can be translated into lessons learned and passed on to the mentee and strive to inspire. Currently, at Swedish universities, it is prevalent to provide mentorship programs for Ph.D. students. They aim to help students connect their research setting and the real world by guiding them in career planning and motivating them during challenging phases of the Ph.D. path through a mentor that can offer perspectives they do not have. This research aimed to investigate the necessity of mentorship in higher education at Lund University, LTH, and elaborate on its beneficial effects on students’ learning outcomes. We conducted 8 interviews with mentors and mentees in LTH, founded on 8 alike questions. The majority had a positive experience with their mentorships. The mentees believed that the mentors helped them to enhance their viewpoints on problems and how to strive and solve them. As a result, mentorship can be an effective strategy to help Ph.D students in their learning process.