Profiles and functions of university tutors and their effects on students’ tutorial needs.

Abstract

Large numbers of students on particular degrees and a progressive depersonalisation of the teaching and learning process are typical characteristics of higher education. This situation results in a need to analyse the tutorial activity processes currently in use. This work aims to investigate various factors associated with the main agents involved in this process: tutors (profiles and functions) and students (needs). It is based on a survey-type methodology creating an instrument for distribution among degree students at the Universidad de Huelva. This is first subjected to validation processes to obtain a theoretical reference model with which to evaluate interactions among the emerging factors.

Notable results include a theoretical model with correlations between tutor profiles and regressions, or influences of these profiles on functions and student needs. Furthermore, it reveals two types of university tutor: those who prioritise the academic aspects of tutoring, and those who prioritise personal aspects. Both profiles are associated with types of function that react to the needs students display throughout their time at university, and support the thesis that university tutoring is developing towards an integral model in which the personal dimension is especially relevant.