The concept and purposes of university tutoring: a consultation with experts

Abstract

ABSTRACT

University tutoring is a traditional function that has become particularly relevant in today’s university. This is due to its power to specify several principles that guide university education in the current context (student-centered teaching and learning, reduction of dropout rates, development of transversal competencies, among others). Tutoring at university has proven a prominent line of research over the last years, as it is found in many doctoral thesis, research projects, monographs, and articles that have addressed this reality.From a conceptual point of view, the literature provides several theoretical positions about the meaning and purposes of tutoring. Faced with this plurality of proposals, the objective of the current paper is to define the concept and purposes of university tutoring. In order to do this, the content of responses emerged in a process of consultation with experts has been analyzed, within the context of a Delphi study, which provides a complementary view to literature.Finally, the article discusses the results achieved, stressing that, in general, the concept and purposes for tutoring emerging in this piece of research complement previous research. The present study concludes that it is relevant to have an approach focused on placing integral education in the center of the purposes of university tutoring.