Who is the tutor
Junior tutors may be students in the final years of second-cycle degree courses, or people enrolled in a PhD or specialist training programme, with a particularly outstanding university record. Their role is to provide information and resolve questions and problems that students encounter in their university life, offering support with difficulties of an organisational and academic nature (study plans, exam prerequisites, relations with academic bodies, with the student administration office, etc.).
Not merely an information and academic support service for students. By developing new synergies, the tutoring service fulfils that aware in itinere guidance which forms part of the broader range of services supporting students from the moment they express the wish to enrol at university to the point when, after graduation, they begin to become productive. This new planning perspective, within an integrated and participatory vision, aims to improve academic results and the wellbeing of students.
The new approach proposed by the University of Padua is to base tutoring on the relationship between peers, on direct support from more experienced colleagues or from doctoral students, in order to integrate as effectively as possible into the mechanisms and mindset of university study.
Objectives
From an operational point of view, tutors work to:
- provide useful information and advice for studying;
- prepare tools to make up for gaps in learning, knowledge and basic skills;
- promote students’ awareness in developing an overall study plan;
- enhance the tools needed to prepare a work plan and to identify a suitable method for tackling study and exams;
- assist students in choosing the subject area and the lecturer to develop a degree thesis;
- provide guidance support in identifying pathways that open up to the world of professions.
Much of the aims listed above appear crucial when one considers that the transition from secondary school to the world of university represents one of the most delicate stages in students’ educational journey. If not properly planned, this transition phase can create discomfort and adaptation difficulties, thus increasing the likelihood of lack of success in studies, with consequent frustration and tendencies to drop out.
The functions of a tutor
Those acting as tutors mediate between students and the “university system”, provide guidance, gather information on degree courses, activate networking with the various services available (student office, teaching office, internships and the world of work, erasmus, etc.), and collaborate in orientation initiatives for incoming and outgoing students (open day, presentation days for degree courses). They are able to monitor specific requests linked to teaching, logistical, guidance, informational and communication issues so that these can be reported to the relevant teaching offices.
The role of the tutor as a facilitator in communication and learning includes organising individual and/or small-group listening sessions and addressing teaching-related issues concerning delays in the course of study. Academic tutoring involves the tutor (who is usually a person enrolled in a PhD) in organising study groups, activities supplementary to teaching, especially in relation to challenging exams, and support in teaching laboratories.
Supporting students from the outset in practical organisation and in acquiring an effective study method through the achievement of specific learning outcomes: this is the tutor’s mission.
Student Services Office - Tutoring
Via del Portello 19, 35129 Padua
Map
tel. 049.8275044
tutorato@unipd.it
The Student Services Office is open every day during the public opening hours.
It also offers online consultations by appointment.