Academic mentoring and the reproduction of culture: discourses, identities, and institutional tensions in Chile

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Mentoring Frameworks and Campus Dynamics

Abstract

This study explores how mentoring programs in Chilean universities function as sites of academic cultures. Drawing on 54 interviews with mentors and mentees across four institutions, it analyzes how mentoring reflects institutional logics shaped by global trends in performance and competitiveness. While mentoring supports academics in navigating research demands and institutional opacity, its focus remains largely instrumental, emphasizing integration into prevailing norms. Nevertheless, participants described mentoring as a space for emotional support, relational learning, and subtle questioning of dominant academic expectations. The study contributes to rethinking mentoring in Latin America as more than a developmental tool, highlighting its dual role as both a stabilizing mechanism and a potentially transformative practice within contemporary higher education.

Authors

• María Fernanda Goñi, CIAE Universidad de Chile

• Nicole Estrella González, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

• Daniela Véliz Calderón, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile