Personal tutoring from the perspectives of tutors and tutees

Abstract

Personal tutoring is considered to be an important support mechanism for students in higher education. However, the existing personal tutoring system at the British University in Egypt has needed for quite some time to be reviewed and improved as anecdotal evidence suggests that it is ineffective. This article therefore aims to identify the factors affecting the personal tutoring system at the university. Data were gathered from four sources: (1) a tutor questionnaire, (2) semi-structured interviews with personal tutors, (3) semi-structured interviews with teaching assistants, and (4) focus group meetings with students. The results indicated a number of factors affecting the personal tutoring system: the students’ lack of awareness of the system and personal tutor role, lack of contact and meetings between both parties, the ‘buy in’ of tutors and tutees, the qualities of the tutors, and the time taken to disseminate information on the system to tutees. It is recommended that the existing personal tutoring system be replaced with a personal tutoring unit within each faculty and that the university establish a central support system for students with learning disabilities and also a counselling service.