The Tutoring4Success International Conference: Building the Future and Student Development took place on June 3 at the Porto campus of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Promoted as part of the UCP4SUCCESS project and UCP Tutoring, the event brought together around 70 participants, including teachers, students and researchers.

The opening session was attended by Isabel Vasconcelos, Vice-Rector of Católica, Raquel Matos, Director of the Faculty of Education and Psychology, and Armanda Gonçalves, a member of the project's coordination team.

The first intervention was given by Marina Herbaut, from the Institut Catholique d'Arts et Métiers (ICAM, France), who presented mentoring models in a European context. The speaker highlighted the importance of the initiative, saying: "It was a special opportunity to share ICAM's mentoring model, answer questions and discuss the practices of the universities and schools represented. The discussions were rich and inspiring!".

Throughout the morning, five oral papers were presented on mentoring practices developed in national and international institutions, namely the Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre, Universidade de Coimbra and Universidade Católica Portuguesa. There was also a poster presentation panel focusing on innovative projects.

For Maria José Correia, a lecturer at the Faculty of Dental Medicine on the Viseu campus, it was “an event in which every moment of the day was extremely interesting and from which we took ideas that we can implement in our faculty”. She also added that “even those who already do tutoring and mentoring successfully always have room for improvement and help others with their experience”.

In the afternoon, Ewa Domagała-Zyśk, from the Catholic University of Lublin (Poland), spoke about the relevance of inclusive mentoring models, capable of responding to student diversity. This was followed by a round table with representatives from the Instituto Superior Técnico | ULisboa, the University of Aveiro and the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), who shared national experiences in this field.

According to Susana Costa Ramalho, coordinator of UCP4SUCCESS in Lisbon, “this conference provided a fresh look at the role of tutoring in higher education, its many potentialities and also its challenges”. 

The final panel was dedicated to the perspective of students from the four Católica campuses. Sofia Veloso Veiga Ribeiro, a Psychology student in Braga and a mentor in the MENTORIZATE group, said: “Taking part in the Tutoring4Success International Conference and being part of the student panel was an extremely enriching experience”. It was “especially relevant to understand how tutoring can be integrated into existing resources and how the entire academic community can and should be involved in this process”.

The conference ended with a Port of Honor, bringing to a close a day marked by the sharing of good practices, joint reflection and the commitment to continue building, together, a more attentive, inclusive and student-centered academy.