Career development in higher education through group mentoring: A case study of desirable attributes and perceptions of a current programme

Although group mentoring is not widely utilised in higher education settings, it has been viewed as successfully helping the research careers of academics (Walkington, Vanderheide, Hughes, 2008). This paper explores the results of a qualitative and quantitative study about perceptions of one university-based group mentoring programme. The results enable an understanding of challenges that might exist in attracting potential participants to a group mentoring programme. Results indicate that organisations implementing a group mentoring programme need to make sure goals and outcomes of the programme are properly communicated, and that these also need to align with academics’ priorities for career development.