Mentoring Students in Vietnamese Higher Education Institutions

Digital application in students’ mentoring, the integration of digital technology in mentoring relationships, has recently grown in popularity. However, the effectiveness of its application in Vietnamese universities has not been studied, analyzed, and synthesized to date. The current study on digital application in mentoring among 1613 students in nine Vietnamese universities provides some analytical statistical models on students’ mentoring. In the combination with in-depth interviews with 23 students and 15 mentors, the research results show that most students and mentors have used some forms of digital applications for students’ mentoring. Mentors get the benefit of sharing their knowledge and insights while coaching their mentees and seeing him/her prosper and growth based on what they’ve learned. Mentees get the benefit of feeling like someone cares about their learning and growth in various academic enabling environments through different digital communication channels. Mentoring at its heart is a relationship between a faculty member and students to help both individuals learn, grow, and prosper. It is two-way communication which, when done properly, can benefit both parties involved in the process. With various digital tools, mentees can also give back and share what they know with their mentors. The findings suggest that digital applications have potential to reach more students with unique digital features. For more effective assessment of digital learning, however, more rigorous studies of digital applications in students’ mentoring are recommended to observe students’ learning outcomes.