Some Personal Reflections on the “Mentorship Paradox”

Abstract

I draw on my experiences of mentorship to reflect on a paradox that whilst bureaucratic organizations (such as universities) need effective mentorship to nurture new generations of scholars, the most valued kinds of mentorship necessarily run orthogonal to formalized management structures. I reflect on how mentorship is necessarily an affective and caring relationship which thereby poses risks and challenges, but also offers the possibility of enhancing academic professional standards in general.

Keywords

• mentorship
• universities
• elitism