Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2022; Aachen : RWTH University Aachen 1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen, Diagramme (2023). = Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2022, For numerous German universities, mentoring is an accepted approach to a more heterogeneous student body. However, the formats of mentoring are as diverse as the students who make use of them. The opportunities range from informal buddy-programs up to systematic counselling by trained mentoring professionals. The ‘Aachener Mentoring Modell’ by RWTH Aachen University belongs to the latter category and offers all its students anonymous, free of charge, confidential advice in a variety of topics. Although students are becoming increasingly diverse, it is remarkable that the topics they approach their mentors with are not: Since 2011, when the ‘Aachener Mentoring Modell’ was established, the topics of discussion have primarily focussed around learning strategies, time und self management, test anxiety, advice on the course of studies, as well as social and professional integration. Nevertheless, students even seek the mentors’ advice in moments of personal crises, which – in addition to study-related issues – also places special human and study-process-related demands on the mentors. Therefore, the question arises as to which subject-related and human skills mentors working in the organization of a university must ideally have in order to help students quickly and effectively. The on hand dissertation, 'Multi-rated competence profiles for mentors in the organization of universities', offers application-related solutions to questions of competence profiles of mentors required for mentoring on both a human and professional level. Based on the systematically documented mentee-topics of discussion deriving from the last eleven years, a hypothetical competence profile is deducted, which is verified and checked for completeness in the context of a multi-rater feedback by internal RWTH actors who are linked to the mentoring. The result is a 'building block system' of personal basic and professional skills, which are individually weighted by the respondents, whereby a distinction is made between central (e.g. central student advisory service) and decentralized (e.g. student councils) perspectives. In this way, a portrait of the mentors in the organization can be drawn, which can in a further step be ‘colored’ by any university that wants to either establish a new mentoring system or optimize an existing one. A competency profile is thus generated that originates from the ‘Aachener Mentoring Modell’, but that can be transferred to the individual structures of other universities along specific success factors and key questions.One could assume that the competence profile of the mentors working in the ‘Aachener Mentoring Modell’ can largely be formed based on the topics of conversation with which students approach them. One could also assume that the 'customers' are the best competence compass and that the mentors must be trained mostly on this basis. In practice, however, this turns out to be hardly realizable or expedient, as the mentoring system is positioned within the overall organizational context of the respective university. This means that in addition to the requirements that result from the mentee discussions, many other factors are as important and similarly decisive: the embedding of mentoring in its relation to other advisory services offered by the university, as well as, in relation to the obligations and requirements that their respective faculties place on their general job-related (consulting) activity. Finally, personal pre-qualification factors are also crucial for the final de-facto counselling practice.Taking the autonomy of the RWTH Aachen University faculties into very careful consideration, minimum standards were formulated within the framework of the ‘Aachener Mentoring Modell’, which all mentors must meet. The freedom of design meant that the mentoring system as a decentralized advisory service was and is handled differently at each faculty. This not only leads to a lack of transparency among students and thus less use and awareness of the offer, but also to increasing ignorance of mentoring specific topics on the part of other advisory services, which should ideally be networked with the mentors. This even goes so far that with regard to the staff turnover that is typical for German universities, there is increasing helplessness when it comes to questions about filling an open mentoring position with what type of person, both personally and professionally.Regarding the scientific method, a mixed methods approached is used, consisting of the structuring, qualitative content analysis in combination with quantitative data generation and analysis. In thirteen semi-standardised, qualitative expert interviews, which are conducted for the purpose of 360° feedback, the personal basic and professional competencies are not only checked for completeness, but also weighted with experience-based reason. A workshop with the mentors of the ‘Aachener Mentoring Modell’, in which a structure laying technique was used, serves as the basis for the selection of the necessary parties to be interviewed. As part of the analysis and presentation of the results, in addition to the qualitative evaluation, a quantitative, statistical evaluation of the results is also carried out in order to present the individual preferences of the respondents, but ultimately to derive a central competence profile for mentors in the context of – at best – any university.The competence profile for mentors in the organization of a university ultimately includes the seven basic competences collected in advance which imply knowledge of other support offers, role and task clarity, relationship and communication skills, empathy and the ability to change perspectives, advisory skills, dialogue and conflict skills as well as knowledge and strategies for dealing with stressful situations. In addition, there are twelve so-called professional competencies, namely action-related knowledge about learning strategies, time and self-management, stress management, motivational strategies, dealing with exam anxiety, doubts about studying (as well as changing the study program, definitive failure or dropping out of studies), financial matters, social integration, professional integration, support for particularly gifted students, studying with a disability or chronic illness as well as organizational issues related to RWTH Aachen study programs. After completing the 360° feedback, mediation is added based on the conducted interviews.An additional result of this scientific work is the focus on the embedding of mentoring in the organization of a university and on which questions success and design depend. The work raises questions about university-political vanity, professional conflicts, the urge for faculty autonomy, financing issues and the lack of or non-existent networking between the RWTH advisory bodies and thus raises the question of the extent to which the needs of the students with regard to good advice are actually still the focus of the efforts .The overall social framework of the present research work is framed by the (new) humanism of educational culture, which deals with the promotion of individual development and to what extent this is possible in times of Bologna-reforms, but also in times of climate crises and wars of aggression. This underlines the importance of mentoring in its role of not achieving social or family prestige through the highest educational qualifications and thus a life of prosperity, but of accompanying young people along their interests and abilities. Although German society is characterized by ever-increasing social inequality, which to a large extent determines personal development from childhood onwards, university mentoring can still be a target-oriented companion that ultimately contributes to personal happiness in life and is therefore one thing above all in the end: humane., Published by RWTH University Aachen, Aachen