Important changes have been developed in university because of the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). These changes affect both formal or structural university context (i.e. funding sources, quality assurance systems) (Jacobs & van der Ploeg, 2006; Paganini, Vadillo, Buela-Casal, Sierra, Bermúdez, Gutiérrez-Martínez, Agudelo, Bretón, & Teva, 2006) and teaching (O´Neill, Moore, & McMullin, 2005). University tutoring reaches an essential role since it involves the personalizing of teaching-learning process as well as the personal, academic and professional guidance of the student (González, 2006; Herrera & Enrique, 2008). At this new context it is determines that not only teaching and research contribute to the quality of the education that the university institution offers to the society, but also the activities related to the guidance and mentoring (Herrera, Lorenzo, & Rodríguez, 2008; Rué, 2004).

University guidance and mentoring involves, necessarily, the redefinition of the teacher’s work, training programs and professional development. Teacher model must change from the traditional role –transferring knowledge- to a new role of a professional who creates and organizes complex learning environments, involving the students in their own learning process by means of collaborative strategies and appropriated activities (Lizzio, Wilson, & Simons, 2000; Mas, 2011). There are researches that show the benefits of collaborative learning and counseling in university and the high satisfaction experienced by Degree Students and Mentor Teachers (Herrera, 2009; Serrano, 2012).

Specifically, in Postgraduate studies, according with the EHAE aims, it is encouraged the mobility of students, teachers and researchers (Castro & Buela-Casal, 2008), scientific production (Buela-Casal, Bermúdez, Sierra, Quevedo-Blasco, Guillén-Riquelme & Castro, 2012), and doctorate programs offer with quality mention (Musi-Lechuga, Olivas-Ávila & Buela-Casal, 2008), among other questions. Nevertheless, the success rate for doctorate studies in Spain is 11% (Buela-Casal, Guillén-Riquelme, Bermúdez & Sierra, 2011). Furthermore, are relevant the diversity of regulations that exist in the different Spanish universities for the regulation of the doctorate studies (Buela-Casal, Bermúdez, Sierra, Ramiro & Castro, 2011), and the differences in the number of registrations, performances and average time to complete the doctoral thesis among the different knowledge areas (Buela-Casal, Guillén-Riquelme, Guglielmi, Quevedo-Blasco & Ramiro, 2011; Guillén-Riquelme, Guglielmi, Ramiro, Castro & Buela-Casal, 2010).  Therefore, to assurance a higher academic progress and success in postgraduate studies it is necessary to develop processes of guidance and mentoring, also called counselling process, closely related to the acquisition and development of research competencies that will enable the performance of a Master’s Degree Final Project and a Doctoral Thesis.

So, the aim of this work is to reflect on the needs that Postgraduate students could experience along their research training as well as the competencies that Mentor Teachers must perform for a successful mentoring, within their teacher professional development.

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