Nurturing Research Mindset through Undergraduate Research Experience (URE) and Mentoring in Engineering Institutions

Abstract

Engineering research in India in its current state highlights the need for a research on the impact on Research Experience (especially at the Undergraduate level ) and Mentoring Effectiveness on research mindset. The comparatively low percentage of scholarly research, the introduction of 4-year research degree and a direct PhD call for inculcating a research culture and research mindset at the undergraduate level of engineering education. For students to imbibe a research-oriented mind set, it is essential that there is effective mentorship, their research experiences are enriching, with development of research skills, and leading to personal and professional growth. This research study carried out with engineering students in the final and prefinal years attempts to measure all the five constructs measured above and tries to assess the interplay between the study variables. The sample size was 215 and data was collected using a structured and validated instrument. Suitable hypotheses were formulated and a conceptual framework was designed. The data was analyzed using the smart PLS software tool. The results indicate that out of the seven hypothesis formulated five were accepted. URE had an impact on a student’s research mindset, through research skills enhancement and personal and professional development. Mentoring effectiveness had an impact on the research mindset through development of research skills. The indirect effect of different paths in the conceptual model were also tested. The study results led to drawing insights for improving research mindset through the improvement of research experiences and effective mentorship.