TEACHER MENTORING AND PERCEIVED RESEARCH COMPETENCE: A STUDY OF HSS UNDERGRADUATES

Driven by China’s national initiatives to develop the ‘New Liberal Arts’ and enhance undergraduates’ innovation, fostering research competence among students in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) has become a critical priority. This study aims to explore the impact of teacher mentoring on the perceived research competence of undergraduates in the HSS and its internal mechanism. To examine the research context, this study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining a questionnaire survey (n = 98) and semi-structured interviews (n = 8), conducted with students from four "Double First-Class" universities in China. Quantitative data show that both academic guidance and emotional care from teachers are significantly positively correlated with the students' research competence. Regression analysis further indicates that the role of emotional care is even more prominent. Qualitative interviews reveal that students’ investment, targeted teacher guidance, and emotional encouragement collectively serve as key pillars in enhancing research competence. Finally, the paper proposes practical recommendations to improve undergraduate research training and teacher-student interactions at the levels of students, teachers, and university administration.