ABSTRACT
The modern manifestation of mentoring is a curious mixture. The aspect is the old notion of the tutorial system in ancient Universities, where the onus was on the independent learning of undergraduates, tested in a tutorial against the judgement of the supervisor. The emphasis was on learning rather than being taught, but the efficacy of the process was constantly being critically evaluated. Mentoring is not a universal panacea, although the way it is ubiquitously employed might make one think it is supposed to be. It is a concept and a practice that ranges widely over the extremes of national systems of induction to the casual and subtle support mechanisms of professional friendship. The success of mentoring systems depends on motivation; those who genuinely have the best interests or their colleagues at heart will make the systems work; those who use it as a short cut or for their own ends will find it does not succeed.
