Some forms of mentoring existed decades ago within the student-teacher relationship although in a more restricted and confined set-up. Now mentoring is a structured program adopted by different institutions to harness the best learning experience form our students. Thus a good mentor should possess essential qualities such as knowledge/ expertise, good communication skills, listening and counselling skills , empathy, passion for teaching and most importantly time allotment for mentor-mentee engagement.
In my own set-up in the college of medicine, mentees come from all year levels of medical degree, from 1st year to medical interns and residents, and each sets of mentees have different areas of concerns, goals and expected outcomes. Thus as a mentor in different levels, I try as much as possible to direct them towards their specific goals and make them stay focused and committed towards achieving these goals.