Introduction:

Tutors are fundamental in the formation of graduate students and their work is not only focused on the direction of the students’ theses. Tutors also encourage the development of other skills, including the integration of students into research communities. This implies that tutors must demonstrate tutoring competencies; and therefore, it is important to recognize and assess these competencies from critical and reflexive points of view.

Objective:

To analyze and self-assess the competencies of tutors in a nursing graduate program.

Method:

Tutors were invited to participate in a free and voluntary manner in diverse focal groups with the aim of analyzing, discussing, and self-assessing their own competencies. Ten competencies in four domain levels were qualitatively assessed.

Results:

The discussion within the focal groups were documented and coded, and the following categories were identified: 1) ethical aspects and the respect of the authorship of students in publications; 2) the relevance of the transference of knowledge to specific problems in the field of nursing; 3) the tutor-student relationship highlighting the different levels of dependence associations.

Conclusions:

The identification of the competencies which tutors need to demonstrate at this curricular level was acknowledged. A critical and reflexive self-evaluation regarding the education practice was generated. Tutors identified their levels of competency.