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This study investigates how university students perceive the emotional competencies of their professors and their impact on academic well-being.

June 13, 2026Open Access

University Professors’ Emotional Competencies and Students’ Academic Well-Being: A Qualitative Study of Student Perspectives

Key Points

This study investigates how university students perceive the emotional competencies of their professors and their impact on academic well-being.
Conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with undergraduate and master’s students at an Italian university.
Analyzed data using thematic analysis to identify key themes regarding emotional competencies.
Focused on perceptions of emotional regulation, classroom climate, and professor-student relationships.
Identified five themes linking professors’ emotional competencies to students’ academic experiences.
Empathetic professors fostered engagement and reduced stress while rigid interactions led to anxiety and withdrawal.
Proposes that emotional competence should be seen as a professional dimension, suggesting the need for faculty development initiatives.

Abstract

University professors’ emotional competencies are increasingly discussed as relevant dimensions of teaching professionalism that may shape students’ academic engagement, motivation, and psychological well-being. This qualitative study explores how university students perceive professors’ emotional and relational practices and how students perceived these practices as shaping their academic experience. Twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with undergraduate and master’s students at an Italian university and analyzed through thematic analysis. Five interconnected themes were identified: (1) empathy and the humanization of the professor–student relationship; (2) relational and communicative styles shaping classroom climate and motivation; (3) emotional regulation in high-stress academic situations, particularly examinations; (4) perceived differences across teaching modalities and disciplinary contexts; (5) students’ expectations regarding balanced emotional openness and faculty development. Students described empathetic, approachable, and emotionally regulated professors as helping to reduce stress, strengthen academic confidence, foster engagement, and support a sense of belonging. Conversely, rigid, distant, or humiliating interactions were associated with anxiety, withdrawal, and disengagement. Rather than treating emotional competence as an individual disposition, the study proposes that it should be understood as a professional and institutional dimension of university teaching. It further develops the notion of student-perceived academic psychological safety as a relational mechanism through which professors’ emotional competencies may influence students’ well-being and participation. The findings highlight the need for faculty development initiatives and institutional policies that recognize the emotional and relational dimensions of teaching as integral to higher education quality.

University Professors’ Emotional Competencies and Students’ Academic Well-Being: A Qualitative Study of Student Perspectives

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