Faculty-student rapport, student engagement, and approaches to collegiate learning: exploring a mediational model

Abstract Students value a close, supportive relationship with their professors, which has been shown to enhance their learning in higher education. However, more needs to be known about how quality faculty-student relationships shape students’ engagement and approaches to learning in higher education. In a diverse sample of 966 undergraduates from two different institutions of higher education, the current study explored the relationship between faculty-student rapport, student engagement, and deep and surface approaches to learning. Faculty-student rapport was positively correlated with student engagement ( r = .50) and deep learning ( r = .30), and negatively correlated with surface learning ( r = -.21). Student engagement was positively correlated with deep learning ( r = .70) and negatively with surface learning ( r = -.32). Using multilevel modelling with students nested within classrooms, engagement was shown to mediate the effects of rapport on greater levels of deep learning (β = .31) and lower levels of surface learning (β = -.12). Although results held up across a range of demographic characteristics, some differences were noted for rapport-building among Asian American students and engagement across men versus women. These results have important implications for how faculty can engage students in the learning process by developing close, supportive relationships with their students and by extending their relationship with their students outside the classroom.