El asesor de tesis como coach: Una alternativa para impulsar la producción científica estudiantil

Student scientific production in Latin America shows serious limitations. This situation would be due to several factors, mainly the scarce publication of diploma papers would be the main trigger, whereas the quality of the counseling provided by the supervisor is also another relevant factor for its prevalence. Within this scenario, the need arises to change the approach to the work of the thesis supervisor; therefore, the purpose of this research is to sustain the possibility and discuss the benefits of the supervisor assuming a coach role to foster student scientist production. The scientific literature reveals the existence of innovative strategies that respond to current educational needs, in order to improve the teaching-learning process; and it is in this context where educational coaching appears as a strategy for training competencies in the university scenario. Assuming that the thesis counseling process also corresponds to a teaching-learning process, then the figure of the coach-supervisor is indispensable not only to improve the quality of the research work, but also the training of future researchers from the undergraduate level, using the motivational factor to develop their research skills. It is concluded that, given the scenario of the limitations of scientific production in the undergraduate programs, the figure of the coach-supervisor is a feasible alternative to improve the process of thesis counseling and to promote student scientific production in the undergraduate programs.