Supportive relationships between students and their educational faculty and staff can foster positive outcomes such as students’ involvement and development. However, research investigating how students perceive the quality of their relationships with educational faculty/staff (i.e., relationship quality) so far remains scarce. This study’s aim was to gain more insight into the construct of relationship quality in higher education using a qualitative approach. Students’ descriptions of their positive (n = 294) and negative relationship experiences (n = 395) were collected using a critical incident technique (final sample N = 513 critical incidents) followed by a template analysis with a priori themes (i.e., relationship quality dimensions: trust in honesty, trust in benevolence, satisfaction, affective commitment, affective conflict). Results indicated that students most often mentioned trust in honesty and trust in benevolence. Affective conflict was not always explicitly mentioned in negative experiences, nor satisfaction in positive experiences. Descriptions of trust in benevolence (n = 355) were equally distributed over positive and negative incidents. However, trust in honesty was more often referred to in negative (n = 145) than in positive incidents (n = 51). The results indicated that students considered timely response to assignments and emails important, and teachers showing interest and attention. The study’s findings provide a new view of how students might positively and negatively perceive the quality of their relationship with educational faculty and staff. This study adds to the theoretical and practical implications of relationship quality research in higher education and how relational aspects are important for students.

学生与他们的教育教职员工之间的支持性关系可以促进积极的成果，例如学生的参与和发展。然而，到目前为止，尚缺乏有关研究学生如何看待他们与教育教职员工的关系质量（即关系质量）的研究。这项研究的目的是通过定性的方法来更深入地了解高等教育中的人际关系质量。使用关键事件技术收集学生对他们的积极（n = 294）和消极关系经历（n = 395）的描述（最终样本N= 513起严重事件），然后进行具有先验主题的模板分析（即，关系质量维度：对诚实的信任，对仁慈的信任，满意度，情感承诺，情感冲突）。结果表明，学生最常提到的是对诚实的信任和对仁爱的信任。在消极经历中并不总是明确提及情感冲突，在积极经历中也没有令人满意地提及情感冲突。对善意的信任描述（n = 355）在正面事件和负面事件中均等分布。然而，在诚实信任被更经常地在负称为（Ñ = 145）比阳性事件（Ñ= 51）。结果表明，学生认为及时回应作业和电子邮件很重要，而老师则表现出兴趣和注意力。该研究结果为学生如何正面和负面地认识到他们与教育教职员工之间关系的质量提供了新的视角。这项研究增加了高等教育中关系质量研究的理论和实践意义，以及关系方面对学生的重要性。