Types of mentoring for students – mentoring programs at universities
As our recent report showed, mentoring for students is a common element in the offerings of major universities and is steadily growing in popularity. On the one hand, programs at universities that have been in place for years are becoming more numerous. On the other, more and more universities are deciding to launch their mentoring programs.
We have already described the report itself in detail in previous articles. This time I would like to focus on two aspects of mentoring from the point of view of the organizers – that is, representatives of universities. First, what benefits can such a mentoring program bring, including in terms of preventing drop-outs. Second, what types of mentoring programs are available to organizers.
Mentoring as an enhancement of the university’s value proposition and one solution for drop-outs
There can be many benefits to implementing a mentoring program at a university. I have chosen three that I consider the most common and most important:
- Improving the quality of the educational offer
- Relations with the business environment
- Counteracting drop-outs
Improving the quality of student education
This is the first and probably the most obvious benefit. Universities that offer mentoring programs are eager to communicate this and can use it as an advantage when recruiting and marketing their offers.
The mentoring program is a natural benefit for some future students and may influence their decision regarding the choice of university. Moreover, mentoring shows that the university’s offer is modern, related to practice and that it prepares students for the current requirements of the labor market.
Building and maintaining relationships with businesses
Mentoring programs are very often organized by career offices or business cooperation centers, which, in addition to working to improve the quality of education and their offerings to students, also have in their goals the maintenance of relations with the university’s business environment.
Program mentoringowy organizowany przez te struktury zazwyczaj angażuje zarówno studentów, co jest oczywiste, jak i właśnie reprezentantów biznesu, którzy są w tych programach Mentorami.
Through the organization of the mentoring program, the university maintains and refreshes contacts with company representatives, helps them meet their goals, and further promotes its image as a modern entity with a strong emphasis on practice in education and outreach.
Countering drop-outs
The phenomenon of drop-outs, i.e. students dropping out of college before graduation, is quite common. And not only .
According to data we found, in the United States, as many as 39% of students do not complete the studies they have started, including as many as 23.3% of students who drop out during their first year[*].
In Poland, we have similar data. According to the Information Processing Center PIB, between 2012 and 2020, as many as 40% of studies undertaken graduated with deletion from the list of students[*]. The data is admittedly several years old, but apparently the problem persists, since a funding program for universities was launched at the end of 2024 to precisely minimize drop-outs.
A mentoring program at a university can be one way to reduce drop-outs. On the one hand, it enhances the educational offerings and introduces additional practice elements to the learning. On the other hand, according to research, mentoring itself tends to build loyalty and reduce employee turnover at companies. It can have a similar effect with students.
Types of mentoring programs for students
Mentoring at universities can take many different forms. Each fulfills a slightly different purpose, and while the goals for the university are usually similar (I’ve listed them above), the goals for the stakeholders may already be different depending on the type of program chosen.
The most common types of mentoring include:
- Career launch programs – connecting students with business
- Peer/Friendly Mentoring
- Mentoring as an extension of the tutoring idea
Career launch programs – connecting students with business
This is by far the most popular type of mentoring program. Most often, these types of programs are organized by career offices or business cooperation centers. Sometimes alumni associations of a given university take on this role.
The idea behind these programs is to help students choose a career path and help them take their first steps in that field.
Objectives and Benefits for Students (Mentees):
- Exploring the work environment and career path in which they want to grow.
- Preparing a resume, cover letter, applying for jobs.
- Preparing the skill set needed to start your first job.
- Building new relationships with the business community, networking.
Objectives and Benefits for Mentors:
- Exploring the perspective of the younger generation.
- Networking with other business representatives.
- Developing leadership and coaching competencies.
- Personal branding.
University partnership with external mentoring program
Sometimes, instead of organizing their own programs, universities decide to partner with programs organized by foundations or companies. Thanks to this, they can benefit from implementing such a program into their educational offer, and at the same time do not have to bear the costs associated with organizing such a program.
Peer/Friendly Mentoring
The idea behind the program is to offer support to students who are just starting their education or preparing for an important event in their student life (thesis, Erasmus program). Programs of this type can be compared to buddy programs or onboarding programs in companies, where more experienced employees introduce new employees to the company environment, not necessarily related to the actual duties resulting from the job position.
Goals and benefits for Mentees:
- Learning about student life and organizational issues related to studying.
- Preparing for potentially complicated projects-going on Erasmus, writing a thesis.
- Gaining new contacts, meeting people, networking.
Goals and benefits for Mentors:
- The satisfaction of helping your colleagues.
- Building a network of contacts.
Mentoring as an extension of the tutoring idea
Tutoring is a process consisting of several individual meetings / sessions, during which the tutor passes on his knowledge and experience to the tutee. The idea of tutoring is very similar to mentoring, with only one major difference. Mentoring is based primarily on the self-knowledge and self-education of the Mentee, and the Mentor only guides the Mentee through this process, ultimately sharing his knowledge. Tutoring is more based on the actual transfer of knowledge. The tutor takes on the role of a teacher and should have completed a tutoring course.
Furthermore, in many respects mentoring and tutoring are similar and are based on the same mechanisms.
Mentoring or tutoring at a university takes the form of organized programs in which the tutor is a university employee – a tutor, and the Mentee has the opportunity to use his/her support by participating in individual sessions. Tutors usually receive remuneration for their work.
Objectives and benefits for Mentees: .
- Development in a chosen field – science or soft skills.
- Expanding the current teaching method with a more individual approach.
- Tutoring programmes are often also based on the acquisition of ECTS points.
Goals and benefits for Mentors:
- Mentors/Tutors typically receive financial compensation for their work.
Mentoring at a University with Mentiway
Mentoring programs organized at universities are usually large-scale – encompassing a dozen, several dozen, and in some cases over 100 mentoring pairs. Implementing and managing such programs can be quite a challenge. It requires knowledge, experience, but above all time.
This is where the platform Mentiway comes to the rescue, helping you easily implement, launch and manage a mentoring program at any scale.
Mentiway has ready-made mechanisms that allow you to:
- recruitment of participants,
- pairing them, based on proprietary algorithms supported by AI,
- introducing participants to the theory and practice related to mentoring processes
- and guiding them through these processes from the stage of getting to know each other and contracting, to summarizing the relationship and the final report,
- monitoring of processes by organizers and obtaining a summary along with information on the effectiveness of the program and participant satisfaction.
Here you can see more information about Mentiway functionalities.
We currently support mentoring programs for five universities, including the oldest mentoring program at the Wrocław University of Economics and the largest at the Warsaw School of Economics.
Please contact us, we will be happy to help you implement mentoring at your university.
Hi, my name is Thomas. I am the Co-Founder of Mentiway. We are happy to share our knowledge and support organisations on their way to success! 💪 If you are interested in how to efficiently and effectively implement a mentoring programme in your organisation using technology:
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