Mentoring programs are a great way to support students and recent alumni. When planning a new program or looking to improve outcomes consider the following guidelines.
Types of mentoring programs
Mentoring is useful across all stages of campus life, but it’s best to start with one program, refine it, and then add others.
*New students—can be matched with more senior students in a “buddy” type of peer mentoring program that helps them get acquainted with the campus and university life. A similar program can support retention through the first two years to reduce drop-off rates.
A pre-enrollment program is rare, but some universities connect high school graduates who were admitted to the university with second-year or older students at an event along campus tours. Connecting with an active student who can answer questions encourages enrollment.
In both cases, the student peer mentors volunteer for the role, are trained and provided branded t-shirts and other promotional materials to use at these special events. Some programs last several weeks and require mentors to complete weekly progress surveys tracked by the program admin.
*Active students—also benefit from peer mentoring with a focus on student success and more niche interests throughout their studies. Registration forms may include questions about their major, hobbies, mentoring interests, and more specific topics in order to find the best mentor match.
Including personality-type assessment questions can enable matching pairs with similar personalities, which often results in stronger connections.
*Graduating students—have a variety of options. The classic industry mentoring program connects students with a relevant alumni or industry professional for career advice over three, six or 12 months.
A career conversation or informational interview program connects pairs for a one-time meeting. This also helps recruit mentors who are too busy for a long-term program, but would be open to having a quick chat with a student once in a while. After that experience, the mentor may be open to the longer-term program.
Finding the best mentor for each student can be further refined using a chemistry check process. A custom matching algorithm recommends three mentors for each mentee to schedule a quick introduction call.
After each call, they rate the mentor and provide reasoning for the rating. The program coordinator reviews the data and makes the final selection for them. This process takes more effort but results in the best matches.
*Other mentoring programs—can support student entrepreneurs, matching recent alumni with more senior alumni and new faculty/staff mentoring.
Launching and refining the program
First, survey students and potential mentors to identify areas of interest in mentoring types, session length and topics of interest.
1. Secure leadership support —review expected costs and returns to build a business case for the program:
- Costs include staff hours to launch and operate the program, software setup and annual subscription
- Returns include increased student enrollment, retention and satisfaction. Prevent dropouts, increase job placement, referrals and reputation.
2. Define program timeline and focus—students and alumni could join at any time of the year or apply for three/six/12 month sessions. Programs may be open to a specific department or campus-wide.
3. Define policies—detail the benefits for mentees and mentors, the mentoring agreement, privacy policy and code of conduct. Mentees could select mentors or wait to be matched by the program coordinator.
4. Launch a mentoring platform—select a mentoring software and work with the provider to customize it as needed:
- A branded landing page with the program details
- Mentor and mentee registration form questions
- Custom matching algorithm and AI can identify common interests in open text fields
- Single sign-on integration, system emails and auto-reminders
- ‘Mentoring resources and activities—checklists, personal journals, goal setting and feedback
- Completion certificates that encourage mentors to return
- Halfway and completion surveys—issues, suggestions and testimonials
- Progress reports and analysis
5. Training materials—present an information session for students and alumni, explain how the program works and invite them to register.
6. Launch the program—open for registrations and matching. Announce the program via email newsletters, social media and posters on campus.
7. Monitor and evaluate—track progress, handle special cases, analyze usage and survey results.
8. Celebrate and improve—use success stories in promotions and refine the next session or system in general based on feedback.
After several sessions or on-going participation, tracking progress and improving the process will make the program flow smoothly, support a growing number of student mentees and returning mentors.
