Manual Student Mentoring Program A2016 - S2017, no enclosures
- 1. 1 Manual Student Mentoring Program VIA School of Business, Technology & Creative Industries VIA University College A2016 – S2017
- 2. 2 Table of Contents 1. The Student Mentoring Program..................................................................................................................3 1.1. General information about the program ...............................................................................................3 1.2. The background for the program ...........................................................................................................3 1.3. The objectives.........................................................................................................................................3 2. Organisation ..................................................................................................................................................3 2.1. Organisational chart...............................................................................................................................4 2.2. Responsibilities.......................................................................................................................................4 2.2.1. Campus management......................................................................................................................4 2.2.2. Department of Student relations ....................................................................................................4 2.2.3. Mentor Coordinator ........................................................................................................................4 2.2.4. The contact person..........................................................................................................................5 2.2.5. Supportive network.........................................................................................................................5 3. The Student Mentor Program .......................................................................................................................6 3.1. The compulsory part...............................................................................................................................6 3.2. The voluntart part ..................................................................................................................................6 4. The Mentor....................................................................................................................................................7 4.1 Becoming a mentor .................................................................................................................................7 4.2. Being a mentor .......................................................................................................................................7 4.3. Specific aspects of the method ..............................................................................................................8 4.4. Mentoring and ethics .............................................................................................................................9 4.4. Following-up the work..........................................................................................................................10 5. Enclosures....................................................................................................................................................11 5.1. Supportive Network - Horsens .............................................................................................................11 5.2. Supportive Network - Aarhus...............................................................................................................15 5.3. Mentor Administration (under Student Relations)..............................................................................17
- 3. 3 1. The Student Mentoring Program 1.1. General information about the program The mentor program is a mandatory offer to all students in the first semester to get associated with a more experienced student with a view to getting support. The mentor's role is to help where the mentee needs it – i.e., in both the professional and the personal area. The method is aimed at the social and psychological teaching environment, and its main goal is to prevent student dropout. However, the program´s close contact between mentor and mentee results in problems often being solved before they develop into something that really impacts on students' education. The Student Mentor Program contributes to a better and more focused study environment. 1.2. The background for the program Many students experience a great deal of uncertainty when starting an education. The uncertainty is often reflected in the demands and expectations that the students feel that they themselves and society impose on those in training. The need to create a safe learning environment can, for example, be achievced by introducing mentoring, where experienced students contribute with their knowledge and experience of the educational course in question, and thus help defuse and give an overview of the course of studies. The student mentor program is just one of many career services, but the advantage is that the experienced students can often offer concrete help on how new students conduct themselves in relation to their study activity and the school´s culture and behavior by acting as role models for the freshmen. 1.3. The objectives The objectives for establishing a mentoring program are: to support the students so that they can realize their professional and personal potential in their education, and later in their working lives. to foster the creation of an active, vibrant, seeking and exploratory study activity for the individual student. to encourage students to share knowledge across semester-levels. to focus on and create respect around the school's learning environment. to ensure effective guidance of students. to enhance students' attachment to the school. to retain more students in the educational course. 2. Organisation The decision to establish a student mentoring program requires support from the college´s personnel, as the system must be an integral part of the college´s culture. The college must dedicate resources to train mentors and maintain the system so that it can be helpful to the new students as well as students' contact persons and mentors.
- 4. 4 2.1. Organisational chart The Student Mentor Program is developed and defined by VIA University College, and is administratively located under the department of Student relations (see “5. Enclosures”). The Student Mentor Program´s strength is, however, the anchoring of the individual educational course to ensure that mentors, mentor coordinators and contact persons are close to the students, and have great knowledge of the individual educational courses. Main Level Program Level 2.2. Responsibilities 2.2.1. Campus management Campus management's responsibility: To ensure the overall economic framework for the mentoring program´s implementation 2.2.2. Department of Student relations The department of Student relations is responsible for: Increasing the overall framework of the program, including finance, hours, courses, PR at the college and out of house PR, including the college website. To conduct mentoring courses, incl. management, framework, location, teachers, etc. To implement ongoing evaluation of the student mentoring program in order to improve the system and demonstrate its merits in relation to the retention of new students. To have contact with all stakeholders, e.g. other colleges / campus with mentoring projects. 2.2.3. Mentor Coordinator Mentor coordinator´s responsibilities: To recruit qualified mentors so that there is sufficient mentors for the students who need it. To match mentor and mentee – possibly, in collaboration with the contact person. Student Relations Mentor Coordinator Mentor Mentee Contact person
- 5. 5 To inform course management and contact persons of their duties in connection with the student mentoring program so that the program is given the necessary support by each educational course. To ensure that the mentor program is implemented in cooperation with the mentors and contact persons. To ensure that new students are informed about the mentor program and the possibilities that the system offers. To coordinate planning / scheduling of meetings between mentors and mentees, and thus ensure that the possiblity to meet is present for both mentor and mentee. If possible, the mentor coordinator must also assist in finding suitable meeting rooms. To organize and participate in congress meetings with all mentors and contact persons after each of the four meetings. Congress meetings are, therefore, extremely important for the program´s success, and the mentor coordinator must take minutes of the meeting and ensure that the participation of all the mentors and contact persons have a high priority. To take short minutes from the congress meetings. The minutes must, among other subjects, be based on information provided by the mentors concerning:: Participants cancellations, non-attendance What issues, problems, etc., were raised/discussed? Which tools (from the course) were used? To spar with the mentors in connection with issues arising from the interviews with mentees. To evaluate the process at the end of the semester with the participation of all the mentors and contact persons. To participate in the evaluation of the process at end of the semester 2.2.4. The contact person The contact person's responsibilities: To inform new students about the mentor program and the possibilities that it offers. To support the program and encourage mentees to participate in mentoring sessions. To participate in the congress meetings with all mentors and the mentor coordinator after each of the four meetings. Congress meetings are extremely important for the success of the program, and the contact persons´ participation must have a high priority. To participate in the evaluation of the process at the end of the semester with the participation of all mentors and the mentor coordinator. Spotting resourceful students who may later in their course of study be interested in being part of the program as a mentor. 2.2.5. Supportive network Besides the aforementioned organization, the mentoring program is supported in many ways that offer further or additional help, and the mentor can refer any mentee who they considered to have a need for such additional help. It is up to the individual mentor to assess whether this is necessary, but the mentor can always get sparring / help in these situations from the mentor coordinator. In general, one should refer one too many than one too few. The supporting network will take care of the students who are referred from student mentoring program.
- 6. 6 Student guidance councellors The student guidance counsellors take care, among other things, of implementation guidance, and may be good to talk to if you are unsure of whether the course you are studying is the right choice of study for you. The student counsellor can also help the student to speak to social or other authorities if there are special circumstances to be taken into account, and the student wishes to help resolve these issues. Student councelling is conducted within each study program, and you can see the list of counselors in “5. Enclosures”. Additional supportive networks The mentoring program has been implemented on many study programs in VIA, and these programs are located on different addresses, which means that the possibilities in the supportive network is different from address to address. The supporting network for english programmes is specified for each program/address in “5. Enclosures”. 3. The Student Mentor Program The Student Mentor Program in the education´s first semester consists of two elements: a mandatory part and an optional part. The mentors are the same in both parts, but the mentee can choose to participate in the voluntary part, or not 3.1. The compulsory part The compulsory part includes all students in the program's first semester, and students are assigned a mentor in groups of 6-8 people. The process comprises two group meetings with the participation of the mentor and all mentees. The meetings are distributed evenly over the first half of the semester, and are held at approximately 4 weeks apart. Mentees are obliged to attend these meetings and any cancellations or non-attendance is recorded by the mentor, and will be noted in the minutes at the next congress meeting. 3.2. The voluntart part The voluntary part also includes all students in the first semester, but in the voluntary part, the group meetings are replaced by individual meetings where only the mentor and mentee participate. The process also consists of two meetings, and these meetings are distributed evenly t in the second half of the semester, and the time for the meetings are agreed between the mentor and the individual mentee. It is not mandatory to attend these two individual meetings, but the mentee must, however inform the mentor of whether he / she want to participate in these individual meetings.
- 7. 7 4. The Mentor 4.1 Becoming a mentor Once the program is established, the existing mentors are incorporated into the work of recruiting new members. In cooperation with the educational course, the old mentors visit the relevant semesters and advertise about the program; handing-out brochures, and talk about mentor training and work in general. The students who subsequently wish to join the Mentor Corps must submit an application to the mentor coordinator of their educational course. The application must be motivated: Why do you want to be a mentor? What are your expectations of the job? How can you contribute? Candidates are evaluated on their ability or desire to: • listen, ask and show respect • get to know new people • being able to enter into long-term cooperation with another student • getting an education as a mentor. In addition, candidates must meet the following criteria: • Candidates should, if possible, have diverse cultural backgrounds to be representatives of the total student basis. • Candidates should be trustworthy and cooperate with the mentor coordinator and mentee. • Candidates should have clear positions and "life baggage". • Candidates should have people-skills. The mentor coordinator of the educational program then proceeds, if necessary after an interview with suitable candidates, to make a decision about who should be included in the student mentoring program. The students, who the mentor coordinator selects, subsequently participate in the mandatory two-day mentoring course in which they acquire tools and skills for their future work as a student mentor. The mentors are taught, among other things, about leadership, communication, personality types, communication models, question types and ethical guidelines for the mentor / mentee relationship. 4.2. Being a mentor • There is one mentor allocated to 6-8 mentees from their own course of study. • Mentors deal with both large and small issues, and it is the mentor's job, perhaps in collaboration with the mentor coordinator and / or contact person, to refer students who need additional information or help to the supporting network at the individual addresses. See “5. Enclosures”. • The mentor plans, in collaboration with the mentor coordinator, two compulsory group meetings, and subsequently the mentor will hold the two group meetings
- 8. 8 • The mentor plans, in collaboration with the individual mentee, the two individual meetings, and subsequently holds the two individual meetings with each mentees mentor • There are no written minutes taken from the group meetings or the individual meetings, but the mentor notes in short: Participants cancellations, non-attendance What issues, problems, etc., were raised/discussed? Which tools (from the course) were used? • After each of the four meetings, a congress meeting is held between mentor coordinator, contact persons and mentors, which picks-up on the information and impressions that the mentors have noted, and where one can discuss topics / issues that mentors find difficult to handle. • At the end of the semester, the mentor participates in a final evaluation together with the mentor coordinator and contact person. Possibly supplemented by a digital questionnaire, which Student Relations will send electronically to the mentors in all educational courses. • Mentors are required to regularly check their college email so that it can be used for contact between mentors and the college´s secretariat, mentor coordinator, contact persons and possible mentees. If the mentor and mentee choose another form of contact than the college´s email, this will be acceptable if all agree upon using it. • The mentor is not a personal homework-coach, but, like in other subjects, can convey a possible desire for homework help, or similar, to the educational course´s mentor coordinator 4.3. Specific aspects of the method The Mentor Training is delivered on a course with a duration of two days, which aims to uncover VIA's definition of mentoring, get a sense of working as a mentor, and train basic mentoring tools that support the issues you may encounter as a mentor. The first part of the course is held before the new semester starts, and aims at making the mentors ready to welcome new students on the first day of school and to hold the first two group meetings The second part of the course is held approx. half way through the semester, and aims at making the mentors ready for holding the individual meetings. The mentor program gives mentors: An awareness of their own personality and their own abilities, which are starting-point for enabling to offer support to the mentee. Basic knowledge of diversity and personality types, so the mentor will be able to deal with diversity. Basic management tools with focus on motivation, communication and problem solving. Basic coaching tools with focus on conversation model, interview techniques and question types. An insight into mentoring work´s ethical issues, including boundaries, respect and confidentiality. Overall, the course will ensure that the mentor is "tuned" into the role of the mentor, and the course is a mixture of theory lessons and exercises where various course elements are demonstrated and tested.
- 9. 9 The mentors acquire some simple and useful skills that make them able to help and support their mentees in achieving their educational goals. And through their work as mentors during the course of two semesters, they will have ample opportunity to practice and refine these skills so that it also provides a positive personal development of the mentors themselves. 4.4. Mentoring and ethics When working as a mentor, ethics is an essential element in the relationship between mentor and mentee, and the topic will also be addressed in the course. The ethical basis for student mentoring is defined as: 1. Confidentiality • The mentor must be reliable and meticulous with his work. • The mentor must comply with agreements and promises. • The mentor should be aware of their own skills and personal attributes and apply them to the extent that it benefits the mentee. • If the mentor's own problems create problems for cooperation between mentor and mentee, then mentor, in agreement with the mentor coordinator, must cease to be a mentor. • The mentor must, unless otherwise agreed, respect professional secrecy in relation to the mentee. 2. Respect for the students • The mentor should treat mentee with dignity and respect. • The mentor must never exploit the mentee for personal gain. • The mentor must have mentee´s verbal consent before his name or personal information is used as reference. 3. Honesty • The mentor is aware of their own knowledge and skills and are aware of their own limitations when he or she helps the mentee. • The mentor must act honestly towards his/her mentees, his/her co-mentors, the coordinator, teachers, student counsellors, and the school´s management. 4. Professional respect • The mentor must not do anything that could harm the general understanding and acceptance of his role as a mentor. • The mentor must be realistic with the goals and results that he or she guides the mentee towards. • The mentor should serve as a role model for the mentee. 5. Availability • The mentor must be both physically and mentally available for the mentee and the group to which the mentor has been assigned.
- 10. 10 6. Cooperation • The mentor, mentor coordinator and contact person (s) must collaborate in the distribution of roles in the college's mentoring program. • The mentor must strive to find solutions to problems related to the mentee in close cooperation with the mentee. • The mentor must ensure that issues such as the mentor believes he or she cannot resolve are resolved through cooperation with the mentor coordinator, contact person, and the supporting network. 4.4. Following-up the work The mentor coordinator will continuously monitor the program and ensure the motivation of all mentors. It is important that it is seen to be advantageous and attractive to be a mentor if the program is to rally support. The mentors must act as role models for other students, and it is therefore important to attract some of the students who have their finger on the pulse of the school.