Session Outline

Ensuring smooth transition into L7 is a critical issue. Research suggests that mentoring programmes as part of a holistic approach to personal tutoring have a positive impact on student engagement, retention, academic success, and feelings of confidence and belonging (Colvin & Ashman, 2010). Having a diverse population doesn’t mean that people will integrate meaningfully, this must be fostered, encouraged, and nurtured and mentoring programmes are important interventions that contribute to this (Spencer-Oatey, Dauber & Williams, 2014). Transitional support involving mentoring and encompassing pastoral, academic and social elements can effectively complement personal tutoring by giving scalable support mechanisms to accommodate large student cohorts particularly involving international students (Olivier & Burton, 2020).

The Salford Business School mentoring programme has been designed on the principles of group mentoring and mentoring circle theories (Darwin & Palmer, 2009; Boud, Cohen & Sampson, 2001; Skaniakos & Piirainen, 2019) and aligns with the AdvanceHE Framework of Student Engagement through Partnership. The programme was originally devised in response to students reporting difficulties to settle in and make friends particularly with our infill system across multiple intakes each year.

All new postgraduate students in SBS are matched with a student mentor from the same programme and are invited to meet 4 times in small groups during their first month. On average, 76% of new students engaged with their mentor in the academic year 2024/2025, which is particularly significant as the programme is not compulsory and non-credit bearing. The sessions have an icebreaker, a specific topic of focus and guided discussion. Students are encouraged to ask the questions they might not feel comfortable discussing with a tutor as well as connecting with their peers and establishing a peer support network and community outside of the classroom for the rest of their studies. After each mentoring round has finished, we send out an evaluation questionnaire and 97% of respondents reported that the mentoring programme helped them settle into university life.

In this interactive presentation, we would explore the theoretical underpinnings of peer mentoring and how this is situated in the context of personal tutoring. We would present the lessons learned from the peer mentoring programme at the University of Salford Business School so far, and look at how mentoring could be applicable to different educational contexts.

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