Toolkit - Mentor Programme
A mentor programme gives students (mentees) the opportunity to discuss thoughts and ideas about their studies and career choices with an experienced and professional alumnus (mentor).
The programme begins with a start-up meeting and ends with a closing meeting and runs over two months, or as long as the mentor and mentee wish.
How the collaboration is set up and where the meet-ups take place is up to the mentor and mentee to agree upon together. The recommended number of meet-ups is two to three times.
Virtual meeting options enable the pairs to meet even if they live in different cities or countries. We recommend that the mentor programme is arranged as a collaboration between a student association and an alumni association.
Purpose and target groups
- To give students insight into a professional area, how the labor market works and advice and tips for a future career path.
- To give students the opportunity to create valuable contacts..
- To give alumni the opportunity to reconnect to their department and get in touch with students for degree projects and internships or future recruitment.
- To enable personal and professional development for students and alumni.
- To inspire students to become members of Uppsala University Alumni Network after completing their studies.
Suggestions for target groups to invite
- Students (mentees)
- Newly graduated alumni (mentees)
- Alumni association/Chapter members (mentors)
Instructions
- Decide how many months the programme should last. Set a start and an end date. Remember to also include the marketing and application time in the planning. We recommend to start the planning at least six months before the application opens.
- Appoint a project group that can review the applications, match mentors and mentees, plan start-up meetings and closing meetings, as well as plan and manage information and marketing. A person in the group should also be appointed as the contact person, the person to whom mentors and mentees turn if they have questions or if problems arise.
- The mentors and the mentees register their interest for participating in the mentor programme via two separate web forms.
Mentor registration form
Include the following information in the form:
- First- and last name
- Mobile phone number
- Company or Organisation
- Main area of expertise
- Educational background
- City/Country
- Preferred languange (Swedish and/or English)
- Other comments
Mentee registration form
Include the following information in the form:
- First- and last name
- Mobile phone number
- Education and area of interest
- Motivation to partake in the mentor programme
- Expectations on the mentor
- What the mentee can contribute with
- Other comments
- The project group handles the matching between mentor and mentee. The profiles should be matched based on criteria that the project group decides upon. Suggested criteria: competence, career, special wishes and interests.
- Notify mentors and mentees via e-mail whom they have been matched with.
- Start the mentor programme with a joint start-up meeting for participating mentors and mentees. Inform them about the structure of the programme and clarify the role of the mentor and the mentee, what is expected of them respectively. Give tips on topics the mentor and mentees can discuss.
- It is important to point out that the mentee has a great responsibility to maintain contact with the mentor and be clear about what they want to get out of the collaboration.
- If possible, arrange the meeting physically otherwise via a virtual meeting platform. If you meet physically, it is nice to offer drinks and some mingle food.
- Follow-up with the mentors and mentees halfway into the programme and ask if they have met and how the collaboration is progressing.
- End the programme with a joint closing meeting and thank all the participants. If possible, arrange the meeting physically otherwise via a virtual meeting platform. If you meet physically, offer some drinks and snacks. Make sure to thank the mentors for contributing with their time and experience.
