Mentoring at the University of Northampton

Mentoring incorporates a number of the skills central to the Changemaker philosophy, and effective and informed mentors provide a clear benefit for achievement and retention. While mentoring is taught, supported and practiced across the University, to date there has been no mapping of this, making it difficult to identify best practice as well as potential duplication. Rationale: As part of the funded Mentoring MOOC is was felt that it was vital to identify existing mentor training provision, across the institution. Once all schemes were identified, the training of the mentors was analysed to explore the core skills that were being taught. Methods: This presentation will discuss initial findings from the mapping exercise, as well as the process of information gathering and challenges encountered. Findings: Mentoring at the University appears to be divided into three strands: · Peer to Peer – Students supporting students · Course placement – Professionals supporting students, focused on skills development · Employability – Alumni supporting students, focused on employability We will also report on the early stages of the next step for the project, which identifies areas of overlap with a view to identifying a common set of ‘core skills’ for mentoring, which will form the basis of the MOOC.