Students designing for students: a peer mentorship toolkit for a cross-campus, EDI, engineering transition scheme

Abstract

The smooth transition of students from secondary education to university study is seen as a factor of student retention and achievement. This is especially important in the case of students from non-traditional backgrounds who may lack the social capital that could help ease their transition. Peer transition mentoring is one of the tools universities use to enhance the experience of new students. This study examines how the transition mentoring scheme of a highly selective institution (UCL) could be modified to cater for the students of a new EQF level 3 engineering preparatory programme (Foundation Engineering) which is aimed exclusively at students from under-represented groups. The transition mentoring scheme needs to address two practical obstacles: the lack of peer mentors with knowledge of the needs of the non-traditional student demographic and the physical distance between the main campus, where the peer mentors are located, and the off-campus location of the preparatory programme. A Students as Partners approach is implemented to examine the transition mentors’ perceptions of their role. Semi- structured interviews with 16 current and former transition mentors were conducted to investigate the experiences of peer mentors and to establish their training needs. The paper concludes with practical guidance on best practice for organising and managing training for students mentoring peers from non-traditional backgrounds.