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Mentoring at universities – how mentoring programmes support students and higher education institutions

How university mentoring supports students, graduates and academic communities, and how to design a valuable mentoring programme.

University is a period of intensive development, but also a time when many important decisions are made for the first time. Choosing a specialisation, taking a first internship, entering the labour market, developing an academic career, studying abroad or simply finding one’s place in a new academic environment can all be easier with access to another person’s experience.

That is why mentoring programmes fit so well into the development offer of universities. They can connect students with alumni, business professionals, academics, PhD candidates or more experienced students. Depending on the programme, mentoring can support career development, academic progress, adaptation to university life, relationship building and more informed decision-making.

Importantly, mentoring is not simply another form of teaching. Its value comes from an individual relationship between mentor and mentee, regular conversations and access to the perspective of someone who already understands many of the challenges the participant is facing.

What is mentoring for students?

Mentoring is a developmental relationship in which a more experienced person – the mentor – supports a mentee in pursuing specific goals, shares experience, helps them look at situations from a different perspective and encourages independent decision-making.

At a university, mentors may include:

Good mentoring is not about giving a ready-made recipe for a career or for university life. A mentor helps the mentee understand their own goals, opportunities and constraints, shares experience and asks questions that make it easier to reach an independent decision. This is what distinguishes mentoring from traditional teaching, consulting or tutoring.

Why is mentoring particularly valuable during university?

Many important educational and career decisions have to be made when a student still has relatively little practical experience. Reading a job description, attending a careers fair or completing a course can help. Having regular conversations with someone who actually works in a particular industry, has followed a similar career path or faced comparable choices a few years earlier provides a different type of insight.

Mentoring can therefore bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical experience.

Support in choosing a career path

One of the most natural applications of university mentoring is helping students plan their careers.

A mentor can help a student:

The individual nature of mentoring is a major advantage. A student interested in consulting will need different support from someone considering academic research, a startup or the social sector.

Developing skills that are difficult to learn in the classroom alone

A degree programme can provide substantial subject knowledge, but not every competence is developed equally well through lectures and classes.

Mentoring can help students work on areas such as:

Mentors can also share lessons learned from their own experience – including lessons that are difficult to find in textbooks.

Mentoring as a way to build professional networks

People at the beginning of their careers naturally have limited access to professional networks. Mentoring can help change that.

This is not only about introductions. Regular cooperation with an experienced person from a given environment helps a student understand how an industry works, its language, culture and expectations.

Programmes involving alumni and company representatives can also create a wider community in which participants meet other mentors, mentees and programme partners.

Mentoring does not have to be only about careers

Although career mentoring is one of the most common models, university programmes can pursue many different objectives.

Academic and research mentoring

This can support people considering an academic career, PhD studies, research, publishing, conferences, choosing a specialisation or international academic mobility. The mentor may be an academic, a PhD candidate or a more experienced researcher.

Alumni and career mentoring

This model connects students mainly with university alumni or business professionals. Its main purpose is usually to make the transition from university to working life easier. At the same time, it is an effective way for universities to maintain meaningful relationships with alumni.

Peer mentoring

A mentor does not always need to have many more years of experience. A senior student can support a newcomer with adaptation, study organisation, course choices, student activities, dissertation preparation or an international exchange.

Mentoring for specific groups of students

A programme may be designed for a particular group, such as women in STEM, international students, students with disabilities, first-generation students, future entrepreneurs or people pursuing academic careers. This makes it easier to tailor mentors, topics and the process to participants’ real needs.

Mentoring can support student transition and engagement

The first months at university are a significant change for many people. A new environment, different learning methods, independent time management, moving to another city or country and building new relationships can all be challenging.

A well-designed mentoring programme – especially peer mentoring – can provide an additional point of support. The student has a specific person they can approach with questions and who already understands how the university works.

From the university’s perspective, mentoring can therefore form part of broader work on transition, integration and student engagement. It does not replace other support services, but it can complement them effectively.

What does the university gain?

The benefits of a mentoring programme are not limited to the direct participants. A well-run programme can also support institution-wide objectives.

A more practical development offer

Mentoring complements traditional education with individual learning from another person’s experience. It gives universities a development format that is difficult to provide through the curriculum alone.

Stronger alumni relationships

Alumni are natural candidates for mentors. Inviting them into the programme keeps them connected to the institution and gives them a meaningful way to contribute to the development of current students. Over time, mentoring can become an important part of an active alumni community.

Cooperation with business

Mentors can also be managers, experts and entrepreneurs from organisations working with the university. The programme then becomes a practical space for cooperation between academia and business.

A stronger academic community

Programmes connecting students, alumni, academics and business professionals create relationships that often extend beyond a single mentoring session. A community can grow around successive cohorts of mentors and mentees.

What should a good university mentoring programme look like?

Simply bringing together a group of mentors and students does not guarantee valuable mentoring. The programme should be designed as a structured process.

1. A clear programme objective

Start by deciding what problem the programme is intended to address: preparation for employment, first-year transition, academic development, support for a particular group or alumni engagement. The objective determines the programme design.

2. A clearly defined participant group

Not every programme needs to be open to every student. Focusing on a particular year, faculty, specialisation or development need can sometimes produce better results.

3. The right mentors

A strong expert does not automatically become a strong mentor. In addition to experience, look for motivation, willingness to meet regularly, listening and questioning skills, openness and readiness to share both successes and mistakes.

4. Thoughtful matching

Matching should take account primarily of participants’ goals and mentors’ experience. Interests, industry, specialisation, preferred working style and availability may also matter.

5. Preparing participants

A first-time mentee may not know what to expect. Likewise, an experienced manager or alumnus may never have led a mentoring relationship. Explain the roles of both sides, goal setting, what a good session looks like, feedback, confidentiality and boundaries of responsibility.

6. Regularity and clear programme boundaries

It is good practice to define the programme duration and an indicative number of meetings. A process lasting several months with regular sessions gives both sides much more opportunity than a single conversation with an expert.

7. Monitoring and evaluation

The organiser should know whether pairs have actually started working together, whether meetings take place regularly and whether participants receive the support they need. This does not mean accessing confidential conversations. What should be measured is activity, matching quality, satisfaction and progress toward goals.

Mentoring has boundaries

A programme should clearly explain what mentoring is not. A mentor is not a psychotherapist and is not responsible for solving serious personal problems for a participant. The university should have a process for directing students to appropriate professional support when an issue falls outside the mentoring relationship.

Similarly, academic mentoring should not replace formal thesis supervision or university procedures. Clear boundaries protect both mentees and mentors.

How can a student find a mentoring programme?

Students can look for programmes on their university website, through the careers service, business liaison office, alumni association, faculty, student organisations, foundations, professional associations and companies running initiatives for students.

It is also worth exploring the MentoringMap list of mentoring programmes for students and graduates. The directory brings together programmes run by universities and other organisations, making it easier to compare mentoring opportunities.

When choosing a programme, look at the target group, purpose, mentor profile, duration, matching process, support offered and expectations placed on participants.

Is mentoring worth using during university?

Not every student needs a mentor and not every challenge requires mentoring. But when someone is facing important choices, wants to understand an industry, is considering an academic career, is preparing to enter the labour market or simply wants to learn from someone a few steps further along, a well-designed mentoring programme can be one of the most practical parts of the university experience.

For universities, mentoring can connect students with alumni, build a bridge between education and employment, activate the academic community and strengthen a culture of knowledge sharing.

The greatest value appears when the programme is not based on good intentions alone, but has a clear purpose, prepared mentors, thoughtful matching and appropriate relationship standards. Then mentoring becomes more than an additional development opportunity for an individual student: it becomes a lasting part of an environment that helps people build their future more consciously.