Mentoring for success: Programs to support transition to and from university

Abstract

University learning goes beyond developing knowledge and skills. It is a transformative process of learning to think and act differently. Mentoring programs support students to achieve success by helping them to think and act differently as learners and as future practitioners. This chapter examines two successful mentoring programs in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Macquarie University: the First STEP mentoring program targets undergraduate students in their first year to help them in their transition to university; the Lucy Mentoring program is for female undergraduate students in their final years of study and aims to facilitate their transition from university to professional work. Through the voices of participants we demonstrate how both programs contribute to creating a connected learning community, and support student transition, transformative learning, and employability.