FEUP peer mentoring: Promoting integration through support and experience sharing

Abstract

Admission to higher education is a milestone in the lives of young people. This can be accompanied by several changes in the student’s life such as a new place of residence, a new group of friends, and a new type of education. This entry into higher education can provide a new series of experiences, challenges, and newfound independence. However, it might also expose problems and difficulties, possibly hampering the student's personal and academic development. In order to ease the integration into higher education, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) has developed a Peer Mentoring Programme promoted by students already attending different FEUP courses (mentors) which intends to support the first-year students (mentees) in this phase of their life, coordinated by some teachers from each course. This social and academic integration program is supported by 4 core ideas: Integration, Support, Experience, and Sharing. This work provides insight into the way in which this program is organized at FEUP, highlighting the students’ participation (mentees and mentors), the main contributions that each of them values, their degree of satisfaction and involvement, activities that were developed, and some testimonies.