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From School Comforts to University Challenges

From School Comforts to University Challenges. Mentoring Professionals Conference April 2018, University of Roehampton John Dillon, Alumni Director. In the beginning…. Up to 2012/13 Germanic Studies Gradlink Mentor Programme Global Officers assigned to schools 2012/13

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From School Comforts to University Challenges

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  1. From School Comforts to University Challenges Mentoring Professionals ConferenceApril 2018, University of Roehampton John Dillon, Alumni Director

  2. In the beginning… • Up to 2012/13 • Germanic Studies Gradlink Mentor Programme • Global Officers assigned to schools • 2012/13 • Gradlink in 2 Schools (36 mentors, 136 mentees) ... • 2017/18 • Mentoring across 24 Schools (255 mentors, 743 mentees)

  3. Gradlink Review

  4. Gradlink Overview • School led events with support from Careers and Alumni offices • Schools - Global Officer / School Admin event manager • Careers & Alumni offices - Overall programme management, events co-ordination, alumni communications, event registrations, matching, workshops, surveys • Open to 3rd or 4th year students only (depending on school preference) • Formal sign-up for 6 month programme by alumni and students • Formal launch night where alumni give brief personal overview and connect with students at reception • Mentee requests top 5 mentors to be matched with • School and Careers Advisory Service manage mentor-mentee matching based on requests with up to 3 mentees assigned per mentor

  5. Schools: 2 3 8 6

  6. Gradlink Impact • 18% of students received a job, internship or future work placement • 45% are now considering new opportunities & directions • 53% have a better understanding of what they would like to do after College • 58% ‘gained an insight into a particular industry or sector’ • Source: 2014/15 gradlink student survey • 68% of Gradlink grads are in employment and 32% in further study • Source: 2014/15 FDR survey

  7. Gradlink Growing Pains… • The positives… • Very successful programme • Very positive feedback from students and alumni • Great survey feedback • Great collaboration between Schools, Careers and Alumni office • But… • Resource intensive • Scalability proving difficult • Limited to Dublin-based alumni • Assigned & fixed mentor-mentee relationship • So, let’s review…

  8. What we learned - Surveys Ref. Student Survey, March 2014, 2,421 respondents • Student survey • 38% of respondents said they have received support from alumni • 80% of respondents would like alumni support in the form of internships/employment opportunities, while 66% would like mentoring/careers advice • Respondents who have received support from alumni are more likely to donate as a graduate, than those who have received no support (44% v 31%) • Alumni Survey • 81% of respondents rarely or never attend Trinity events • 88% of non-volunteers would be interested in supporting Trinity in the future Ref. Alumni Survey, June 2014, 4,100 respondents

  9. What we learned – Focus Groups • Give students more flexibility & responsibility • Provide more support / engagement during the programme • Get rid of launch booklet • Involve experienced mentors more • Get all students from all schools participating • Enable all alumni at home and abroad to participate • Reduce the ‘event’ workload

  10. New approach, phase 1 pilot • Take Gradlink online • Programme specific mentoring • Automate registration & matching • Facilitate international mentors

  11. Apply to Gradlink programme

  12. Schools: 2 3 8 6 12

  13. Pilot results • The Good • Growth in programme participation & scalability • Transition from paper to online platform (School GOs v. happy!) • Facilitate more alumni & more students • The not so good! • Limited feature use of online platform • Mentor module & specific programme • Manual matching online • Limited online use by mentor, mentees • Meeting Adrian… • Conclusion • High tech & high touch

  14. 2017 Proposal • Continue with a variant of the Gradlink programme for each School, with online support but without manual matching • Do a number of alumni mentoring style events for a collection of schools (grouped by faculty) to participate in

  15. New approach, phase 2 • Alumni & Careers led events / programmes • 4 events by faculty themes • STEM, Creative arts, Health Sciences, Business • Less events allows more time for training and connecting with alumni and students • Give students & alumni more flexibility & responsibility • Remove arranged mentor-mentee matching • Mentor sets mentee limit and mentee makes request to mentor to connect • High tech & high touch • Maintain opportunity for alumni and students to meet • College-wide events and/or School-specific • Online platform allows international alumni to participate

  16. Schools: 2 3 8 6 12 24

  17. Next steps… • Launch new aluminati platform worldwide • Review university-based approach • Develop & support a hybrid approach • University-wide mentoring • School-specific mentoring • Introduce alumni-alumni mentoring • Work on student mentoring lifecycle

  18. Student mentoring lifecycle

  19. Lessons learned so far… • A variety of programmes desired/required • Communicate with stakeholders • Be student focused • Ensure engagement with students • Take an integrated approach – S2S, School engagement, careers focus • Use young alumni mentors • Think ‘high tech & high touch’

  20. Thank You

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