Mentoring for All
At DMU we believe mentoring plays an important role in student learning and development. Mentoring can be
used to respond to different levels of student need and it can help to address any challenges students might face
whilst at university. Mentoring has the potential to enhance the student experience and ultimately student success.
What is mentoring?
There are many definitions for mentoring. The following definition represents how we use mentoring to support our
students to do well at university.
A voluntary, mutually beneficial and purposeful relationship in which an individual gives time
to support another to enable them to make changes in their life. (Mentoring and Befriending Foundation)
The role of the mentor is to engage with the mentee to establish a long term relationship, where the focus is on
supporting the growth and development of the mentee.
For mentoring to be successful, the mentee's role is to absorb the mentor's knowledge and have the ambition and
desire to know what to do with this knowledge. Mentees must take the initiative for their development.
Sometimes mentoring schemes are not actually called 'mentoring'; terms like ‘buddy’ might be used instead of 'mentor' or 'mentee'. Whatever language is used, we believe mentoring is mutually beneficial for both parties. It’s not just a one way relationship. Mentoring allows the mentor to learn about issues or challenges faced by students, and enables them to share their experiences. Mentoring can also provide students with clear direction about what they can achieve.
Why is mentoring important for DMU?
It can support the Wellbeing of our students to ensure they feel safe, secure and settled into life at DMU.
It can help our students gain a sense of Belonging and feel accepted as part of the DMU community.
It can promote higher level aspirations, and help students with Excelling at their studies to achieve their full potential.
These key ideas attribute to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, where higher levels of learning and self-actualisation
(reaching your potential) rely on a foundation of physiological and psychological needs.
There are several mentoring schemes available to DMU students, which aim to support students at different stages of
the student life cycle. The different schemes are designed to address student need in relation to wellbeing, belonging, and excelling.
How we use your data?
If you take part in mentoring at DMU, you will provide us with some personal information. As part of the recent introduction of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) we have a duty to inform you of how we process this information. This is outlined in the DMU Privacy Notice for Students in the section Lawful Basis for Processing: Public Task.
Please visit the Data Protection at DMU webpage to view this privacy notice and to find out more.