A study conducted by Purdue and Gallup reported that “Graduates who felt ‘supported’ during college (that professors cared, professors made them excited about learning, and had a mentor) are nearly three times as likely to be thriving than those who didn’t feel supported.”
Therefore having a mentor can really help students to be more prepared when entering the workforce.
A mentorship can be explained as a relationship between a student and a professional, in which the mentee gains knowledge and the mentor has the opportunity to give back to the university and his/her profession. Such programs provide the mentee with the understanding of how his/her career functions in the real world and builds realistic expectations.
How can it be implemented in universities?
Get your Alumni involved – Most Alumni will love the idea of being part of the university and its students.
Assume all student will want mentors – If you assume that all students want mentors the university will have a better chance of making more mentor/mentee connections.
Just matching mentee/mentor is not successful – The mentor program should go beyond matching mentor/mentees of the same careers. Interviews should be conducted to ensure that both parties are a match.
Students should understand that a mentorship is not a job interview – Students should be informed of the benefits of being part of an internship are and that it is not tied to an incentive that is monetary.