subject: Mentoring Programs As A Part Of An Educational Process [print this page] Alumni and StudentsAlumni and Students. Their Relationships
A substantial part of alumnis activity is relationships with students of their former educational institute. It is useful from different points of view: experience exchange, communication, sharing emotions, some educational purposes.
There were some cases when students and alumni rated teachers. Alumni, who graduated five years ago, and current students had a list of 23 teachers who taught both generations. The results were found to be almost the same. Correlation appeared to be around 75%. This agreement between former graduates and current students allowed to judge who had been a competent or incompetent teacher.
What is mentoring
Mentoring is one of the most pleasant interactions among other mutual activities of alumni and students. It means that an alumnus and a student voluntary create long-term relationships, characterized by respect, mutual support, experience exchange and mutual self-development. It includes all aspects of a personal and career development.
Mentoring pairs are made on the basis of common interests, specialty, place of living, etc. Applicants from both sides upload their resumes. Computer gives to a student a list of possible candidates. If a student chooses somebody, he/she sends a request which may be later confirmed by an alumnus.
Mentors and mentees relationships
A mentor and a mentee jointly decide what kind of activities they prefer to choose for their collaboration. Mentoring programs are created in order to help similar-minded people to find each other. Mutual activities include long-term consultations on career questions, looking over students resume, etc. There are special lists of tips both for a mentor and a mentee who have just created a mentoring pair. Both parties exchange contacts in order to be always in touch. Schedule may also differ from several meetings per month to a few hours per week; it depends on the mutual decision of both sides. They need to develop meaningful relations, and it is a complicated, but pleasant task.
