Student Mentor Training

The resources below are intended to help you make the most of your time as a student mentor, helping you to build an effective partnership with your mentee and to develop your own professional skills.

It probably seems like a lot, but don’t worry – you can work through the sections at your own pace and decide which areas you would like to focus on.

Getting started: the fundamentals of mentoring

  • Simply put, mentoring is a more experienced individual using their knowledge and experiences as a foundation to support the growth and development of someone less experienced.

    While mentoring has elements in common with teaching and coaching, it is not directive – mentors don’t tell mentees what to do. They do share their own experiences, allowing mentees to learn from both their mistakes and successes.

    Mentors are supportive, ready to listen without being judgmental, and focused on providing positive, practical, and reassuring guidance.  They must be ready to talk through problems in confidence and to explore options together. 

    Mentoring gives mentees the tools and confidence they need to move forwards at their own pace, in a direction of their choosing. At the same time, mentors benefit from skills development and personal growth through reflection.

    Watch the video below to find out more about your key responsibilities in under four minutes:

    Role of a mentor [Panopto]

  • Your mentee is not your friend, and that’s okay!  Mentoring is a friendly relationship that is built on trust and mutual respect. It doesn’t matter whether or not you share the same personal interests, hobbies, achievements etc.

    You will act as a role model for your mentee and should maintain professional separation and respect one another’s personal space. Remember: yours and your mentee’s personal time and space (including social media) remain your own!

    As a mentor, it’s important that you clearly and proactively set expectations and establish how the relationship will work , and that you do this in a friendly manner:

    • What kind of things can you help with?
    • How will you communicate with one another (email, instant messaging, in person)?
    • How frequently will you be in contact?

    When establishing what you can help with, it’s essential you abide by Good Academic Practice guidelines. See the TGAP section below, and remember: you are not a tutor. You are a mentor, and that’s great!

  • Mentoring partnerships are conducted in confidence, meaning that you should not share details of your discussions with any other parties.

    However, if you have concerns for your mentee’s wellbeing then you must contact Student Services (theasc@).

  • Sometimes your mentee might ask a question that you can’t answer, or perhaps you feel a little out of your depth. That’s absolutely fine!

    A key part of mentoring is recognising when you can provide support and when you should recommend somebody else for your mentee to contact– this is ‘signposting’. You should ask yourself three questions to determine whether or not you should answer yourself or signpost your mentee to somebody else:

    • Do I know the answer?
    • Am I comfortable discussing and giving advice on this topic?
    • Will my answer be complete, meaning the discussion would not benefit from more information or a different perspective?

    Use the graphic below to determine whether or not you should signpost.

    You can find more information about signposting and a number of contacts you may wish to share in our quick signposting guide:

  • As a mentor it’s natural you want to help your mentee however you can, but you must ensure you abide by Good Academic Practice regulations. Failure to do so could see you both penalised for Academic Misconduct, whether or not this was intentional.

    All students are required to complete Training in Good Academic Practice (TGAP) when matriculating. You can refresh your knowledge by revisiting the TGAP Moodle course, or reviewing the guidelines and overview below:

    In particular, pay attention to guidelines concerning ‘Aiding and Abetting’, where an individual knowingly or otherwise assists in academic misconduct:

    Avoiding Academic Misconduct as a mentor

    You are a mentor and not a tutor, and therefore you should not directly involve yourself in the specifics of your mentee’s academic activities. Under no circumstances should you share your own work with them. Instead, signpost them to their module tutor or co-ordinator who will be able to address their queries.

    Remember: you can give advice about academic skills, such as time management, but should not advise on anything related to content. Skills: yes. Content: no.

Building an effective mentoring partnership

  • As a mentor, you’ll need to reach out to your mentee to introduce yourself and establish the parameters of the relationship.

    Be yourself in your introductory email – remember that a mentoring partnership should be friendly, and being genuine will help to put you both at ease. See our guidelines below and remember: personality > punctuation!

    You should create your own introductory email in your own style, but you should include:

    • Your name and confirmation you will be their mentor
    • Some details about your studies at the University, your interests etc.
    • How you expect the partnership to work (what you can offer support with and how you will communicate)
    • Question(s) for your mentee to get the conversation started
    • A positive sign-off

    Feeling stuck? Take a look at these examples: Introductory email examples

  • Creating an effective mentoring partnership means building trust.

    This won’t happen automatically and may not happen quickly, but there are steps you can take to develop trust within your partnership:

    • Be yourself – professional doesn’t mean without personality, so don’t be artificial
    • Be reliable – be consistent and meet commitments, including punctuality
    • Be honest – say if you don’t know, and give honest and constructive feedback

    Scroll through the slides below to find out more:

    Building trust with your mentee

    Sharing your own experiences can also help to build trust, whether these are mistakes you’ve learned from or successes you would like to replicate.

    You are sure to have somethings in common with your mentee, but there will also be many differences. Remember to practise empathy and try to understand how your mentee feels. Something that might not seem like a ‘big deal’ to you might be very significant to them.

  • Do you know the difference between hearing and listening?

    To be a successful mentor, you will have to engage your active listening skills, ensuring you understand what your mentee really means and can respond appropriately. Ready to listen? Remember to SHUSH:

    • Show you’re listening – make eye contact regularly, keep your body language open, and give affirmative encouragements like nodding and saying ‘yes’, ‘mhmm’, etc.
    • Have patience – don’t interrupt, rush to answer, or ask too many questions quickly without giving them time to reply. Silence can be your friend!
    • Use open questions – don’t rely on questions that can be answered quickly with ‘yes’ or ‘no’. See below for more info.
    • Say it back – confirm you’ve heard and understood by regularly summarising: ‘So you’re saying…’ . Match their tone and pace to build connection.
    • Help IF you can – don’t hesitate to signpost if you don’t know or you’re not comfortable talking about something.

    Check out our quick video on Active Listening to find out more: Active Listening [YouTube].

  • Asking questions is an essential part of effective communication. Done correctly, it not only enables you to gain information, but also helps to build rapport.

    It’s important to try to focus on asking open questions, those which can’t be answered simply with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or single fact. This gives your mentee room to share and to direct the flow of conversation.

    Explore the slides below to learn about the benefits of open questions and common mistakes to avoid:

    Asking questions effectively

  • Sometimes you’ll want to give feedback to your mentee on their plans, ideas, or perhaps something they’ve done. While a mentor is not a teacher and should not give direct instructions, particularly not on specifics concerning academic work, you can still encourage them to reflect, explore options together, and make suggestions.

    When you’re delivering feedback, think about sensitively balancing positives and negatives. It’s essential you highlight positives to acknowledge achievements and celebrate progress. Constructive negative feedback can be equally useful in identifying areas in which your mentee can improve, giving you the opportunity to discuss a path forwards together.

    Try to create a feedback sandwich: start with a positive – constructively address the negative – conclude with a positive.

    • Positive: “It’s great you managed to find so many relevant texts to support your argument…”
    • Negative: “You actually had so much to read that you didn’t leave much time to write. I’ve experienced this myself, so now I make sure to set a date for starting to write well in advance of the deadline…”
      • NOTE: try to avoid the word ‘but’ when you introduce your constructive feedback. It makes the positives seem manufactured!
    • Positive: “You’ll certainly find that all of the reading you’ve done will be helpful for your future tutorials and assignments.”

    As mentoring is all about empowering your mentee, follow up your feedback with an open question that encourages them to respond to the feedback and create plans for the future:

    “Based on this experience, what do you think you’ll do differently when you start working on your next essay?”

  • Encouraging your mentee to set targets about the outcomes they would like to achieve within your mentoring partnership will help you both. Clear goals will ensure your partnership stays focused and purposeful, while also providing motivation.

    It’s up to your mentee to determine what success would look like for them. You can encourage them to capture this with SMART targets capturing short-term and long- term objectives:

    • Specific
    • Measurable
    • Achievable
    • Relevant
    • Time-bound

    You should also set SMART targets for yourself and what you would like to achieve as a mentor, although you do not need to share these with your mentee.

Mentoring skills focus

  • Peer mentoring in academic contexts is a recognised opportunity for the development of key professional skills (Stigmar, 2016).

    These skills include:

    • Communication (verbal and and written)
    • Problem-solving (critical thinking and analysis)
    • Leadership
    • Motivation
    • Constructive feedback
    • Resilience
    • Empathy
    • Reflective practice
    • Professionalism
    • Ideation

    …and many more!

    Take a look at the University’s Graduate Attributes, a set of 20 core employability skills, for further inspiration.

    To get the most out of your mentoring experience, consider in advance which skills are most important to you. You should think about using a journal to reflect on your development as the mentoring partnership progresses – this could be through the Saints Graduate Attributes platform (see Saints Skills Award below).

  • The skills you can develop as a mentor align with the University’s Graduate Attributes: a set of 20 core employability skills that the University wants to help all matriculated students develop during their studies.

    The examples below are just a selection to demonstrate how mentoring intersects with the Graduate Attributes:

    • Networking – practise building and maintaining social connections
    • Leading others – giving feedback, motivating, inspiring
    • Organisation – identify goals, prioritise
    • Problem-solving – analyse key issues and explore solutions

    Saints Skills Builder Award

    The Saints Skills Builder Award allows you to gain formal accreditation for skills development on your HEAR university transcript. Like mentoring, this evidences your commitment to personal growth to employers.

    All matriculated undergraduate and postgraduate students are eligible to complete the Saints Skills Builder Award at any time during their studies. It involves assessing your current skills and reflecting on the activities you take to improve and develop these, which might be through opportunities like mentoring, sports, societies, group work, employment, caring responsibilities etc.

    Find out more and register here: Saints Skills Builder Award.

  • Mentoring is an excellent way to develop skills, but it’s also an important opportunity to evidence the skills that you have!

    Anybody can write on their CV that they are a great listener, good at solving problems, a master of communication… That’s why it’s important that you have real-world examples to demonstrate your proficiency – mentoring can do this.

    Think about how to communicate your skills using the STAR technique:

    • Situation: Student Mentor, University of St Andrews (Summer 2024)
    • Task: Mentored two incoming undergraduate students to support their transition to university
    • Action: Communicated effectively by answering all queries in less than 48hrs
      • Developed excellent, trusting inter-personal relationships with mentees
    • Result: Resulted in increased confidence for mentees, both of whom later signed up to be mentors

    The Saints Skills Spotlight Award is an opportunity to develop your ability to communicate key skills for employers in written applications, interviews, and informal networking. Successful completion of the Spotlight Award is logged on your HEAR transcript.

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