New for 2015: SLAS is piloting a new extra-curricular module for Academic Peer Mentors. This will be available to all registered mentors online via Moodle and face-to-face via weekly workshops. The training will support mentors in their role and provide them opportunities to share ideas and reflect on their experiences. Topics covered by the module include; the role of mentoring at Kent, active listening and communication skills, equality and diversity and student-centred learning approaches.

Academic Peer Mentoring at Kent has grown from strength to strength; the scheme is now running in 18 schools across the Medway and Canterbury campuses. Last year SLAS worked with approximately 350 mentors, this year it is anticipated that there will be even more. The idea behind the scheme is that experienced students provide academic and social support to newer students. This gives mentors invaluable employability skills such as; communication, time management leadership and team work whilst also benefiting mentees by providing them with a friendly face to ask questions about their course and university life. The focus of APM is on improving student achievement and as such it targets difficult modules rather than failing students.

Being a mentor is a fantastic way to ‘give something back’ to the university and it looks great on your CV. To find out more about mentoring please contact SLASapm@kent.ac.uk