2012 S1 Mentor Program Report - Unilife - Curtin University

Inspire, Support, Connect 

“The opportunity to share my experiences and help others” 

START Mentor Program Evaluation Report 

Semester 1, 2012 

Amanda Smith, START Mentor Program Coordinator 

Jim Elliott, Associate Director, Student Transition & Retention Team (START)

START Mentor Program 

mentoring.curtin.edu.au 

START Mentor Program Evaluation Report Semester 1, 2012 

Contents: 

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................. 2 

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................. 3 

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 

Feedback from Mentees...................................................................................................................................... 4 

The impact of the Mentors on Mentees’ decisions to persist at Curtin .............................................................. 4 

Mentee ratings of Mentor impact: Effect on the First Year Experience ............................................................. 5 

Qualitative Data from Mentees: Positive Aspects of the Mentor Program and Suggestions for Improvement ... 8 

Outstanding Mentor Nominations ....................................................................................................................... 9 

Feedback from Mentors .....................................................................................................................................10 

Mentor Program Updates for 2012 ....................................................................................................................13 

A Reputation as a Leader in the Field..................................................................................................................14 

Conclusions and Recommendations for the 2013 Mentor Program ....................................................................14 

Additional Documentation .................................................................................................................................15 

Executive Summary 

“The opportunity to share my experiences and help others.” 

(Mentor, Sem 1, 2012, describing the benefits of being a mentor) 

The START Mentor Program was introduced from 2008 as a key strategy to improve student retention. In 2011 

the program was expanded across all Faculties at Curtin University Bentley campus and currently, almost every 

new first year undergraduate student in their first semester at the Curtin Bentley campus has access to a 

student mentor. 2012 is therefore the first year that across the whole campus, mentors have been drawn from 

students who may have been mentees. This may have had an impact on the high numbers of Outstanding 

Mentor nominations and evaluation responses – more staff and students understand or have had some 

experience with the mentor program. 

Consistent evaluation data since 2008 from mentors, mentees and coordinating staff in the participating areas 

affirm that the program not only meets its retention goals but also significantly improves the student experience 

for all participants. It also enhances the sense of community within teaching schools, assists academic staff and 

contributes strongly to the University’s reputation nationally and internationally. 

The abovementioned evaluation data is obtained from both Mentees and Mentors. Mentees are asked a 

question specifically relating to attrition and retention - “Were you at any point considering withdrawing from 

Curtin?” and, “If yes, did your Mentor make any difference to your decision to continue at Curtin?” A total of 

14% of the total mentees surveyed indicated that they had indeed considered withdrawing. Of those who had 

considered withdrawing, 16% responded that their mentor had helped either a small amount, significantly, or 

been essential in their decision to continue their studies. It is this measure which clearly demonstrates the 

effect of the program on student retention. 

Other feedback data from Mentees (regardless of any risk of attrition) indicated that they valued the program 

highly, and that it has a positive impact on the First Year student experience. For example: 

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“...I don't think I would have made it through this semester without (my mentor’s) guidance.” 

“(My mentor) ... made me feel warmly welcomed at Curtin.” 

Mentor feedback is also positive – these students clearly understand the worth of the skills learned through the 

mentoring experience and value the opportunity to provide support to their fellow students and contribute to a 

sense of community within their School. 

“I have made new contacts and I believe I have developed skills that I can use in both my career and everyday 

life.” 

“I have learnt so much myself about Curtin, but also the good feeling you get from realising how much you can 

help others.” 

The success of the undergraduate program has clearly contrasted with the lack of mentor support for 

postgraduate students, and this is being addressed in 2013, with the implementation of a Postgraduate Mentor 

Program run through the Student Guild using SSAF funds. START staff have been assisting and will continue to 

offer guidance and support to the Guild as they commence this program. 

The recommendations deriving from Mentor and Mentee evaluations and School feedback for 2013 are 

summarized below: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maintain flexibility with regard to how the program is implemented within each School/Area, and as to 

how much support to provide each individual School. 

Continue to update training to better respond to mentor needs, including the expansion of the specific 

training information provided to online/external mentors. 

Inclusion of the Mentor Program as an aspect of a First Year experience policy if and when such a policy 

is developed. 

Continued strong emphasis on the role of Mentors in the School Orientation Week activities. 

Expanded advertising strategies to raise awareness of the program and expectations to respond to 

mentors amongst new first year students. 

Explore the potential in utlizing StarFish Retention software to better manage the administration of the 

mentor program. 

Acknowledgements 

The efforts of the student Mentors are gratefully acknowledged. Without their enthusiastic involvement, there 

is no Mentor program at all. We also acknowledge the involvement of staff members in each participating 

School and Faculty for Semester One 2012. They include: 

Emma Riley, Adrian Paxman, Susan Reys, Nicole Wilton, Pamela McRorie, Julie Robertson, Courtney MacKenzie, 

Kirrily Manning, Christina Fernandes, Oksana Burford, Renee McLennan, Trudi Fischer, Natalie Gasson, Jade 

Cartwright, Ann Firth, Ranil Coorey, Kerryn Butler-Henderson, Linda Portsmouth, Melanie Griffiths, Krassi 

Rumchev, Andrea Begley, Lara MackIntosh, Robert Lopez, Susan Beltman, Glen Hutchings, Joyce Bell, Nicole 

Slatter, Paul Lowndes, Jackie Raphael, Stephanie Hampson, Kelsey Giambazi, Qian (Nicole)Gong, Jake Schapper, 

Shahed Khan, Leslie Almberg, Mike Robey, Garry Leadbeater, Deborah Fukuyama, Christian Dupuis, Mary 

Thompson, Jane Sneesby, Kevin Bowman, Yarra Korczynskyj, Robert Loss, Curtise Ng and Tom Schut. 




Introduction 

There are currently approximately 20 different Schools and areas that have a mentor program - mainly at course 

level (apart from the faculty wide program in Curtin Business School and Centre for Aboriginal Studies). As 

mentioned above, semester 1, 2012 marked the first time in the mentor program where mentors could be 

drawn from previous mentees across the whole campus. (The Information Studies courses under the school of 

Media, Culture and Creative Arts do not currently participate in the Mentor Program). Approximately 7000 new 

students were assigned to Mentors in the participating schools. Mentees were assigned in a typical ratio of one 

Mentor to 15 Mentees. 

To evaluate the impact of the program, the Mentors and the Mentees within these schools were asked to 

provide feedback at the end of semester via short surveys. These surveys were updated from previous years, 

with the advice of the Curtin Teaching and Learning Evaluation Team, in order for questions and responses to be 

clearer and data more useful. 

For the Mentees, the survey was anonymous, and completion of a survey sheet was voluntary. A total of 1223 

responses were collected in lectures and online from Mentee students in the 20 courses involved. These data 

was then entered into a Qualtrics survey. We are confident that this is a representative sample of all Mentees. 

All of the Mentors who participated in the program were required to submit their evaluation on line through a 

Qualtrics survey as part of their Mentor agreement. In total 342 surveys were collected from the Mentors. 

There have been no complaints or issues with regard to Risk Management, Duty of Care or inappropriate 

behaviour. The only negative feedback received from Mentees relate to their Mentor being difficult to contact 

or not contacting them enough. The major concern for Mentors is the same as previous years – they believe the 

program is a fantastic opportunity and enjoy the experience, but mentees don’t respond as much or as often as 

they would like. This is the reality of a large scale system – not all Mentees will require assistance, and not all 

Mentors will work as hard as expected, but with over 22% nominated as Outstanding by their Mentees, the 

program can be considered extremely successful and the overwhelming majority of Mentors competent to say 

the least. 

Feedback from Mentees 

The impact of the Mentors on Mentees’ decisions to persist at Curtin 

A key goal of the Mentor program is to improve student retention, and to determine if the program is achieving 

this goal, a persistence question is asked directly of Mentees. Students were asked “Were you at any point 

considering withdrawing from Curtin?”, then the follow up question, “If Yes, did your mentor make any 

difference to your decision to continue at Curtin?” 

Fourteen per cent of the students surveyed had considered withdrawing and of those, 17% believed that their 

mentor assisted with their decision to stay at Curtin. The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below. 

Table 1: Mentees Considering Withdrawal 

12. Were you at any point considering withdrawing from Curtin? 

# Answer % 

1 Yes 14% 

2 No 86% 

Total 100% 




Table 2: Mentor Influence on Decision to Persist 

13. If Yes, did your mentor make any difference to your decision to continue at Curtin? 

# Answer % 

1 

2 

3 

4 

Yes, my mentor 

was absolutely 

essential in my 

decision 


helped 

significantly 


helped a bit 

No, my mentor 

was not involved 

in this decision 

Total 100% 

When extrapolated from this sample of Mentees to the entire Mentee group of 7000, the data indicate that the 

Mentor program had a direct effect on the retention of approximately 166 students who had considered 

withdrawal. 

It is difficult to calculate a precise dollar value on this. However, if a student drops out, the University will 

receive no further income associated with that student – from International student fees, domestic student fees 

and Commonwealth support. Further, the funds spent on recruiting these students will have been largely 

wasted. We can be sure that the savings in preventing student attrition are in the range of millions of dollars 

per annum. This represents an excellent return on investment in comparison to the budgeted costs of the 

program of approximately $200,000 per year. 

Mentee ratings of Mentor impact: Effect on the First Year Experience 

Mentees were asked a range of questions about the extent of contact with their mentor and the effect the 

program had on their beginning experiences at Curtin. They were asked to rate their interaction with their 

mentor using a five point scale (1: strongly agree – 4: strongly disagree, with 5: unable to judge). Questions had 

the same stem of “My mentor...” 

provided me with useful information about Curtin 

helped me with study tips 

gave me confidence in beginning at Curtin 

gave me reassurance in beginning at Curtin 

helped me feel I belong at Curtin 

was always available if I needed help or advice 

was approachable 

directed me to appropriate resources and services at Curtin 

Overall, the ratings indicate that the mentors were rated highly by mentees, as seen in Figure 1 overleaf. 

3% 

6% 

8% 

83% 




Figure 1: Perceptions of Mentor Assistance 

11. Please select the appropriate response that corresponds with the statements below: My Mentor: 

The mentee evaluation sought to gauge the most common areas of support requested of mentors (Fig 2), and 

then where the mentors could have been more beneficial (Fig 3). As can be seen in Figure 2 overleaf, course 

related queries at 65%, campus information at 44% and general study tips at 41% were the areas where 

mentors were most utilized. 

Furthermore, it is clear in Figure 3, that mentees in general received adequate assistance from mentors 

regarding campus assistance, but that they would still appreciate more help with course related queries (40%) 

and general study tips (45%). This data can be used in the review of training and information provided to the 

mentors prior to commencement. 




Figure 2: Areas where Mentors Provided Assistance 

14. What sort of information did you request from your mentor? (Check all that apply) 

# Answer % 

1 

Campus 

Information 

2 IT/Research Skills 11% 

3 

4 

Course related 

queries 

Health, happiness 

and wellbeing 

5 General study tips 41% 

6 

Social and 

community life 

44% 

65% 

7% 

16% 




Figure 3: Areas where Mentors could have been More Beneficial 

15. In which areas could your mentor have been more beneficial? (Check all that apply) 

# Answer % 

1 

Campus 

Information 

2 IT/Research Skills 28% 

3 

4 

Course related 

queries 

Health, happiness 

and wellbeing 

5 General study tips 45% 

6 

Social and 

community life 

27% 

40% 

16% 

25% 

Qualitative Data from Mentees: Positive Aspects of the Mentor Program and Suggestions for 

Improvement 

Mentees were requested to provide comments on their experience with the Mentor Program – both positive 

comments and suggestions for improvement. 600 comments were received regarding the positive aspects of 

the program, and 435 comments in response to the request for suggestions for improvement. However, a small 

number of the responses in ‘suggestions for improvement’ included positive comments such as: 

“My mentor was great, if they were all like her, no one should have anything to complain about.” 

Of course not all mentors are guaranteed to be outstanding, and the focus of suggestions regarding 

improvement was that mentors should be assigned earlier (during Orientation week) and should make contact 

more regularly. For example: 

“They should contact more often.” 

“Get in contact earlier.” 

“Perhaps rather than just an email, it is compulsory to meet up once a month in person.” 




In such a large program, it is not feasible to monitor each individual mentor for the entire semester, and 

mentees’ needs differ, so the fact that some mentees would prefer more regular contact, and that some 

mentors might not be maintaining appropriate levels of contact is understandable. Mentors are reminded in 

training and at regular intervals throughout the semester to maintain regular contact with mentees. 

There were also comments from students who had obviously ‘slipped through the gaps’ and not been assigned a 

mentor. For example, “Didn't even know I had a mentor?”. This circumstance usually occurs when a new 

student enrols late, does not attend their School Orientation session and does not read their Official 

Communication Channel messages, or the New to Curtin Newsletter –avenues where the Mentor Program and 

the availability of mentors is promoted. 

Positive comments outweighed suggestions for improvement by approximately 37%. The majority of positive 

comments focused on how mentors assisted with the transition to university and how beneficial it is to rely on 

the mentors’ experience. They included responses such as: 

“Very easy to talk to, helpful, and nice, always provided useful information.” 

“It helped me feel like I had someone to approach for help and it made the transition easier as she provided vital 

info.” 

“Fantastic, made starting uni after being in the work force easier.” 

“Learn from experience of seniors.” 

Outstanding Mentor Nominations 

Following on from the positive comments in the mentee evaluations are the Outstanding Mentor Nominations. 

Mentees are emailed by the School Mentor Program Coordinator and informed about their option to complete 

a form and nominate their mentor as outstanding if they feel their mentor has gone above and beyond what 

might be expected of them. Mentees are under no pressure to do this, and the mentors are often not aware of 

the nominations or when they occur. 

In semester 1, 2012, 73 mentors were nominated by their mentees via this process – a record of over 20% of 

mentors. Most of the nomination comments fell into the following categories with regard to the areas in which 

a mentor had been outstanding: general support, guidance and advice; helping their mentee feel welcome and 

connected at Curtin; easing transition to university. Some of the comments backing up nominations include: 

“She has gone to what seems far out of her way to provide information on every possible opportunity and I don't 

think I would have made it through this semester without her guidance.” 

“Olivia has been extremely helpful for my transition from high school to university. If I asked her a question, she 

would give me an answer, and if she didn't know the answer, she would go out of her way to find out and get 

back to me...I would have been lost in my first semester without her!” 

“He did a brilliant job helping me adjust to university; I believe I would have found it difficult without his large 

amount of help during these first few months of university. He also helped with the smaller details of the course 

and what I would need to succeed in the course.” 

“He is really nice, easy to approach and extremely helpful. He also forsees future events and gives advice on what 

you should be doing and how to prepare and puts your mind at ease if you are feeling slightly overwhelmed.” 

“She was helpful and made me feel warmly welcomed at Curtin.” 




In summary, the feedback from mentees indicates that the program has had a significant positive impact on the 

beginning experiences of a large number of new undergraduate students. 

Feedback from Mentors 

Mentors are required to complete an Evaluation Survey as part of their mentoring commitment each semester. 

As with the mentee survey, this evaluation contains questions designed to determine what mentors feel they 

achieve and learn from their involvement in the program, the positive aspects and the areas where they might 

suggest improvements. Again, qualitative and quantitative data is collected. 

The Mentors were asked rating scale questions related to the practical aspects of the role around the following 

three categories: 

Quality of the mentor training (Figure 4) 

Usefulness of information provided prior to commencement as a mentor (Figure 5) 

Usefulness of School Coordinating staff support (Figure 5) 

Mentors rated the practical aspects related to their preparation and support very positively with a majority of 

Agree and Strongly Agree responses. 

Figure 4: Usefulness of Mentor Training 

15. Please select the most appropriate response that corresponds with the statements below: 




Figure 5: Usefulness of Preparatory Information and School Coordinator Support 

16. Please select the most appropriate response that corresponds with the statements below: 

Mentors also provided an immense amount of positive qualitative feedback about the program. Representative 

comments follow: 

“I really enjoyed developing my skills for leadership - being able to help other people. I also developed the sense 

of understanding my mentees as I have been in their position back when I was in Year 1 of my degree.” 

“Meeting new people, being able to help them to settle into uni, helping them with study tips. 1 of my mentees 

told me that on 2 occasions I had answered her questions before she asked them! I found it rewarding to be able 

to share skills that I have learnt along way with other students.” 

“The most satisfying part was providing advice and then getting feedback from the student where they'd be 

really thankful. It was great that I was able to make a difference by helping a student and making their transition 

to university that bit easier.” 

The main frustrations experienced by the Mentors were similar to those experienced in previous evaluations: 

the lack of communication or response from some Mentees via student email. 

“I found the lack of responses quite disappointing. Although in had one or two students who replied, I haven’t 

heard from many of them. I suppose I just want to know that they are doing okay.” 

“My mentees have not really shown interest in replying to emails.” 

It is an on-going challenge for the program coordinators to address this issue. Currently the following tactics are 

being utilized: 

Educating the new students (via OCC, email, newsletters, Orientation presentations) about the mentor 

program and the need for them to respond to their mentors, even if it’s just to say “Thanks”. 

A goal for the 2012 program was to ensure Mentors continue to have a significant role during 

Orientation Week. It has been noted that this is a crucial element in the success of the mentoring 

relationship, and contributes to the mentees engaging more with their mentors. Some School’s utilize 




 

mentors more effectively during Orientation sessions than others, and this idea will be discussed at the 

Curtin Orientation Review Forum in August, 2012. 

An additional group activity in the 2012 semester 2 mentor training, which attempts to manage mentor 

expectations and reactions with regard to mentee responses. 

There is a question in the Mentor Evaluation which attempts to determine how the program contributes to the 

development of Curtin University’s graduate attributes as they were framed at that time. It is clear that the 

program assists in the development of all graduate attributes – but some were rated more highly than others by 

mentors. The following 3 graduate attributes (4, 6 and 9 ) rated the highest. 

 

 

 

97% of mentors agreed or strongly agreed that mentoring helped them develop to communicate 

effectively; 

89% of mentors agreed or strongly agreed that mentoring helped them develop to utilize lifelong 

learning skills 

95% of mentors agreed or strongly agreed that mentoring helped them develop to apply professional 

skills 

A summary of the average ratings of all mentors’ perceptions of their development towards the attainment of 

the Curtin graduate attributes is shown overleaf in Figure 6. 

In summary, it is clear that the role of mentor is highly valued by the students who take it on. The students gain 

leadership experience, time management and communication skills, the ability to determine and distribute 

relevant information, the ability to know their limits, and obviously enjoy making a significant difference to 

beginning students. The contribution to development of graduate attributes is also very worthwhile. 

“Understanding that in certain interpersonal situations, you aren't the best advisor. Stepping up, swallowing 

your pride and handing over the situation to someone else, with more skills or more information. In that way you 

are often helping the individual more.” 

Figure 6: Perceived Graduate Attribute Development in Mentors 

1 

# Question Strongly 

Agree 

Apply discipline knowledge, principles and 

concepts 

Agree Disagree Strongly 

Disagree 

Unable 

to Judge 

76 204 27 3 27 83% 

2 Think critically, creatively and reflectively 82 206 31 3 15 85% 

3 Access, evaluate and synthesise information 83 201 28 3 22 84% 

4 Communicate effectively 166 162 4 0 5 97% 

5 Use technologies appropriately 107 185 28 3 14 87% 

6 Utilise lifelong learning skills 100 201 15 2 19 89% 

7 Recognise and apply international perspectives 68 151 51 5 62 65% 

% Agree 

or 

Strongly 

Agree 

8 

Demonstrate cultural awareness and 

understanding 

73 187 32 1 44 77% 

9 Apply professional skills 120 201 7 0 9 95% 




Mentor Program Updates for 2012 

The mentor program has undergone a number of administrative and training updates and improvements in 

2012: 

Mentor data lists on excel spreadsheets re-formatted to enable easier sorting, emailing and more 

accurate data management. 

Qualtrics surveys replaced previous online and paper surveys that required entering by hand into excel 

spreadsheets. This removed any need to re-enter Mentor surveys, and made the entering of Mentee 

surveys far more efficient and accurate. Overall, this removed the need to employ a data entry assistant 

for a two week period as was required in previous years. The use of Qualtrics also enables the Mentor 

Program Coordinator to produce individual reports for each School and Faculty as well as a full campus 

report with relative ease. 

Mentor training (both online and face to face) updated for semester 2, 2012: 

o To reflect feedback from Mentors and Mentees on the difficulties of navigating Curtin’s IT 

environment. Namely, the inclusion of a presentation by eStudent Services staff during Mentor 

Training on IT, Blackboard and OASIS use for new students. This addition to training included 

instructions on how Mentors could lead their Mentees through an introduction to student 

email, OASIS Alerts and Official Communications, thus hopefully resulting in Mentees who 

receive more communication and information. 

o To ensure that Mentors are provided with all the information about Curtin support services, 

prior to undertaking group discussion and feedback tasks based on student issue scenarios – 

hopefully providing a more practical training session. 

o To better prepare Mentors for the possibility of receiving little or no feedback from their 

mentees. To this end, a new group discussion task was included in the training that required 

mentors to consider the possibility of a lack of response, their reaction to it, how to try to obtain 

more responses from mentees, and why there may be a lack of response. It is hoped that by 

managing Mentors’ expectations, they will be less disappointed with the lack of response from 

Mentees. 

o To provide a specific online training document to external/distance Mentors, which includes 

information about issues and difficulties specific to external/distance students. 

PD session set to run August 22 2012 – a value-add for mentors. Careers Centre to run a workshop 

based on recognising and understanding the skills and experiences gained through being a part of the 

Mentor Program to use in relevant job applications. This workshop promises to be interactive and 

highly useful. 

Mentors are being sent more reminders to maintain their contact with Mentees throughout the entire 

semester, regardless of Mentee feedback. The mentee evaluation feedback is being used for this 

purpose, to remind Mentors that Mentees complain if their email communication stops – Mentees are 

obviously reading and appreciating the information and support from Mentors, even if they are not 

responding to their Mentor. 

School Mentor Coordinators utilize enrolment lists run from Student 1 system to match mentees to 

mentors. The script for these lists has been updated in semester 2, 2012, to include all students who 

went through bridging programs and enabling courses – these students were previously omitted from 

the enrolment lists. This should mean that less first year students ‘slip through the net’ and more are 

assigned a mentor. 

Fragmentation in financial recognition – START allocates $100 per mentor from our budget. Some other 

Faculties and Schools supplement that amount if they have budgeted for it (Health Sci $150, MCCA 

$100, Nursing paid hourly rate (casual staff members)). This fragmentation is explained to all mentors 

so there is no confusion or issues of unfairness from START’s perspective. 

Review of the Mentor Newsletter – a more common theme applied to make it more recognisable and 

easier to read. 

Mentor staff took part in the Experience Works! Work Experience Expo run by the Curtin Careers 

Centre. This was a great advertising and promotional opportunity, and contact details were gathered 

for many potential mentor recruits. This opportunity will be taken up again in 2013. 

Presence of Mentor staff at Open Day to promote the program to potential students and their families 




A Reputation as a Leader in the Field 

The Curtin Mentor Program continues to be known as a leader in the field, nationally and internationally. Staff 

from other Universities, Government and Business organisations seek advice from START staff with regard to 

commencing their own mentoring programs, and the program has also attracted international media attention. 

 

 

 

 

Assistance and leadership provided to Curtin Student Guild to assist them with setting up a 

Postgraduate Mentor program at Curtin. 

Advice and information provided to external parties who had heard of the Curtin Mentor Program 

through reputation and online presence and subsequently requested guidance and support: 

o Northern Territory Government - Cassy Coggins, Senior Manager, Teach Remote, Department 

of Education and Training. Teach Remote is commencing an online Indigenous teaching mentor 

program. 

o Master Builders Association - Clayton Jaworski, Apprenticeship Engagement Officer, Master 

Builders’ Association WA. MBA WA is starting a Government funded Mentor program, and met 

with START mentor program coordinator due to the reputation and relevance of the START 

Mentor Program. Clayton was provided with set up ideas and methods; training information 

and inspiration, and the offer of ongoing support should he request it. 

o Challenger Institute of Technology – Meredith Parkins. Challenger Institute of Technology was 

seeking to commence a mentor program for their first year students, and came to Curtin for 

information and advice regarding the components of our program. 

o La Trobe University staff have verbally advised START that they have modelled their Connect 

Mentor Program upon the Curtin model. 

The United States Newspaper, “The Chronicle of Higher Education”, ran an article entitled, “An 

Australian University Boosts Retention with Mentoring” by David Wheeler in March, 2012. It described 

the achievements of the Curtin START Mentor Program, and included interviews with the Mentor 

Program Coordinator, Director of START, and a number of Mentors and Mentees. It was an extremely 

positive story. 

A refereed paper authored by Dr Susan Beltman, Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Curtin University 

on the value of the program to Mentors was published in the International Journal of the First Year in 

Higher Education in July 2012. The paper, titled “Institution-wide peer mentoring: Benefits for 

mentors”, by Dr Susan Beltman Curtin University; Marcel Schaeben RWTH-Aachen University, Germany, 

was published in journal number 2012 Volume 3 issue 2. 

Conclusions and Recommendations for the 2013 Mentor Program 

The START Mentor Program is definitely achieving its aims and improving the student experience for those 

involved in the program. Its reputation is growing and as mentioned above, a number of administrative and 

training updates have been implemented in 2012. Feedback and evaluation data from each year is used to 

continually improve the program within current budgets and parameters. 

Recommendations for future improvements that could be considered include: 

Awareness raising with mentees/new students such as: 

o More advertising across campus through flat screen displays at FSSOs and Student Central 

o A recruitment drive or two in lunch hours with flyer hand outs 

o A second OCC to new students in mid-semester to remind them to utilise and respond to their 

mentors 

o Posters in FSSO and Student Central (if appropriate) 

o Regular use of New to Curtin Newsletter and Curtin Facebook to remind new students of the 

program 

o Availability to attend staff meetings within various Schools to explain the program to all staff, who 

will then promote to new students 




 

 

 

 

 

o “Interview your Mentor” competition in Oweek – week 3. Meet your mentor and talk with them – 

offer a prize. Promote at Orientation Week and to latecomers on the Orientation website 

o Business cards for mentors 

o Utilising the Enrol Now system to provide information about the Mentor Program to new students 

as they are actually enrolling and engaging with the University for the first time 

Working with the Guild to initiate the Postgraduate Mentor program utilizing SSAF funds. Many new 

Postgraduate students ask for mentors each year, and current postgraduate students have expressed 

concern regarding a perceived lack of support. This will be a great step forward in the support provided 

to postgraduate students at Curtin. 

Continue to respond to feedback from School Mentor Coordinators – some coordinators require more 

direct communication with mentors than others, the program has been altered slightly within certain 

Schools to fit better with their first year programs. (eg. Engineering mentors are 1 year instead of 1 

semester). 

Continue to display flexibility with regard to the set up of the program within each School, and to the 

level of support provided to individual Schools. 

Discuss and possibly implement ways in which Mentors can contribute to the internationalisation of 

campus culture and the increase in interaction between local and international students. 

Mid-semester series of catch-up meetings with mentors to reinvigorate and inspire the mentors to 

continue to make contact even without responses from mentees. Mid-semester appears to be the ‘low 

point’ where mentors become a little disillusioned. Meetings would enable mentors to talk with each 

other, share experiences and motivate each other. Discuss Outstanding mentor nominations and 

quotes from the mentee evaluations – how could mentors improve those responses, what can they 

learn from the good and the bad responses. 

Additional Documentation 

Qualtrics Mentor Program Evaluation Initial Reports from semester 1, 2012: 

http://mentoring.curtin.edu.au/staff/evaluation.cfm 

Mentor Newsletters: 

http://mentoring.curtin.edu.au/mentors/infoemail.cfm 

US Chronicle Article: 

http://mentoring.curtin.edu.au/gallery/media.cfm 

Outstanding Mentor Nominations: 

http://mentoring.curtin.edu.au/mentors/citations.cfm 

Where to find out more: 


Amanda Smith 

START Mentor Program Coordinator 

Building 102, Hayman Hall 

Curtin University 

Kent St, Bentley, WA, 6102 

Tel: +61 8 9266 9822 

Email: amanda.smith@curtin.edu.au

2012 S1 Mentor Program Report - Unilife - Curtin University

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