Mentoring Programme

Students in their 2nd or 3rd year of a Bachelor’s Degree in Bioinformatics or in their 2nd, 3rd or 4th year of a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business and Marketing.

Prospective mentors should have the following skills:

• Proactive approach
• Keen interest in helping students settle in and in strengthening ties within the ESCI-UPF community
• Assertiveness and ability to empathise
• Good verbal communication skills
• Discretion and confidentiality
• A solid understanding of how the school works and the range of services it offers and a good command of the resources required to find this information

• Help new students settle in and encourage them to play an active role at the school
• Strengthen bonds between students
• Empower students
• Improve crosscutting communicative and social competences
• Raise students’ awareness of the range of services available to them

• Support and guide new students during their first term. The mentor–mentee relationship is an excellent means of sharing useful information on university formalities, recommending study techniques and work habits for mentees and offering them their own personal support to deal with common causes of anxiety during the first year at university
• Inform mentees about the range of services on offer from both ESCI-UPF and UPF 
• Answer any queries mentees might have and guide them towards the appropriate service, department or website where they can find the relevant information
• Forge a proactive relationship with mentees 
• Provide information on the range of technological and teaching tools available, including their purpose and how they work (SIGMA, Horaris, Aul@ESCI, etc.)
• Contact the programme coordinator if any issues arise which the mentor is unable to deal with personally
• Provide feedback to the programme coordinator to help identify common questions among mentees, pass on any problems they have had as mentors, put forward any suggested improvements, etc.

All new bachelor’s degree students at ESCI-UPF who express an interest and agree to share their contact details with the volunteer who will act as their mentor.

• Mentees can expect to receive personalised support to help them settle in at the school and find their feet in the university environment, together with full information on the range of services and resources available to them
• Mentees can expect any queries, questions and personal details they share with their mentor to remain strictly confidential 
• Mentees may request to be matched with an alternative mentor if they feel mismatched
• Mentees can expect to receive answers and solutions to their questions and queries in good time, while understanding that some questions may take longer to answer than others 

• Mentees should keep all matters discussed at their meetings with their mentor strictly confidential
• Mentees should inform the programme coordinator of any incidents that occur over the course of their mentoring period

No, it is a voluntary programme designed to help new students settle in and find their feet as they begin a bachelor’s degree at ESCI-UPF.

Volunteers are required to serve as mentors for the first term of the academic year. However, mentors and mentees may mutually agree to prologue their mentoring relationship if they so wish. 

Students in their 2nd or 3rd year of a Bachelor’s Degree in Bioinformatics or in their 2nd, 3rd or 4th year of a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business and Marketing with a sound knowledge of how the school works and a keen interest in playing an active role in welcoming new students to the school.

The annual call for volunteers opens every year at the end of the third term (in June or July).

• Welcome new students to the school
• Offer support to new students during their first term or proactively arrange meetings to provide them with information
• Answer any queries they are able to as current students at the school

At the start of term you will be matched with a higher-year student studying for the same degree as you who has volunteered to act a mentor. Your mentor will be able to draw on their own experience to help you settle in, learn the ropes, offer you advice and assistance and answer any questions or queries you might prefer not to put to members of staff at the university.

Your mentor will email you to welcome you to the school and will be on hand throughout your first term at face-to-face or online meetings. Drawing on their own experience, they will answer your questions or queries and give you useful information on how ESCI-UPF works.

• Naturally at the end of the first term, which marks the end of the process of welcoming new students to the school
• At any time, at the express wish of either the mentor or mentee (this does not need to be a mutual decision)
• If the mentor or mentee continually neglects their partner or fails to comply with their obligations