Introduction

Most students, especially first years, experience difficulties in making the social and academic adjustments necessary to succeed in a tertiary learning environment. First-year students come to university and can experience a variety of problems, such as difficulty in adjusting to the standard of higher education, anxiety due to the realisation of self-responsibility to manage the work load, maladjustment to a diverse student population, confusion about the physical structures on campus, and personal problems. In addition to the problems identified, the general environment within the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) could also contribute to the extent of fears and anxieties first-year students might experience. Students might need personal support and guidance from lecturers, tutors or senior students who have already passed through similar academic and social experiences. It is therefore important that the Faculty works closely, in a supportive manner, with students and this can be achieved through the mentor-tutor system.

Mission

The mentor-tutor programme aims at providing peer guidance and support for junior students (mentees-tutees) in the FHS with the view of helping them reach their full academic and social potential. This can be achieved with the help of well-trained senior students (mentors-tutors).

Objectives

• To provide academic and social support and guidance for students by well-trained and responsible senior students (mentors-tutors) within the Faculty of Health Sciences.
• To give mentees-tutees the opportunity to discuss problems and complaints of a personal nature with mentors, who are confidants.
• To give mentees-tutees the opportunity to grow academically, professionally and personally by means of the support, assistance, guidance, example and personal influence of mentors-tutors.
• To promote communication between mentees-tutees and the Faculty, by enabling them to discuss their complaints, problems, objections and criticism regarding the Faculty with their mentors-tutors and the programme coordinator.
• To facilitate the early identification of mentees-tutees who need development and remedial aid on academic, professional and personal level, and to obtain the assistance of Kovsie Counselling & Development (KCD) in this regard.
• To monitor mentees-tutees’ progress in a personal and non-threatening manner.
• To give mentees-tutees group support by means of mentor-tutoring group discussions.
• To make a contribution to the transformation process and the quality of students’ life in the Faculty of Health Sciences and on campus.

Structure

The Mentor-Tutor Programme is coordinated in conjunction with the tutorial manager of the Division Student Development and Success (SDS). Each School in the Faculty has a tutorial coordinator with appointed mentors-tutors in these Schools.

Roles and responsibilities

Responsibilities of the tutorial manager

• Training of coordinators
• Coordinating training of tutors
• Providing support for coordinators
• Processing tutors’ claims.

Responsibilities of coordinators

• Liaise with the tutorial manager
• Attend NATP meetings
• Train mentors-tutors
• Liaise with module leaders/lecturers
• Conduct meetings with tutors
• Support tutors
• Collect attendance registers
• Collect claim forms
• Recruit mentors-tutors
• Do further training of mentors-tutors on School-specific and/or module-specific matters with the support of the tutorial manager
• Inform mentees-tutees about the programme.

Responsibilities of mentors-tutors

• Liaise with the coordinator.
• Attend meetings.
• Hand attendance registers to the coordinator.
• Hand claim forms to the coordinator.
• Liaise with the lecturer of the module.
• Market the programme.

Responsibilities of mentees-tutees

• Liaise with the mentors-tutors.
• Attend mentor-tutor sessions. 

Programme activities

Mentoring

• Intensive and formal mentoring of all first-year students during the first month of the academic year, with sessions scheduled for at least one hour per week.
• Subsequent sessions to be combined with tutor sessions with the first 30 minutes allocated for mentoring (allow flexibility).
• Informal mentoring to be accommodated as the need arises.

Tutoring

• Tutor sessions for the identified modules to continue as per NATP guidelines (at least two hours scheduled per week).

Who is my mentor-tutor?

You will be informed about your mentor-tutor during the orientation/pairing session.

Dr MP Jama
Mentor-Tutor Programme Coordinator
Room A 131F