Communicating with Chinese students offshore to improve their transition and adjustment to Australia - a pilot program

This paper reports on a pilot peer mentoring program: the Chinese Mentor-Guide Program. The pilot program aimed to improve the university transition experiences of students in China to their Australian university through a multi-layered transition program. The first element of the peer mentoring program was the development of a DVD which featured group and individual interviews with Chinese students (the Student Mentors) who had been in Australia for six months and who were studying at Victoria University. These students were featured in a DVD discussing their own transition experiences from China to Australia. The completed DVD was shown to students in China in order to orient them to Victoria University and to studying in Australia. The second and third elements of the program were a dedicated WebCT site and a live WebCT chat between the Student Mentors in Australia who featured in the DVD and the students in China. The fourth element of the program consisted of a face to face "meet and greet" session with the Student Mentors when the Chinese students arrived in Australia. At this session, immediate concerns about the students' transition to Australia were shared and discussed. The DVD and WebCT live chat elements of the pilot program were viewed as the most successful parts of this transition program