The impact of peer-mentoring on the experience of first year business students

Peer mentoring in higher education is becoming increasingly common and is regarded as an effective intervention to ensure the successful transition and even retention of students. This article discusses a newly established peer mentoring initiative, which was introduced by Manchester Metropolitan University, aimed at enhancing the transition and induction of first year students. Specifically, it presents a case study of the students' experiences and perceptions of the peermentoring scheme amongst students studying Business and evaluates the scheme after one year of its implementation. The findings are based on a questionnaire of 105 business students. Analysis of the findings, indicated a perception of clear benefits for the peer mentoring scheme, including enhanced performance and willingness to receive support from peer-mentors on coursework. Perceived disadvantages were related to a lack of awareness of the scheme and to limited meetings with peer-mentors. The paper concludes that despite not all students were aware of who their peermentors were, engagement in the peer-mentoring scheme has a potentially useful role in creating an environment for meaningful relationships amongst students across all levels