Formative assessment and summative evaluation of a mentoring program for immigrants with education from their home countries

For many immigrants, education represents an important step towards employment in Norway, yet they may face a variety of challenges in admission to higher education. Thus, programs which support this endeavor are worth exploring. Catalysts, a social entrepreneurship with experience in providing mentoring programs to multicultural youth, initiated contact with researchers as part of a partnership with Knutepunktet, an educational counseling service connected to the University of Oslo. Catalysts sought to develop an evidence-informed mentoring program for a slightly different target group: adult immigrants (primarily refugees) with education obtained in their home countries, who wanted additional education, to complete previously started education, or to build on an existing degree. These individuals in this new demographic are diverse in terms of their previous experiences and personal characteristics, including educational field, although all have some level of education from their home countries