The University of Westminster’s award-winning Future Ready Mentoring programmes give our students and recent graduates the opportunity to connect with experienced industry professionals to help them gain skills, build their network and learn about the world of work. Through mentoring, we help to create connections between our alumni community and beyond, to current students and recent graduates at Westminster.
Our mentoring activities have continued to grow through the expansion of our Career Mentoring Programme and Ask a Mentor Service, as well as the introduction of industry-specific Group Mentoring. Each year we support over 1000 students and recent graduates with mentoring, with 60.8% of participants being female in 2022–23, which was 7.65% of the whole female student population. Participation enhances student experience and graduate employability.
What is mentoring?
Mentoring is a supportive learning relationship between a caring individual who shares knowledge, experience and wisdom with another individual who is ready and willing to benefit from this exchange, to enrich their professional journey.
– Suzanne Faure (2000) as cited in Mentoring: A Practitioners Guide to Touching Lives by Sunil Unny Guptan, 2006, p.71)
Our mentors volunteer their time to share their knowledge and experience with students and recent graduates. Through sharing insights gained through the years, mentors facilitate personal and professional growth of their mentees while also developing their own self-awareness.
Simply put, mentors are people who help others to succeed. With the support of a mentor, students and recent graduates can build a solid foundation of skills to launch into a variety of successful careers. Through mentoring, our students are able boost their self-confidence by interacting with someone who can help them reach their potential.
Why become a mentor?
The University of Westminster Future Ready Mentoring programmes give you the opportunity to share your expertise and experience to inspire Westminster students as they embark on their career journeys.
Through knowledge sharing, you can help students and recent graduates understand the options available to them after they graduate and assist them in navigating the everchanging job market.
Mentoring can be an incredibly rewarding learning experience for everyone involved. By becoming a mentor, you will benefit from:
- Enhancing your portfolio of skills such as leadership and communication
- Attending mentor training and networking events
- Becoming a role model for new starters in the industry, helping them gain confidence and build their professional network
- Supporting mentees in navigating the challenge of becoming a professional in the industry
- Reflecting on your own career whilst contributing to the success of a University of Westminster student or recent graduate
What our mentors say
Abigail Wager
Client Partner, Signature Recruitment Limited
"What an honour it has been to be part of the Westminster mentoring programme, it’s been fantastic meeting all of my mentees and passing on my experiences, knowledge and guidance has felt like a journey that I would certainly be part of again.
It has been great being able to do this as part of my role at Signature and seeing my mentees achieve their set goals has made me feel very proud. Thank you for the opportunity and I would recommend it to others also."
Daryna Lysenko
Senior Campaigns Marketing Manager EMEA, Box
"The mentoring journey is incredibly rewarding as it allows me to give back to the community and help the University of Westminster students find their perfect path to success. I love being a mentor as it allows me help young students to become young professionals, establish themselves in the industry and become truly successful by uncovering their full potential.
This is an incredible program for both mentors and mentees to grow together."
Kyra Santiago
Royalties Manager, Ninja Tune
"Looking back, I would have loved to be able to sit down with someone and just pick their brain on what their day-to-day is like. That’s what drew me to mentorship, I wanted to be able to be that source of information for whoever needed it.
My mentorship experience has been incredible so far, I feel extremely lucky to have been able to work with the students I’ve been paired with. I’ve learned so many valuable things from them and I have no doubt they’ll go on to be successful figures in the music industry."
Mark Attmore
Senior Architect, pH+ Architects
"Participating as a Westminster mentor has been a wonderful opportunity to be a bridge between academia and the architectural profession. This has never been more important than during the recent periods of enforced home working. I particularly enjoy the chance to discuss the latest challenges important to the upcoming cohort."
About our mentoring pathways
Future Ready Mentoring at the University of Westminster offers three branches of mentoring activities which you can be involved with. Outlined in further detail below, these include long-term, short-term, and group mentoring opportunities which are flexible to fit in with your lifestyle.
Our programmes have been recognised within the University of Westminster and beyond for their innovation and excellence, which you can discover more about on our Awards page. We strive in making our programmes a straightforward and rewarding experience for our mentors, as well as our mentees.
Career Mentoring Programme (Long-term Mentoring)
Our Career Mentoring Programme allows mentors to be connected with current students and recent graduates for a long-term mentoring relationship. We offer the following two mentoring intakes each year:
- Cycle 1 runs from November to April (min. of five mentoring sessions across six months)
- Cycle 2 runs from May to July (min. of three mentoring sessions across 12 weeks)
Mentoring relationships continue virtually for the foreseeable future to ensure all our mentors and mentees are kept safe.
Ask a Mentor Service (Short-term Mentoring)
Our Ask a Mentor Service gives students and recent graduates the chance to have a one-off conversation with an experienced professional career mentor. This single mentoring session can be based on a specific query they may have around a particular area eg application advice, interview tips or general industry insights.
This service is available all year round and offers greater flexibility to fit around your schedule, with mentoring conversations taking place virtually.
Group Mentoring
Group mentoring is a new venture for Future Ready Mentoring at the University of Westminster, which has been introduced to support many more students with building their skillset and tackling the working world with confidence. Industry specific group mentoring sessions are organised on an ad hoc basis where there is a high level of interest from students.
Course-embedded group mentoring is currently being piloted in select degree programmes. This involves a series of in-person group mentoring sessions which take place during timetabled student teaching.
Find out more about our first group mentoring pilot.
How can you get involved?
We are always looking for new mentors who can pass on their wisdom to our students and help them to better understand the steps they need to take to achieve their career aspirations. We’re looking for volunteers who:
- Have a passion to share their advice and experience
- Have more than three years of experience in a graduate-level role, or have insight into recruitment and selection
If you'd like to apply to become a mentor and support our programmes, please complete our short application form to register.
For more information or if you have any general queries, please contact the mentoring team at [email protected].