Making Connections: a mentoring program for university students with a refugee background

Many refugees and people seeking asylum are keen to study at university to enable pathways to meaningful work, but face barriers in navigating the university system. These students can be intimidated by the impersonal nature of accessing online information about their courses and prefer personal contact (Baker, Ramsay, Irwin & Miles, 2018).  In response to this situation, in 2018 the Academics for Refugees network at Macquarie University, Sydney established a four-month pilot mentoring program called Making Connections. It has linked 18 mentees one-on-one with a supportive academic mentor from their faculty to help students navigate the complexities of university life and feel more at home at university. Recognising that writing assessments is a key skill, mentees are also offered three writing sessions with a trained peer writing leader.

My PhD research area is refugee mentoring and I am a member of the program’s steering committee which includes senior academics, a refugee background student, and staff from Library Learning Skills and Widening Participation unit. The committee is a passionate group who have worked hard to design, write and pull together the program within a short period of time. I am employed as one of two coordinators; the other coordinator is a PhD student from a refugee background.

A distinguishing feature of the program is that it involves academics as mentors. We were overwhelmed by the response from academics with over 115 applications, many from Professors and Associate Professors, representing most faculties. Several mentors are from refugee backgrounds, while others are from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The program goes beyond a quick match. It involves training mentors and mentees, clear boundaries, a Code of Conduct, careful linking, feedback and ongoing support of both mentors and mentees. Currently, mentoring matches meet at least monthly for one hour over a four-month period, although we encourage them to meet for a longer period to enable a strong bond to be forged. Mentors and mentees give feedback through bi-monthly “debriefs” where mentors and mentees separately meet as a group with coordinators. Mentees are a heterogenous group whose needs vary. The opportunity to have a mentor from their own school and faculty gives mentees valued insights around concerns such as planning study trajectories, choosing units, time management, coping with setbacks and approaching tutors and lecturers.

Evaluation is an integral component and we receive feedback from mentees and mentors through surveys and stories from debriefs. Initial feedback has been encouraging with both mentors and mentees expressing positive experiences.

As a pilot program it is not without its glitches. While some mentees require straightforward support, others have needed more intense mentoring and referral to services such as counselling and course advisors. Some mentees travel long distances to university or experience family demands that have meant they are not able to attend debriefs and sometimes cancel mentoring sessions. We are conscious of particular issues such as power imbalances, and the potential for cross-cultural misunderstandings.

Making Connections is a low-cost innovative program which is so far offering promising support to refugee background students. My hope is that the program continues with a 12-month minimum match, improves with evaluation insights and that this initiative is taken up by other universities in Australia and elsewhere.

For further information please feel free to contact me: phillipa.bellemore@mq.edu.au