Student Perspectives of a Peer Mentorship Programme Introduced at a University of Technology in South Africa

Abstract

Student peer mentorship programmes have been implemented at many higher education institutions to combat high attrition and failure rates among first-year students. Despite the many perceived benefits of such programmes, key challenges to its implementation and sustainability remain. The purpose of this article is to present students’ perspectives of a student peer mentorship programme that was introduced at a university of technology in South Africa in 2013, so as to validate its viability for African students. Focus group interviews were conducted with senior students registered in the Faculties of Management and Engineering. The results point to five key benefits; namely, better adaption to higher education, an impact on learning and understanding, social support, the acquisition of graduate attributes, and personal development. Two key challenges were identified; namely, poor attendance of mentees at planned events and a lack of support from senior students at the university. It is recommended that such programmes be incorporated into the curriculum of all academic programmes, and especially engineering ones, so as to improve academic student support.