Formal mentoring programmes continue to gain popularity in higher education, mirroring trends in industry. The study described in this article examines the design features of a formal mentoring programme for first year undergraduates and focused on three key aspects – the matching process, training and orientation, and interaction frequency. The programme allows mentees to interact vertically with academics and horizontally with peer mentors. The results indicate that students completing the programme have positive transition experiences and become more engaged and integrated into the university. The experience gained in this study can be transferred to other higher education institutions that are in the process of either designing or implementing formal mentoring programmes. Implications of formal mentoring programmes and recommendations for future research are discussed.

This paper presents an overview of the options available to universities to employ mentoring by academics for the successful academic transition of students to university. Much has been written about the use of peer mentors to assist with the personal transition to university however students crave personal contact with their professors. We review the literature on mentoring; the social and institutional factors that impact upon first year attrition, the merits of mentoring interventions and the impact these have on a student's sense of belonging and ultimately retention. We describe a pilot implementation of First STEP Mentoring in a large Australian business school.