Abstract:

In Greek mythology, Ulysses entrusts the education of his son Telemachus to his great friend Méntor. This is the etymological origin of the word mentor, which it is defined as advisor, guide, teacher or godfather. The peer mentoring programme, which is very widespread in English universities, arrived some years ago at Spanish universities and it is becoming consolidated. It has also been implemented in some Faculties and Schools of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, receiving a positive evaluation in all cases.

Four centres have implemented this programme on the Albacete Campus, (the latest was the School of Agricultural Engineering). Particularity, three of them have been working together on its organisation since the 2019-2020 academic year. These are the School of Computer Engineering, the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Law.

This initiative has resulted in a very similar programme in the three centres, although not equivalent. A great deal of flexibility in the programme is required to respect the different points of view and the idiosyncrasies of each of the different degrees ‒Computer Science, Pharmacy, Law and Criminology‒ when necessary. In the beginning of the programme, homogeneity is the general rule, with the training workshops for student mentors being held jointly, which helps the relationship between students from different degrees. Afterwards, it is necessary to consider the particularities of each of the degrees flexibility and autonomy of each of the centres in order to effectively solve the “telemachus” needs.

This article will describe how this programme is being organised, which, as we have already mentioned, involves three centres, but has a common objective: helping first-year students adapt to university life by assigning them a mentor, a student like themselves but from advanced courses, who will serve as a point of reference and information to help them overcome the various difficulties they may face in their first year of study.

Keywords:

Peer mentoring, collaboration between Centres, FRATER-ORIENT@-ACOMPAÑA Programme 2021-2022.