About the MGA peer mentor program

Running twice a year, this program provides new graduate students (mentees) with guidance on surviving and thriving at Monash. It is also a great avenue for meeting other graduate students.

Being a mentor is a wonderful opportunity to enhance your leadership and communication skills, form new friendships, and give back to the graduate student community.

For mentees, it is a chance to build your student network and support system, increase self-confidence, develop communication skills, and learn useful tips to find your feet at the beginning of your graduate degree.

Please note that students from the Faculty of Information Technology are not eligible for the MGA coursework mentor program. Those who are interested are encouraged instead to contact the faculty, which will be running its own internal coursework mentor program as of 2024. However, our HDR mentor program is still open to IT students.

What’s special about our mentor program?

Unique: This is the only mentoring program at Monash for graduate students that runs across all faculties.

Flexible: The program is run both online and in person.

Personalised: Mentors and mentees will be grouped by the MGA’s mentor coordinator based on faculty/department/research topic. If this requirement cannot be met, the MGA mentor coordinator will reach out to the participant and potential mentor to assess suitability.

Structured: The program includes orientation sessions to kick off, dedicated touch points between mentor and mentees throughout the program and regular check-ins from the MGA’s mentor coordinator.

Engaged: Mentors will be well-prepared and trained for the program. Students can expect a high level of engagement and mentors can expect to receive excellent leadership skills development.

Guided: You will be in good hands. Mentors will be guided and nurtured by the MGA’s mentor coordinator throughout the program and all mentors are provided with a comprehensive mentor handbook, tailored specifically to either coursework or HDRs students.

Mentor program for coursework students

Beginning at the start of each semester, the MGA mentor coordinator will group new graduate coursework students with a peer mentor (a senior graduate coursework student) from their faculty. This mentor will share their own learnings and experience and teach new students the art of surviving and thriving through their first semester.

This 8-week program is open to all new graduate coursework students enrolled in their first semester. There will be 6 touch points during semester. Mentors will be expected to meet with their mentees for about 45 minutes to an hour every week for the first 4 weeks of the program, followed by 2 more meetings over the final weeks of the program. Meetings can be done in-person or online, depending on availability and suitability for the mentoring groups.

There is also a mid-program social, which provides coursework students with an opportunity to socialise and mingle with fellow peers in the program. Previous events have included trivia nights, cake and coffee and virtual escape rooms.

🌱 Get a coursework mentor

If you are a new student who would like to join the program as a mentee, you must register through the mentee registration form, which is available in February/March for the Semester 1 program and June/July for the Semester 2 program.

Graduate students based overseas or off-campus are encouraged to apply, as the program is available online.

Applications for Mentees have closed.

 

🌳 Be a coursework mentor

Students who would like to join the program as a mentor must register through the mentor registration form, which is open from November – February for the Semester 1 program, and May – July for the Semester 2 program each year.

Eligibility:

To be eligible as a mentor, you must:

1. be enrolled in the graduate coursework degree (Grad. Dip, Grad. Cert, Masters by Coursework) and be enrolled as a student for the duration of the program;
2. be at least 2 semesters into your course;
3. be willing to share your expertise and know-how and have an understanding of the new graduate experience;
4. be able to commit to regular online or in person meetings and make the time to invest in the mentor and mentee relationship.

The MGA Coursework mentor program will run throughout Semester 2, 2024.

Applications to be a Coursework Mentor have closed.

 

Mentor program for HDR students

This program is designed specifically for graduate research students and aims to foster:

• interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing;
• expansion of HDR social circles;
• peer guidance on HDR-related issues such as how to approach milestones, effective communication with supervisors and useful tips for surviving your Masters by Research or PhD.

The program runs twice a year (with intakes in March and August). We group newly commencing HDR students who are in the early stages of their research with experienced PhD/Masters by Research students who are able to offer support and guidance to their mentees.

This 12-week program is open to all new research students within the first 6 months of their research degree who have not completed confirmation. There will be 6 touch points during the program, with a virtual orientation session to kick things off, followed by regular meetings amongst the mentoring groups every fortnight. Meetings can be done in person or online depending on the availability and suitability of the mentoring groups.

🌱 Get an HDR mentor

If you are a new student who would like to join the program as a mentee, you must register through the mentee registration form.

The HDR mentor program runs twice a year, in March and in August to accommodate for new graduate research students that start throughout the year.

Graduate students based overseas or off-campus are encouraged to apply, as the program is available online.

Applications to get an HDR Mentor have now closed. The program is projected to commence on 2 September.

🌳 Become an HDR mentor

Students who would like to join the program as a mentor must register through the mentor registration form, which is open from February for the Semester 1 program and July for the Semester 2 program each year.

Eligibility:

To be eligible as a mentor, you must:

1. be currently enrolled in a PhD at Monash and be enrolled as a student for the duration of the program;
2. have at least passed your first milestone (post-confirmation);
3. be willing to share your expertise and know-how (especially with regards to effectively navigating the first 6-12 months of the research journey) and have an understanding of the overall PhD/research experience;
4. be able to commit to regular online or in-person meetings and make the time to invest in the mentor and mentee relationship.

Applications to be an HDR Mentor have closed.

 

Have you got any questions?

For any further queries, please contact the mentor coordinator:

Lisa Falla: mga-events@monash.edu

Testimonials from the MGA mentor program

 

Before I join this program, I did not have high confidence on the mentorship program. However, after I met my mentor, he supported me in a way that I can use tips and guidance from him as a student life. I will also continue to keep in touch with him in the future. This MGA mentoring program has helped me to build relationships with other students. Thank you for organising this.

The program is an amazing opportunity to help others while building one's character. It's a win-win situation and I encourage anyone who wants to be a mentor to jump in as soon as they can.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a HDR PhD mentor in the MGA 12 week mentoring program. It was very rewarding to be able to teach early PhD students all the things I wish I knew when I started my PhD. It also allowed me to practice my leadership/mentoring skills and reflect on the things that have worked in my PhD, as well as build a lovely relationship with my mentees.

Registering for the MGA mentor program was one of the best decisions I made in my first semester at Monash. Due to remote/online studying, any opportunity to connect with fellow students is worthwhile. My mentor was very pleasant, kind and helpful. She patiently answered all my queries in the first few sessions that helped me settle in well and feel confident about starting my course. Over time, my mentor and I built a good rapport and I enjoyed my subsequent sessions sharing stories and experiences of university life and life in general. It has been a great and enriching experience and I highly recommend students to register for it. I would also love to be a mentor and help future students by adding value through this program.

The best part of the MGA mentoring program was developing my professional skills and personal relationship with my mentee. Mentors are more than giving advice. All words you say could make a huge difference to mentees.

The program helped to develop my leadership skills. Additionally, my network has grown. The biggest benefit of the program was to hear the feedback from my mentees. They were always grateful for my work which was a really good feeling. Once when we caught up with one of my mentees, the mentee introduced me to her colleague. She was so proud and told to the colleague: “She is my mentor”. The colleague asked back: “Wow you have a mentor?” It was really heart warming, I felt super proud.

Registering for the MGA mentor program was one of the best decisions I made in my first semester at Monash. Due to remote/online studying, any opportunity to connect with fellow students is worthwhile. My mentor was very pleasant, kind and helpful. She patiently answered all my queries in the first few sessions that helped me settle in well and feel confident about starting my course. Over time, my mentor and I built a good rapport and I enjoyed my subsequent sessions sharing stories and experiences of university life and life in general. It has been a great and enriching experience and I highly recommend students to register for it. I would also love to be a mentor and help future students by adding value through this program.

This program offered inspiration to follow my dream to successfully complete my PhD. I also benefited from the organisational tips, suggestions to develop successful relationships with supervisors, and the support, kindness and empathy offered by my mentor. I have created some new friends through the process! Thank you for this opportunity.