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Become a mentor
Apply to the Aalto University Mentoring Programme! Read more about the mentor's role and how to apply on this page. The applications for the 2024 Programme have now closed, but welcome onboard next year!
What mentoring may provide you as a mentor
- Opportunity to develop your mentoring, coaching and interpersonal skills
- Opportunity to structure and assess your own skills and experiences
- New perspectives and knowledge
- Avenue for having a say at Aalto University
- Chance to develop and expand your professional network
- Chance to meet a representative from a foreign culture
What we expect from you as a mentor
- Support the development of the student’s working life skills as a mentor
- One-on-one time with the actor once a month, on average
- Conversational and questioning approach instead of giving instructions
- Ability to set targets and agree on practical matters with the actor
- Responding to mentoring-related inquiries and providing feedback
- If any problems arise during the programme, contact the manager of the programme ([email protected])
What we do not expect from you as a mentor
- You are not required to offer your actor a job or an internship
- You do not need to answer every single question that your actor has
- You do not need to share all of your contacts with your actor
Please note that we are not able to cover possible mentoring-related travel expenses.
Who are the actor candidates?
The actors are Finnish and international Aalto University degree students who are currently completing their master’s or doctoral degree. When you sign up, you can choose whether you want to mentor a master's degree student or a doctoral degree student. The students have applied as actors on basis of their individual needs and expectations. Students applying to the programme represent almost all of Aalto University's fields. About half of the actor candidates are international students. Most of the students applying for the programme do their first degree, but there are also so-called adult students. Students do not received study credits for completing the programme.
The majority of the students applying to the Programme reside in the capital area. Some students may be in student exchange during the Programme, so it is good to prepare to organize also remote meetings with the actor.
Who can sign up as a mentor?
You can sign up as a mentor if you are a graduate of Aalto University or Aalto University Executive Education or their predecessors.
Since a mentor should have a senior position to their actor, we wish you would have at least four years of working experience after graduation. We hope that alumni applying as mentors are still actively connected with the working life.
It is desirable that the mentors for doctoral students have completeled a doctoral degree themselves and have built a career outside of the academia.
– Experiences from the mentoring programme”I always learn how new minds start to approach the business world. New ideas, new enthusiasm and also new topics like sustainability.”
Sign up as a mentor candidate
You can sign up as a mentor candidate by filling out the application form. The applications for the 2024 Programme have closed.
Before filling out the form, please read the additional information below.
Sign up as mentor candidate by filling out the application form. The applications for the 2024 Programme have closed.
We will compile a mentor profile based on the information you provide in the form and publish it on the Aalto University intranet for the students to see. Students will then apply to the Programme and select mentor candidate(s) for themselves based on the profiles.
We will inform you by 24th November 2023 at the latest, whether you have been selected as a mentor to the Programme (if a suitable actor candidate has chosen you as their mentor).
If you have been selected as a mentor, we will send you the name and contact information of your actor. Your name and contact information will be sent to the actor, who is expected to contact you before the Programme begins.
The Mentoring Programme starts with a joint kickoff event held remotely 27th November 2023, and it will end in May 2024.
A mentor profile will be compiled from the information you provide in the application form. The following information will be published in your mentor profile:
- First name and last name
- Place of residence
- Mentoring language(s)
- Leisure activities and interests
- Study background, degrees, major and minor
- Professional background, career experience
- Personal strengths, role as a mentor
- Greetings to the actor candidate (published in quotations in the mentor profile)
In addition, we ask you the following for internal use:
- Date of birth
- Email address and mobile number (this information will be sent to your potential actor before the start of the mentoring programme)
- Whether you are ready to have one or two mentees.
- Information for the mentoring programme organizer
On the form, we ask you to indicate the language(s) you can use in mentoring. Around half of the students applying to the mentoring programme are international students, so we hope many of you are willing to mentor also in English.
We will publish your mentor candidate profile in the language you have used in the application form. The profiles will not be translated from Finnish into English or vice versa. Please note the following:
- Write your profile in English, if you can mentor in English in addition to Finnish. In this case, your actor could be a Finnish or an international student. We will publish the mentor profiles in English also to Finnish students.
If you specifically want an international student as your actor, you can mention this in the section "Greetings to my actor candidate".
- Fill out the profile in Finnish, if you want only in Finnish. In this case, your actor will be a Finnish student or an international student who can speak Finnish. Plese also indicate Finnish as your mentoring language.
- If you can mentor also in Swedish, please indicate this in question 11 ("Greetings to my actor candidate")
The Mentoring Programme materials are available in Finnish and English. The events are held in English. Swedish speaking students can look for a Swedish speaking mentor among the mentor candidates.
Your mentor profile will be published on the Aalto University intranet for the duration of the student applications to the Programme. Mentor profiles are published on the Finnish and English websites according to the languages chosen by the mentor candidate.
The mentor profile list is visible only to Aalto University students and personnel. After the student application period ends, the mentor profile information will be deleted from the intranet.
The information you provide in the form is stored in the Aalto University Alumni Register. Your information will be handled in confidence in accordance with Aalto University Data Protection Policy. For more information, please see: https://www.aalto.fi/en/aalto-university/aalto-university-privacy-notice-for-partnership-services
Mentoring Programme: Frequently asked questions
Here you will find the most frequently asked questions about the mentoring programme. If you can't find the answer, please contact [email protected].
Reach out for more information
