Buddy Systems

What is this Action?

Invite undergraduate female students to support more junior female students in a computing course. The aim is to support junior female students in a strongly technical and often male oriented environment. This action is particularly important for first year students.

A Buddy system is an initiative where newly enrolled students are paired with more senior students on a voluntary basis, often before the academic year starts. This way new students are provided with support from someone who is like them but ahead in the programme, helping them with the transition to college. In different sources buddies can me called “mentors” or “peer mentors” and students who are given support “mentees”. The idea is that “buddies” meet and otherwise keep in touch on a regular basis. As opposed to peer mentoring, where the process is more structured and formal, a buddy system is an informal and flexible relationship.

Academic papers often refer to “peer mentoring” when describing peer support between students. However, we refer to a light touch peer mentoring as a buddy system.

Quick Facts to Support this Action

Using female peers to support women in technical disciplines has shown positive impact on experiences of students as well as on their retention.

Female students in engineering who were given a female peer mentor experienced increased sense of belonging, confidence, motivation and aspirations towards pursuing a career in engineering, and their retention in engineering majors was improved.

How and how often to meet?

While the most common form of a buddy system is meeting one-to-one or in a small group, University College Dublin, for instance, also organises social events / coding workshops with practical projects for networking.

Frequency of meetings and communications between buddies and mentees with depend on the strategy and length of the scheme. Meetings could be as often as once a week, or once a month, or a few times a year.

Recruitment

Successful buddy systems, such as, for example, at University of York, have run for one term, a full academic year with first-year students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, or just over a few weeks at Carleton University. Post the buddy system advert as early as possible before the new academic year, so that there is enough time to find the buddies and match them with new incoming students.

Contact all newly enrolled female students in the discipline.

To recruit buddies, contact existing female students based on faculty recommendations. Ideally buddies and their new peers should be from the same major.

Advertise the buddy scheme on college website, so that students can apply to become a buddy or to request a buddy themselves. Carleton University, for instance, advertised it through an online form (e.g., MS Office online) which was available to all. Alternatively, send an application form to candidates directly. Create a dedicated email account for the applications, where possible.

Point out the key benefits of each of the roles when advertising the scheme. State the time commitment for both, buddies and their mentees during the year. Should there training be involved, details on the scheduling have been summarised here as an example.

When writing up the requirements for buddies, Carleton University mentioned that they are looking for someone passionate to help enhance gender balance in the relevant discipline.

To encourage commitment to the scheme, ask the buddies and the new students to sign guidelines which include a list of their responsibilities, a code of conduct and a confidentiality clause.

Matching

There are a number of options for pairing buddies and mentees:

If there is a limited number of buddies and a larger number of new female students to be supported, a few students can be assigned per buddy.

Training & Support

Regardless of whether the newly recruited buddies are experienced mentors already or not, training is advised. York University offers a 2-3 hours training on site or online. Offer it at the beginning of an academic year or at the end of the spring term.

Structure the training to encourage the new buddies to interact with each other, for example:

Ask buddies to share their experiences in their first years in the discipline and gather any points regarding challenges they faced.
Organise group discussions for buddies, to share positive events and experiences that helped them continue with the course. Ask them to discuss what challenges lead students to drop out.
Create training handouts (in form of a one- or two-pages document) that lists definitions of the programme, goals, expectations and roles. An example is available here.
Share point of contact for queries and meetings for buddies in the event that they need support. Where applicable, provide them with a feedback form that they fill in after each meeting.

Ways to Encourage Participation

Consider a few possible options to ensure buddies/mentees are motivated:

The more senior student receives a payment for each student.
A university in the US had a larger mentoring program with integrated peer support, where students were receiving a stipend each semester, as another remuneration example.
Promote personal skills development and recognise buddies by offering an award.
Offer free treats to student mentees for meetings with their buddies.

What is involved at an administrative level to implement this Action?

Approval may be required to reach out to students in different years. Additional support may be needed to provide rewards for the efforts if they are offered.

Evaluation Approach

Issue pre- and post-scheme feedback surveys to mentees and post scheme surveys to buddies. Encourage buddies to complete an online journal after each meeting and encourage them to keep in regular communication with the scheme coordinator. Provide with a dedicated point of contact for both buddies and mentees, for feedback and queries.