Course description
COURSE DESCRIPTION
International Mentoring Program Year 2024/25
Can be taken only as a 2 semester course! Credit value: 4 (2 / semester)
Course code: AOSMAG1041C1M
Course director: Prof. Dr. Purebl György, director, SU Institute of Behavioural Sciences
Course coordinators: Adrienne Stauder MD, PhD , Zsuzsa Győrffy MSc, PhD
Peer course coordinators: Alexandra Pop, Kevin Babayigit, Eden Friedman
Contact: int.mentor.se[at]gmail.com
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE
The International Mentoring Program is designed to train peer mentors to support first-year students to adjust to university life. Students who have successfully completed their 2nd year of study can apply for registration to the course, that requires commitment for a full academic year. The subject can be taken up in subsequent academic years (under the same conditions) as each academic year a new mentee is assigned to the mentor, hence the tasks and the experiences vary each year, allowing a continuous development of professional and soft skills.
In the fall semester the mentors learn how to provide practical day-to-day advices to the first year students regarding their studies, how to emphasize the importance of extracurricular activities, and how to pay special attention to their mental health and well-being. The compulsory lectures and workshops enable the students to learn important skills, such as relationship building, definition of competencies, study techniques, stress management, time management, and intercultural mentoring.
In the Spring semester mentors will continue the work they have started with their mentees, while further developing their knowledge and competencies through retraining. Students are supported in the implementation of the skills they have learned in the first semester, and supervision sessions are used to “fine-tune” the skills they have already used and to learn some further skills. Workshops on burnout prevention, assertive communication, and motivational interview enable mentors to extend their professional and soft skills.
Through all these activities, students not only get to try out what they have learned in practice, but by the end of the course they will be able to apply it routinely. The practical skills needed for mentoring and tutoring will be greatly enhanced through the Program, and the sensitization will help the mentors to develop their interpersonal, professional, and soft skills so that they will be more efficient professionals in the health field.
COMPETENCIES ACQUIRED THROUGH THE COMPLETION OF THE COURSE:
The mentors’ helping skills and practical problem-solving skills will improve.
Participating students will learn the basics of peer psychological support.
They learn to recognize the warning signs of emotional overload in mentored students, and they learn what and how can be managed within their own competencies; and what are the available resources within the university for (professional) psychological aid.
Overall, the mentors professional and soft skills will be developed.
Requirements 2024/2025
REQUIREMENTS
REGISTRATION:
Students in their upper years (3d,4th,5th and 6th) can take the course. Admission to the course is subject to prior application and institutional approval.
For more information visit https://semmelweis.hu/mentorprogram/en/
Registration for the subject is only possible in the Fall semester, and taking the course requires commitment for a full academic year. In the Spring semester, the course can only be taken up by students who have successfully completed the mentoring program in the autumn semester of the same academic year.
Students can register for the International Mentoring Program in several consecutive academic years, each fall a new mentee is assigned to the mentor, hence the tasks and the experiences vary each year., thus the knowledge acquired in each semester can be put to even greater use in the following semesters.
STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE
Lectures, practices and individual work
Lectures provide theoretical knowledge about the tasks of a mentor and about psychological support. The practice sessions provide training on mentoring competencies and helping skills. Weekly contact with the mentees is the core element of the program. The mentor logbook and the supervision sessions assure the continuous monitoring and discussion of the mentoring experiences.
Signature and grading:
Completion of all the training sessions is required, including the attendance at both lectures and at least two workshops per semester, and the active participation in at least two supervision sessions per semester. Making up for a missed session is possible ONCE during the semester, dates for such extra sessions will be provided by the teachers. Practice requirement is weekly contact with 1-2 mentored first-year students, including at least two in person meetings per semester, the other contacts can be online.
The grade is based on the evaluation of the mentor logbooks and activity during the practical lessons. The main assessment criteria are: detailed description of the mentoring work, the problems posed and solved, frequency of contacts, the amount of detail in the work submitted, and the quality of the mentoring.
For the registered students detailed course description is announced on the Moodle platform.
Detailed topic list, online resources, contacts and updated deadlines are announced in the moodle.