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As a new student, you can be matched with a second or third year student (peer) mentor in your department. Your mentor can guide you through your transition to university life.

You can also join our Study Buddy Scheme. This scheme matches you with students in your year taking some of the same modules as you.

Peer mentoring

Our peer mentoring scheme pairs you, and a small group of other new students just like you, with a second or third year student mentor from your subject study area. Your mentor can share their experiences and help you with settling into student life, whether it’s:

• how to find the library
• how to get to grips with university study
• where to get the best coffee on campus!

Why have a peer mentor?

Starting university and your first assignments can be daunting. A peer mentor will offer you a friendly face and ear, a voice of experience and insider tips and can be a guide to further sources of support. You may well wish to become a peer mentor yourself when you get to second year – it’s a great addition to any CV.

I expected someone who would be there to guide you when needed, someone who you could ask questions to about life in Nottingham or your course... I had a really nice peer mentor who seemed really open to hearing any questions I had.

How to sign up

If you would like to take part in the CLAS (School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies) Peer Mentoring Scheme, please sign up by 18 September 2023. You will then be able to see short profiles from our wonderful roster of peer mentors and indicate which mentors you feel you’d be best matched with. You will be allocated a mentor based on these choices.

Once you have signed up, look out for an email from the Education and Student Experience (ESE) team or from your peer mentor coordinator with details of who your mentor is. You will also be invited to our Mentor Mingle event, running in the second week of term, where you will meet your mentor and fellow mentees for the first time.

Check your university emails

If you have any questions about peer mentoring, or would like more information, please email us.

Sign up to the CLAS Peer Mentoring Scheme

You will need to activate your University IT account before you can sign up. For more information on this see the Student IT account webpage

Study buddy scheme

We also have a Study Buddy Scheme that you can sign up for in early October. Study Buddy is different to peer mentoring in that we try to match you with students in the same year as you, who are

• taking some of the same modules or course as you and/or
• part of your department.

By being part of the Study Buddy Scheme, we hope to provide you with the opportunity to meet other students on your course, to broaden your network, to have a group you can attend lectures and seminars with and a group you can study with and support throughout the year.

You can sign up during your first two weeks at university, so look out for an email from the Education and Student Experience (ESE) team with the sign-up form.

I am a third-year student, currently studying PPE. I took part in the Study Buddy Scheme in my second year and found so helpful! The scheme basically matched me up with two other philosophy students who I shared a module with and gave me the opportunity to meet and hang out with them. I found this really helpful, because as a Joint Honours student, I don't really have many contact hours with people from the School of Philosophy and found it hard to create a study group on my own. I'm still in contact with one of the people I was initially matched with which is great.