Students value relationship building in a student mentorship program

To assess the needs and values of students regarding a new mentoring program.

An online survey was developed and sent to veterinary students through institutional email at the beginning and end of the year of initiating a faculty-student mentorship program.

In September and May, the most commonly desired outcome of the program for students was the building of relationships. In the fall, the most anticipated concerns were that the meetings would not occur or there would be incompatibility between mentors and mentees. In the spring, the most common concerns were that some faculty were disinterested or meetings did not happen.

The experiences of veterinary students in the faculty-student mentoring program were often positive but variable. At the outset, students were hoping to build relationships through the program, and in May, some of them reported that this objective had been fulfilled. However, some students expressed frustration with faculty disengagement with the program. A faculty-student mentorship program has the potential to build relationships between students and faculty when faculty are engaged participants in the program.

Based on our findings, students are eager to build relationships with faculty within the context of a faculty-student mentorship program, and this goal is achievable. However, much depends on the engagement and participation of the faculty, which was incomplete using our approach of assigning all faculty to participate.