Mentoring "professional steps" at the OTH Regensburg
What is "professional steps"?
The "professional steps" mentoring program is aimed at all students from technical and scientific degree programs. The students (mentees) are supported by a professionally experienced person from the field (mentor) for two semesters.
The goal of the mentoring program is to support the students in their personal development. They should gain an insight into the practical side of things in order to better master the transition from study to work. There are lots of tips and information for their studies and especially for their future professional life.
Concept and process
The core element of mentoring "professional steps" is the tandem relationship between mentor and mentee. This means that a mentor accompanies and advises a student over a period of two semesters. Matching, i.e. the formation of the tandems, is carried out in advance by the project coordinator before the kick-off event. An attempt is made to take into account professional matches or industry preferences. However, an exact match is only possible in the rarest of cases and, in our experience, not necessary for a trusting and profitable mentoring relationship.
During the two semesters, the tandems arrange self-organized individual meetings. In order to create a basis of trust, we recommend a (personal) meeting at least every two months. The content of the meetings can be all matters concerning the start of a career or everyday working life. The exact topics and the structure of the cooperation (e.g. frequency of meetings, type of contact...) are determined independently by the tandem. The agreement of a job shadowing is desirable, but not always possible.
In addition to the self-organized meetings, there is a supporting program with seminars and networking events. These offer the opportunity to acquire and improve soft skills and to establish professional contacts.
Target groups and requirements
As a mentee , you must be pursuing a technical or scientific degree at OTH Regensburg and be in at least your 3rd semester or a master's degree program. You must be willing to engage in a mentoring relationship over two semesters. As a mentee, you will have the active role, so you will need to consider what topics you would like to work on with your mentor. To prepare you for this role, a workshop will be held shortly before the kick-off event.
As a mentor, you should have (first) professional experience and work in the technical or scientific field. You should also be interested in and enjoy accompanying students for two semesters.
To better cater to the programme's different target groups, from winter semester 2024/25 we will be offering three different programme tracks. The kick-off event, team-event and closing event will be joint events. Beyond that, there will be special events within the indiviual programme tracks.
Women x Women
Target group: Female students who are specifically looking for an exchange with women in MINT-professions.
Language: German
Special events:
- Workshops on the topic of "Women and careers"
- Networking event "Mentees ask, mentors answer"
- "Stammtische"
- Job shadowing/excursions, if applicable
International students
Target group: International students who want to gain a foothold in the German job market.
Language: English
Special events:
- Workshops on the topic of "Integration in the German job market"
- Networking event "Mentees ask, mentors answer"
- Regulars' tables
- Job shadowing/excursion, if applicable
Women x Women: BayernMentoring
The "professional steps" mentoring program at OTH Regensburg is part of the Bavaria-wide BayernMentoring program offered by the State Conference of Women's Representatives at Bavarian Universities of Applied Sciences (LaKoF Bayern/HAW). At OTH Regensburg, "professional steps" is offered to all students in STEM subjects as a cooperation between the Equality and Diversity Service Office and the Alumni Service.
Within the framework of BayernMentoring, the participating women have the opportunity to additionally take part in the BayernMentoring seminars. Upon request, female students are matched with female mentors only.
Why participate?
Benefits for mentees:
- Professional and personal suggestions for career and life planning: you receive valuable tips from people with practical experience
- Assistance for starting a career
- Establishment and shaping of networks
Benefits for mentors:
- Insights into the perspective of young professionals: you see your everyday working life from the point of view of a young person.
- Gaining new impulses: You receive fresh ideas and impulses from young academics.
- Self-reflection: You can rethink your own work and leadership style.
- Expanding your own network: You get to know colleagues from your industry and can exchange ideas.
- Competence enhancement: You strengthen your social and communicative competence.
Benefits for companies:
- Contacts with future graduates of the OTH Regensburg.
- Insight into the university environment and new trends
- Mentor represents the own company
- Promotion of young talent and opportunity to foster knowledge transfer in the mentoring partnership