2010/11 Transition Programme Evaluation
1st Year Student Survey Results (All departments)
The data below shows the percentage rate of UCL first years progressing into year 2
of their degree, where the data refers to the overall UCL cohort of first years starting
their programmes in September of that year; 2002 is the earliest year we have for
this data and is followed by the years where the Transition Programme was being
rolled-out.
2002
2006
2007
2008
2009
85%
87%
88%
90%
89%
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The data and comments below are taken from an online questionnaire completed by
current first years. Students were asked a variety of questions to map out their
experience of making the transition to UCL; 646 1st year students across all
departments completed the Student Transition Survey.


90% of all respondents attended the Meet your Mentor session during
induction week.
68% attended at least one Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) session
In what ways have you benefitted from Transition Mentoring?
Social aspects
Having a more experienced student to
talk to
Getting departmental advice
Getting academic help
51% agree; 34% neutral; 15% disagree
85% agree; 10% neutral; 5% disagree
78% agree; 16% neutral; 6% disagree
66% agree; 22% neutral; 13% disagree
Mentoring has helped me achieve the following:
Establish links with student mentors
in my department
Meet other first years
45%
44%
19%
25%
22%
14%
10%
5%
Not at all
Not much
Neutral
A fair amount
To a great
extent
12%
7%
Not at all
Not much
Neutral
A fair amount
To a great
extent
2
Find out what is expected of me and what
I can expect from my department
Develop new skills for university study
47%
34%
32%
16%
22%
17%
9%
9%
9%
4%
Not at all
Not much
Neutral
A fair amount
To a great
extent
Not at all
Not much
Neutral
A fair amount
To a great
extent
 88% of all respondents would recommend the programme to other first year
students.
 59% of all respondents are going to continue with their meetings with or
without their mentor now that the programme has officially finished for the
year.
 A sample of typical qualitative responses is contained below:
What was the best thing about having a mentor?
“giving you inside advice on the degree, she was a fantastic mentor.”
“Opportunity to discuss work with my mentor and the other members of my mentor
group. Also, a nice social experience.”
“Knowing that there was someone there to turn to for advice or help, especially since
the mentors had been through the same experiences themselves.”
“He was able to help us on a much more personal level than any of the professors
could, and he was a lot more easy to talk to than them.”
“Someone to talk to who knew what they were talking about and could give
advice/troubleshoot academic areas that were difficult.”
“They were encouraging and made university look not so scary”
“Having guidance if you need it. Somebody to tell you that it will be ok!”
3
The following data refers to responses broken down by regularity of
attendance at mentor group meetings. Students were asked about their
perception of their own confidence and abilities in key areas, having
completed their first term at UCL. Where students attended more
meetings, they typically responded that they felt more confident in
various areas. Responses were grouped by three meetings attended in
total, up to ten or more meetings. (The first 4 responses did not include
an option for no meetings attended, as the question applied only to
respondents who had said they attended some mentor meetings- it is
therefore represented as 100% neutral responses).
4
5
6
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Mentor Survey Results (All departments)
114 Mentors across all departments completed the survey.



74% of mentors will continue engaging in Peer Assisted Learning in the
future, either with friends or their mentees
90% would apply to be mentors again
98% would recommend the role to other students
Benefits of mentoring:
Agree
97%
Disagree
1%
95%
2%
93%
2%
83%
5%
Meeting diverse people
84%
5%
Development of facilitation
skills
Development of academic
skills
93%
1%
79%
8%
Development of
communication skills
Development of leadership
skills
Feeling you are doing
something worthwhile
Development of empathy
8