At the recent Peer Mentors Awards Presentation Ceremony held at the Staff and Student Activities Centre, 178 peer mentors were awarded for their hard work in the Mentor Caring Programme (MCP) for the past year.
MCP is a programme specially designed for UIC first-year students, professors and teachers as mentors, and senior students as peer mentors. With their help and companionship through the first year of college, newcomers could quickly adapt to college life. In the MCP Programme, there are generally eight to 14 members in one group, with one mentor and two peer mentors.
According to a questionnaire on MCP service for 2020 first-year students, 97% of them think that mentors helped them adapt to college life, provided academic advice, care and support. At the same time, 98% believe that peer mentors were helpful, especially in introducing student activities and campus facilities.
Various MCP activities helping first-year students adapt to college lives
Secretary of the College Party Committee and Vice President (Administration) of UIC, Prof Mao Yaqing, highly praised the service spirit of mentors and peer mentors. He mentioned that UIC had enrolled students whose overseas studies were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic last year. These students were also included in the MCP Programme. Mentees were divided into 185 MCP groups, with 374 senior students as peer mentors, which was a record high of MCP participants in recent years.
As a mentor of MCP and the Dean of the Division of Business and Management (DBM), Prof Steve Wenbin Liu regards MCP as an excellent UIC tradition. Accordingly, he has organised a trip to Zhuhai's Qi'ao Island to help newcomers integrate into the UIC family faster.
Prof Steve Wenbin Liu (third from left) with students at Qi'ao Island
Li Junjie has been a peer mentor for three consecutive years. He said that during his first year, the help he got from his peer mentors had a significant impact on him. So now, he is doing his best to provide support and resources for his mentees. As a result, Junjie has matured throughout the process.
Being a peer mentor is also a kind of self-development
Wang Ailin, a first-year student, got the warm help of her peer mentor as soon as she first entered the college. She mentioned that it was the help and kindness from peer mentors in the face of a new environment that calmed her anxiety and uneasiness. With their companion, she felt the great warmth from UIC.
From MPRO
Reporter: Xia Meng
Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He, Covee Wang
