Foundation of the project
The project was launched in the academic year 2015/2016 as part of the Master's Degree in Business Management - General Management profile of the Faculty of Economics and Law; from the academic year 2018/2019 it was extended to other degree courses of the same Faculty and also of the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences; in the academic year 2021/2022 the Master's Degree courses of the new Santa Monica campus in Cremona were involved. The Mentor, typically a sufficiently mature individual to be able to transfer knowledge and useful ideas for the professional growth of a young person about to approach the world of work, has the task of supporting students by playing the role of advisor, guide and tutor. My Mentor has immediately allowed the birth of unstructured relationships between Mentors and Mentees, based on informality, on the absence of constraints, on the interpersonal rather than professional relationships of the subjects involved. Professionals and students, based on our experience, have generated solid and lasting bonds, which have resulted not only in placements in internships in organizational contexts but also in a real interpersonal relationship, which continues even today after the conclusion of the mentorship, guaranteeing the Mentee continuous support in his personal and professional growth path.
Why MyMentor
We launched My Mentor Cattolica to offer Master's Degree students a tangible opportunity to engage with experienced professionals, providing them with practical, sector-specific guidance. The program aims to facilitate the acquisition of professional skills, foster the development of a strong network, and promote personal growth, helping students smoothly transition from academia to the professional world with greater awareness and preparedness.
Why participate?
There are several reasons that push the student to participate; basically for:
- To be able to receive real life advice useful for a career path, contributing to the development of professional awareness;
- Being protagonists of a dialogue between adjacent worlds (the university and the professional world) to give life to an effective exchange of ideas and an increasingly profitable exchange.
An adequate collaboration between Mentor and Mentee can lead to mutual enrichment, broaden horizons and discover new perspectives and opportunities.
The interaction with the Mentor can also represent an opportunity to identify the scope of the curricular internship and a topic to develop in the degree thesis.
Program structure
At the beginning of the path, each Mentee is assigned a Mentor, based on the functional area of interest requested. The Mentor/Mentee couple is left free to set up the relationship in the way that best suits their growth path.
It is therefore possible that the comparison takes place:
Directly, for example with a visit to the Mentor's workplace by the Mentee or with differently structured periodic meetings;
Indirectly through video call meetings and through the MyMentor Cattolica platform specifically created to facilitate the exchange of information and group work between Mentors and Mentees.
The path is nourished and draws new ideas from ongoing dialogue and the student's desire to learn, following the example and suggestions of the Mentor.