International Mentoring Programmes

24.11.2020 | International and Alumni Affairs

On Tuesday evening, 17 November 2020 at 7 pm, eleven international alumni and 16 international students of the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) met on the videoconferencing platform Zoom on the initiative of the DIT Alumni department to launch the new International Mentoring Programme. The aim of this new format is to provide international students with an equally international alumnus who can offer assistance in overcoming intercultural hurdles and help pave the way to a successful career.

“Student life as such already brings with it numerous challenges that need to be mastered,” explains Ulrike Sauckel, head of the International and Alumni Affairs department. “A high degree of self-motivation and organisation, especially in Corona times, is demanding for every student. For international students, a new culture and a foreign language are added to this. As a university that spells internationalisation in capital letters, we see it as our duty to create the best possible conditions for a successful graduation, especially for our international students”. The total of 27 participants in the programme represent a perfect cross-section of all faculties, all graduating classes and all continents: “Our mentors come from Ecuador or India as well as from the Czech Republic or Holland. A total of 13 nations are represented. We are particularly pleased that mentors and mentees from the still young European Campus Rottal-Inn are also taking part. And that we were able to win mentors who have not yet become active at and for the university, but who are incredibly enthusiastic about this programme,” adds Ulrike Sauckel.

The 11 tandems, i.e. teams each consisting of one mentor and one to a maximum of three mentees, are organised solely virtual via WhatsApp. “All participants use it privately anyway, and no additional app or special hardware is needed,” explains Stefanie Lex from the DIT Alumni Team. “The purely virtual solution also ensures a larger regional area. Our mentors are spread all over Germany, travel is not necessary and this also protects the environment and the wallet”. Over the next six months, the mentees will now be able to exchange ideas with their mentors and hopefully one day they will in turn be available as mentors for DIT students. In April 2021, the international Mentoring Programme will enter the next round, and new mentors who have not yet had time this year have already confirmed their participation.

Bild (DIT): New offer for international students at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology: The International Mentoring Programme.