Unicamp is now ready to welcome new students from 2020. This year, Unicamp freshman The program will be extended throughout the month of March and will feature various activities aimed at 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The actions will focus on four main axes, related to institutional, environmental, economic and social responsibilities. In this last axis, the university proposes an unprecedented program to facilitate the adaptation of freshmen to academic life and promote collaborative learning: student mentoring. On the afternoon of this Monday (17), coordinators of the undergraduate courses met with professors Daniela Gatti, coordinator of Calourada, and Eliana Amaral, dean of Undergraduate Studies, to learn in depth about the proposal and discuss the best strategies for Implementation.
The idea of the program is to establish a system at Unicamp in which, on a voluntary basis, veteran students act as mentors for students entering the university. With this, freshmen can count on colleagues similar to them, who have already experienced the same experiences and challenges, who they can turn to to answer questions about life at university. Daniela Gatti comments that the support of mentors should make the adaptation of new students smoother. "Points that relate to academic life as a whole: both physical and structural aspects of the university itself, as well as academic aspects, related to the course curriculum, the discipline, the experiences they have already had", mentions Daniela when commenting on the types of doubts that can be resolved by mentoring.
"Talking to those closest to you makes a difference"
According to Eliana Amaral, the student mentoring program proposed by Unicamp is in line with successful experiences already registered in other universities around the world. "Mentoring is a well-established program in the literature so that it is possible to overcome what is usual, which is the difficulty faced by students in the first two semesters in Higher Education around the world. There is a change, a new environment, a new way of relating with the world, so it is expected that there will be a certain difficulty. Certainly, talking to those who are closest to you and have just gone through these experiences makes a difference", explains the dean.
The course coordinators are already receiving and passing it on to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies (PGR) expressions of interest from students who wish to act as mentors. According to the proposal, they will be accompanied by tutor-teachers, also volunteers, who will be able to advise on doubts or other issues that require more specific attention from the university. The idea is that each student mentor is responsible for up to five freshmen, who must meet every two weeks to talk about their adaptation processes.
Eliana Amaral explains that the exchange of experiences between students favors learning, which can be applied in other spaces and situations in academic life. "There is an educational principle in this, which is collaborative learning. Therefore, we encourage it not to be one to one, because having a heterogeneous group discussing problems takes away individual responsibilities, so it is not just the mentor's responsibility, there is a group that interacts and finds a solution. We want this to be modeled so that they can apply it, including, in other general activities that they have in the course, focusing basically on the first semester, so that they can model this in the first semester of the course" , comments.
Another advantage pointed out by the teachers is that mentoring encourages students to look at themselves and their participation in the life of Unicamp. With this, they can also reflect on their responsibilities as students for the construction of day-to-day university life. "Research also points to favorable results in the academic process of the mentors themselves. It is not only the mentee who benefits from this program, those who are mentors also benefit from this integration process, they are able to look at their course, because it is placed to help others, but at the same time he helps himself in this process. This is very interesting in this program", analyzes Daniela.
Diversity and complete well-being
The student mentoring program integrates a series of other PGR projects, developed in partnership with other university bodies so that freshmen feel part of Unicamp and can integrate into academic life. Among them, the teachers highlight the creation of a manual on coexistence and well-being at the university, which will be made available at the beginning of the academic year. "This is all part of a package in which, at the heart of this package, is the student's academic success. With Unicamp's profile, we have been very concerned about diversity. But it's not just diversity for diversity's sake, it's for what it represents and how this fits into student permanence. Permanence means being well in the environment, adapted to the course, feeling part and being integrated here. So all of this is a package that focuses on how students can have a more positive Unicamp experience", argues Eliana Amaral.
In addition to mentoring and well-being projects, Calourada 2020 will also feature activities aimed at other responsibilities related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Actions are planned such as the planting of trees with electronic tags for environmental monitoring, the inauguration of a community kiosk with photovoltaic energy panels, cultural presentations, among other activities.
The program begins on February 27th with the reception and registration of indigenous freshmen. On March 2nd, the remaining students will be enrolled in person and on the 3rd, the beginning of the school year with Calourada activities. The complete schedule, including other actions that take place throughout the month of March, is available on freshman website.
