Assessing the Value of Mentoring for Female Business Students

Industry-led mentoring is a strategic tool that can bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical expertise, providing mentees with skills development opportunities that stretch beyond what can be learned via classroom-based educational approaches alone. Mentoring is now commonplace within organisational life, but is less common within UK university business schools. This suggests a knowledge gap in terms of understanding how mentoring can be embedded as a complementary tool to improve student skills development within business schools. The aim of this study was to explore the perceived value of industry mentorship from the perspective of the mentees, to develop a greater understanding of the potential benefits mentoring relationships at a university level can provide. Following the journey of mentees on a Women in Business mentoring programme, this study specifically explored the context of female university students. Mentees on the programme were female undergraduate and postgraduate students studying on courses within Sheffield Business School. Using a longitudinal study design, semi-structured interviews were conducted at three stages of a yearlong mentoring programme: 1. pre-mentoring, 2. during mentoring, and 3. post-mentoring. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework. The findings show the value of mentoring from a mentee perspective, most notably the notion of having someone in their corner, an ability to gain personalised guidance, and the opportunity to develop a professional network. The challenges of being mentored at this level were also expressed, drawing attention to the need for pre-mentoring education to support meaningful engagement with the process, and a requirement for a clear scheme structure to guide mentees. Guided by these findings, we offer key practical recommendations to programme designers so they can successfully utilise mentoring as part of their offer to students, thus supporting university business schools to further enhance their career and skills development offerings.