UM FHS Mentorship Scheme Guides Students in Personal Development

In order to provide adequate support throughout the students’ undergraduate years, the University of Macau (UM) Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) organises the “Mentorship Scheme” on an ongoing basis, which brings together the students and academic members. Through various activities and gatherings, the academic members can get along with the students like not only a mentor but also a friend, and the students build strong friendships and gain peer-to-peer support among themselves. Being a mentor, the academic members can provide students with academic guidance, and most importantly steer their mentees toward their goals with positive values and attitudes during their university life.

Recently, FHS has organised the tea gathering, the first activity of the “Mentorship Scheme” in the current academic year, to gather the mentors and the mentees. Assistant Dean (Student Affairs) Xuanjun ZHANG warmly welcomed the students and academic members, and introduced that the scheme aims at helping students make the acquaintance of the academic members and their fellows in their spare time, and ultimately develop in-depth relationships. The mentees and even the mentors benefit and grow from this scheme by learning from different generations and getting fresh perspectives on their own lives. Prof. Zhang hopes that the scheme blends the students with their mentors and their peers to create a supportive relationship, in which the students uphold each other, and the mentors navigate for the students, acting as both a guide and friend to their mentees. The activity was filled with warm atmosphere under strong sharing among the academic members and the students to enhance mutual understandings.

Ning WEI, a year one student of Department of Biomedical Sciences, enjoyed her engagement with the other students in her group in the tea gathering, during which she not only shared her university life, but also appreciated different cultures of her group mates from around the world. From her perspective, her mentor, Prof. Gang LI, is warm and friendly, who immediately created a group in the social software to bridge the mentor and the mentees after the tea gathering.

Zixi YI, another year one student of Department of Biomedical Sciences¸ is so into Prof. Lijun DI, her mentor, because he gets very good sense of humour. Under Prof. Li’s motivation, she not only got acquainted with the academic and the other students, but also built a stronger sense of belonging to FHS. She envisioned that students will be encouraged and empowered in personal development through the valuable insights offered by the experienced mentors under the “Mentorship Scheme”.

Zhihan JIANG, a year 2 student of Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, is grateful to her mentor, Prof. Carolina Oi Lam UNG, for her effort in arranging various gatherings for the mentoring group. According to her, she has got involved in a healthy professional relationship with Prof. Ung that she can consult for advice in both studies and life. She thinks that the “Mentorship Scheme” boosts a stronger connection among the students and leads to a feeling of inclusion.

Mentorship has a profound impact on students as a good mentoring relationship can help students build their self-confidence and accomplish their goals with persistence and determination. The “Mentorship Scheme” of FHS enables mentees and mentors to gain a rewarding experience in which the students grow by tapping into the knowledge and experience of the professors who illuminates the voyage of the students’ life.