Any questions or clarifications may be directed to Isaac Mark Fullarton at:

Email: Isaac.Fullarton@outlook.com
Mobile: 0432817420

Students as Change Agents Report

The State of Mentoring:

A Literature and Market Review on the Viability and
Benefits of Peer Mentoring

Author: Isaac Mark Fullarton

• Published: 2019
• Last Revision: 2021

With special thanks to:

Sarah Rasmussen
Thomas Stewart
Simon Walters
Amy Cleasby
Martin Ratcliff

Permission is given by the author to distribute and replicate this report so long
as it is correctly cited, and all credit is properly awarded when doing so.
 Executive Summary

This proposal is for a one-on-one based peer mentoring program, run as a joint venture
between Murdoch University and the Murdoch Guild of Students. This will be done through a
steering committee made up of both Guild and university staff to help guide and develop the
program. The university will provide funding in accordance with an agreed upon budget,
whilst the Guild will see to the operation, administration, and development of the program in
the day to day. This type of set up allows the program to pull from expertise from multiple
sources and has the added benefit of continuing a healthy partnership between the Murdoch
Student Guild and university leadership.
The program aims to tackle the gap which has been identified between the spheres of
academic and mental health, which we refer to as social health. Social health is separate from
both academic and mental health and is more of a background process during the student
experience which directly impacts the other spheres around it. Some of the common problems
identified under the sphere of social health are issues with enculturation for both domestic and
international students, general wayfinding, lack/loss of social support at arrival on campus,
problems with loneliness and a struggle against a fundamentally different structure almost
overnight (i.e. the rigid nature of high school vs. flexibility and variability of responsibility at
university).
In order to address these issues, the program seeks to set up a platform using software already
in use at the Murdoch Guild, which will survey students on an individual level and then pair
them up with someone who is compatible based on a multidimensional assessment of the
individual. This process is aimed primarily at international students, first years,
MIT/OnTrack, and mature aged students who we identified as being the most at-risk cohorts.

This program has the ability to mesh with current services in both the Murdoch Guild and the
current work Murdoch University is undertaking in terms of peer mentoring, such as in
Student Success who already engage with mentoring in different forms.

As an important note, the flow charts included in the appendix are a generalised overview of a
complex and multifaceted system that is fundamentally designed to be modular, adaptive and
scalable. It is fully expected that small and/or large aspects may grow or evolve over time to
meet the changing needs of new cohorts and their struggles in an effort to ensure students
receive the support that is most relevant to them.
 Literature Review
Background
Peer support is a broad term used throughout the literature to describe a multitude of student-
led programs and initiatives. Those who participate within these programs can be referred to
using a plethora of terms and descriptive labels such as mentors, peer leaders, and peer
coaches, among many others. These programs can be constructed around both formal and
informal structures that have a varied number of aims, from increasing GPA (Grade Point
Average), lowering dropout rates or supporting the mental health of students on campus. For
a well-rounded and broad definition of this relationship, see Bozeman and Feeney (2007, p.
722).
Jacobi (1991) notes that peer support programs are a critical component of the undergraduate
experience at university as well as a major contributor to the quality of that education, finding
a variety of benefits and positive outcomes for those involved. The use and acknowledged
value of peer-based programs stretches back into the 1980s, making it hard to deny the
importance of this specific resource within the higher education toolbox (Cosgrove, 1986), as
well as its ability to remain relevant across generations and cultural contexts. This is an
important point to emphasize, not only because university campuses are a dynamic and
everchanging environment that caters to diverse groups of people, but because the issues
which students are facing are highly transient. This point was flagged by our own Student
Success team at Murdoch University during our evaluation of our own mentoring efforts, as
well as those of other universities around the country. One highlighted example of this point
was that, as we have increased the number of international students present on campus, so to
have we introduced new struggles to the social ecosystem that may not have been present
within our own cultural context. If a mentoring system is to be fiscally, logistically, and
socially relevant, it must posses both a structure and philosophy which allows it to cater to
diverse sets of issues, include ones that cannot always be anticipated.
The primary purpose of this review is to outline a primary set of issues and explore how they
can be addressed using a peer support program. The main issues that this report (and the
subsequent proposal that is derived from it) aim to address are attrition rates, social support,
and academic support for students studying on campus.
Transitioning Students and Attrition Rates
Attrition rates are a primary concern for all tertiary institutions, and whilst the dropout rate
has remained relatively stable within Australia across the years, any improvement translates
to a greater number of educated individuals within the workforce, as well as higher degrees of
profit for the university as a whole. The current average attrition rate for Australian
universities sits at around 15%, as reported by the Higher Education Standards Panel in 2017
during a review of dropout rates nationwide (2017). In 2018, this meant that 50,000 students
who started a degree in that year dropped out before completion (Norton, Cherastidtham, &
Mackey, 2018), and transitional first years seem to constitute a sizeable part of that figure
(Crosling, Thomas , & Heagney, 2009). By taking a rough estimate of the cost of a
bachelor’s degree in Australia (~$30,000), these 50,000 dropouts represent a loss of $1.5
billion dollars to the university sector in a single financial year alone (without taking into
account postgraduate studies and other income generated by campus activity). To stress, there
will always be an accepted level of dropouts among students and it is not our aim to eliminate
that problem. However, with such a large annual revenue loss occurring, even small efforts
such as peer mentoring programs (which are in comparison inexpensive) can attempt to tap
into students who clearly display the interest and drive to attempt university, which may lead
to higher levels of yearly income for the university.
Upon arriving at university, first year students typically feel like they lack an identity on
campus, feel isolated from others and are insecure (Hockings, 2005; Hockings, 2011; Mann,
2001). Whilst not a surprise to most, an initial observation of this issue shows that it is more
nuanced than simply feeling out of place and alone in a new environment. Upon review, it is
clear that students who are given support and experience intervention do better at university.
Students who have a stronger understanding of both the culture and environment at university
report a more positive experience (Nelson, Quinn, Marrington, & Clarke, 2011), whilst those
students who do not have a sense of social belonging or connection on campus constitute up
to one third of students who drop out in their first year of university (Crosling, Thomas , &
Heagney, 2009). These specific types of alienation and othering are straightforward to address
and represent an attainable and realistic target for peer-intervention programs.
One specific area where transitioning students suffer both personally and socially is due to the
loss of ‘pre-entry friendships’ – that is, the social circles and relationships that have been
formed up until university (Collings, Swanson, & Watkins , 2014). This leads to a loss of
social support, and the creation of a new network is a long and daunting task which is not
always successful. The support of a peer during this time has been shown to lessen the impact
of this loss and act as an integrating agent, assisting new students into adopting university
culture and offering a sense of belonging that stimulates new social connections and growth
among peers (Paul & Brier, 2001).

Benefits to Mentors and Mentees

The benefits of peer-support services and programs extend beyond easing the process of
transition and stabilising first year students within university culture. It is also acknowledged
that the mental health of students presents an area of concern for both the public and the
university (Andrews & Wilding, 2004). Students studying at university report a high rate of
clinical anxiety and unhealthy levels of stress, which can lead to the development of negative
coping mechanisms such as smoking and excessive drinking. Students at university have also
been shown to have poorer mental health overall than their counterparts in the general
population and seek help for those problems at a much lower rate (Ansari, Labeeb, Moseley,
Kotb, & El-Houfy, 2013). These issues are all possible to address with the proper mentoring
relationship and support services, which would aim to bridge the gap which exists between
students who are in need of support but are either unwilling or unable to seek it out. On
examination of the literature it seems to be a common trend that mentees have better retention
skills, better transition into university culture and find themselves with a stronger sense of
belonging – all of which helps foster a positive student experience, as well as skill
development in a variety of areas depending on the type of program/service (Glaser, Hall, &
Halperin, 2006). It is not uncommon for students (particularly first years) to experience a drop
in self-esteem during the course of their study or the transitional period into university.
Individuals who take part in mentoring or peer support programs are instead shown to not
only avoid a drop in self-esteem, but in some cases develop greater levels overall (Collings,
Swanson, & Watkins , 2014).
There is also the reality that whilst a majority of students who identify as needing help will
approach counselling services on campus, there is a percentage who believe that their issues
are not important, or that staff members will be unable to understand their concerns (Russell,
Thomson, & Rosenthal, 2008). Students who were given support from others tend to feel
more personally validated (Terenzini, et al., 1994), which is the sphere that peer support
operates in, offering not only social validation but also an individual that can empathise with
the student’s situation where other services, whilst worthwhile, may not be able to efficiently
reach.
One of the key elements to peer-support relationships is that it is of a reciprocal nature
between the mentor and mentee (Beltman & Schaeben, 2012). This relationship can provide a
number of different benefits not only for the mentee, but also the mentor. These range from a
positive environment that adds to the student experience as they receive feedback and
gratitude from their mentees (Shrestha, May, Edirisingha, Burke, & Linsey, 2009;
Heirdsfield, Walker, Walsh, & Wilss, 2008), to academic and skill development in their own
areas of study as they become more familiar with the content itself, as well as increases to
social connections, familiarity with services on campus and personal growth in terms of self-
awareness and self-development commonly associated with reciprocal relationships (Ehrich,
Hansford, & Tennent, 2016; Devereux, 2004; Haggard, Dougherty, Turban, & Wilbanks,
2010).
Peer Network Survey
Along with an examination of available material on university websites (where most students
would first encounter the prospect of mentoring), phone and email interviews, a short survey
was distributed to university representatives at the Peer Networks conference here in Western
Australia. These individuals were responsible for managing and overseeing a peer mentoring
program of some kind at their respective campuses and were asked to provide some simple
supplementary data (see appendix for individual surveys and responses). This data, whilst
small in sample size, offers more raw information on specific processes that will need to be
taken into consideration when designing our own program.

Market Review
To help guide our design process, we conducted a market review to examine some of the
services offered by other universities around Australia. Two things became clear quite early
on. Firstly, ‘mentoring’ programs are employed at almost every single institution within
Australia, and likely beyond going by the websites of foreign institutions. The terms
‘mentoring’ and ‘peer support’ are used in varying ways, and there is no real template
between faculties, let alone entire universities, as to what constitutes a mentoring program.
Secondly, it became apparent that most of the mentoring on offer around Australia comes in
the form of academic mentoring, rather than social mentoring. Here at Murdoch University,
we already have a range of academic programs that take advantage of peer knowledge and
support, such as MentorMe, PASS and PACs. As the aim of our program seems to be
somewhat unique among what is currently on offer elsewhere, included below is a brief
summary of what is on offer in other institutions. This is valuable insight, as the highlighted
programs possess valuable components or ideas that may be useful to take into consideration
as we move through our own design phase.
University of Newcastle
UON Peer Mentor. The University of Newcastle uses a peer mentor system focused
primarily on the social aspect of transitioning into university, with mentors acting as guides
around the campus, keeping students informed about upcoming events and activities that they
could take part in. They also provide support and directions to students about finding the right
people to answer specific questions a student may have (University of Newcastle, n.d.).
One of the key features that stands out with the UON program is that it keeps regular contact
with students during the first six weeks of their study to help them become comfortable on
campus and ensure they are fitting in. Looking back at the literature, it would appear that this
is a crucial element to any mentoring program, as most of the target audience are transitioning
first year students.
In regard to logistics, UON has a webpage dedicated to the program which connects directly
to the main university page. It gives a brief overview of what the service provides, and then
has a clear set of buttons for requesting a mentor or becoming one. These buttons link to a
straightforward form that asks questions about their presence on campus, what they are
studying and specifics depending on if they want to mentor, or need one themselves.
Accessibility wise, it is clean and appealing with a completion time of no more than five
minutes which seems like a notable strength, particularly for first year students who may be
stressed or undecided on their place at university.
University of Technology Sydney
Peer Network. The peer network is a program run by the University of Technology in
Sydney, it is comprised of over 350 current volunteers who aim at making the transition into
university easier on new students (University of Technology Sydney, n.d.). The program
offers campus tours to help familiarize students with their new environment (which is
identified as a primary stressor for transitioning students), running an orientation help desk
and coffee cart, attending events and answering questions.
The peer network equips its volunteers with orange shirts that allow them to stand out on
campus, making them easier to identify and approach for students looking for support. With
so many events and programs running on campus alongside classes, it seems useful to have
volunteers stand out in a unique way so they can be identified on the spot.
One of the major events that the Peer Network manages is the Network Café, which is a
social event for international students run each week at the campus coffee shop where peers
get together and meet, talk, ask questions and generally hang out so they can better integrate
into a new country and campus (University of Technology Sydney, n.d.). This event in
particular seems to be extremely popular at UTS and provides international students a place to
practice their conversational English skills, find friends and peers, and generally improve
their student experience which can be quite lonely as an international student. There is also
an accompanying Facebook page managed by the Peer Network volunteers who have specific
accounts dedicated to the program, allowing for a greater reach when it comes to delivering
information.
Picture 1: Peer Network volunteers gather in their unique orange shirts during an event on UTS
campus.

University of Adelaide
Faculty Specific Mentoring. Similar to the MentorMe program run at Murdoch University,
the University of Adelaide has a mentoring program imbedded individually inside its different
schools, each of which oversees and manages their own program (University of Adelaide,
n.d.). This system seems to be less effective than others, due to it being left to each individual
faculty to determine what they will do. Another criticism of this system which is also
mirrored at Murdoch is that without centralisation, what constitutes good mentoring practice
can fall by the wayside, leading to a lack of robust oversight that is necessary for a program to
develop and remain relevant. Something that sets UOA apart however is that it requires a
specific GPA to enrol as a mentor, or approval from an Academic in that field (University of
Adelaide - Faculy of Health and Medical Sciences, n.d.). This ensures a certain standard of
quality to the mentoring (similar to PASS in terms of academic requirement). However, if the
primary concern is social, these elements are not suitable and instead generate barriers for
entry that may put students off. These types of mentoring programs are the most common,
likely due to their low fiscal demand or completely volunteer funded nature. Unfortunately,
they are peer support more in name than anything else, as effective mentoring requires
fulltime nurturing and up to date knowledge of advances within the field of peer support to be
truly effective.
University of Western Australia
UniMentor. Aimed at the ‘adjustment’ period, UWA employs a socially geared mentoring
program that offers group based mentoring rather than the usual one on one relationship
(University of Western Australia , n.d.). It offers social activities, events and excursions as
part of the incentive to joining and keeping regular contact, however after the initial matching
which takes place during o-week there seems to be little outside structure imposed, instead
letting students organize their own meet ups. The primary functions of the UniMentors are to
point students to the right services, introduce them to fellow peers within their faculties to
help ease the period of transition, and offer insight into the ins and outs of campus life.
Autism Mentoring. Somewhat unique to UWA, the specialist mentoring program offers
students on campus who have a diagnosis of autism the chance to be paired with a student
mentor to help guide them around campus and achieve their academic, social and
employment goals (University of Western Australia, n.d.). Mentor and student meet for a
couple of hours each week and can engage in a wide variety of activities, from wording
emails to roleplaying out scenarios or situations in which the student feels apprehensive or
anxious about. This type of mentoring is highly commendable, and perfectly represents the
core philosophy of peer support. Any mentoring program would do well to adapt the concept
of issue-specific mentoring (be it disability, academics, social problems) into their larger
model.
University of Queensland
0 to 4 Mentor Program. This program takes senior students who have already gone through
the trials of being the newcomer on campus, and pairs them with new students (University of
Queensland, n.d.). This program runs from O-week to week 4, and in that time the mentors
help create a supportive and friendly environment by assisting with navigation, goal setting
and social connection. Another function of the program is having mentors introduce new
students to the faculty and school they will be studying in, helping to familiarise them with
the people they will eventually work under. Mentors also help to connect students to social
events which are coming up in the coming weeks that may help them get to know other
students. This is especially beneficial as we consider how the loss of pre-entry friendships is a
large contributor to the stress a transitioning student experiences.
Zoom Peer Mentoring. This peer program offers specialised mentoring alongside other UQ
services. It take students with ‘lived experience’ in areas such as disability or mental illness,
and pairs them with new students who identify with these issues to better help them manage
the struggles and barriers students with such conditions must face going into university life
(University of Queensland, n.d.).
Unlike other mentoring programs, Zoom is intended to be a long-term relationship over the
course of a degree that has room to grow and evolve as the students do. It has three key areas
of focus for support: Practical advice (study tips, getting around), Social support (networking,
connecting, finding a place to fit into) and the creation of a relationship that allows the
sharing of lived experience whilst studying. These mentors are given training before the
program starts and are required to have strong interpersonal and communication skills to
ensure the healthy nature of their relationship going forward. They are also required to
demonstrate how they manage the impact of their ‘experience’ (medical condition, disability,
mental health issue, etc) in a positive way as to ensure only positive strategies are being
discussed. This program is likely the most robust of its kind and should represent a
benchmark for what is trying to be achieved with new mentoring programs, not only within
the realm of disability or mental illness support, but also in more general terms.
University of New South Wales
Faculty Specific Mentoring. Similar to other universities, UNSW uses a faculty run
mentoring programs that academics within each school are responsible for, in general this
system runs like others discussed in the market review. One unique aspect of these various
programs is they do not always aim to put students of the same cohort together, instead
students from different degrees (i.e. law and science) are paired together in one mentor
session where they can cooperate and learn from one another. Diversity in these sessions is
perhaps a valuable element that could be taken into consideration when discussing the format
of our own program (University of New South Wales, n.d.).
Alumni Mentoring. The alumni mentoring program is a successful venture by UNSW that
has alumni of the university come back to run a series of workshops, or peer-mentoring
sessions with soon to graduate students. These workshops range from discussions on what it
is like when you enter the workplace, engage with professionals as well as their experience so
far. Alumni answer questions, provide guidance and act as role models as well as mentors for
students who will go on to become alumni themselves. This specific program takes advantage
of what seems to be an underutilized resource at the university level, that being former
students eager to share their experience (Yamaguchi, 2019). Whilst the UNSW model focuses
primarily on students leaving university, there is the strong possibility to adapt the methods to
cater to transitioning students and present them with similar workshops that look at educating
them on what their degree is actually like, what to expect, and answer questions.
Australian National University
Peer Writing. Aimed at providing guidance to students as they go about writing their
assignments, mentors are given training in academic support writing and study techniques that
allow them to go over students writing and offer suggestions on how they can improve the
structure or help explain what is being asked in the question (Australian National University,
n.d.). These students, aside from being given training, are also senior students on campus who
have had a great deal of success in their respective areas to ensure they can provide a quality
level of advice that is acceptable within the university environment. These peer writing
sessions are held daily around lunch time in a consistent location where students are free to
walk in and sit down, without the need for an appointment. Whilst the philosophy of the
program is sound, our own experience at Murdoch University has shown that these ‘walk-ins’
are by and large ignored by students. This could be for a number of reasons, ranging from a
simple lack of knowledge or motivation, to feelings of embarrassment or shyness to
something so public and unstructured.
English Conversation Group. Another program specifically aimed at helping international
students who are transitioning into university, these groups meet regularly throughout
semester where students can come and talk with one another as a way to help develop their
English skills (Australian National University, n.d.). Along with helping to strengthen English
speaking skills in international students, this group also provides a point of social connection
for students to meet others who may be experiencing similar circumstances as themselves,
attempting to get by in a new environment and struggling to make friends. Local students are
also encouraged to come along to provide speaking buddies for international students, which
also helps foster familiarity and friendship between the groups and ease the process of
integrating to an unfamiliar culture.

Conclusion
Whilst there appears to be no shortage of examples of mentoring programs around Australian
universities, there does not appear to be any template or commonality in their design to speak
of. Some are left completely in the hands of faculty to manage, others are handled at the
administrative level, and then others are almost entirely run by student volunteers with staff
oversight. Here at Murdoch University we offer similar types of support, ranging from
intensive academic sessions like the PASS/PACs program, to less formal and more student
focused groups such as MentorMe. However, due to the lack of participation in these
programs and others like them they do not seem to provide the social bridge that we may
want. This particular problem is not unique to Murdoch, as almost every single university in
Australia has experience with the difficulty of engaging students for its mentoring based
events, and despite success in some areas and institutions, this does not seem to be as viable
for Murdoch.
For this reason, it seems that a new direction is required if social wellbeing and health of
students is going to be addressed on campus, rather than recycling events, programs and
initiatives that have proven to usually be small impact and randomly successful at the best of
times. This new direction will come in the form of a program proposal following this brief
review which lays out processes, events and costs that should serve as an absolute manual for
its implementation and running.

Finally, attached in the appendix of this report are a number of supplementary materials
which have been prepared alongside this report. This includes a set of flowcharts which have
been designed with the help of developers familiar with peer-mentoring software which can
be used to visually illustrate the type of workflows we have envisioned for sorting and
matching students. Fiscal breakdowns for employment costs have also been constructed using
the Murdoch Guilds EBA, along with what those costs may look like at different levels of
FTE (including recommendations for which FTE is optimal for the level of work anticipated
with this program). Example budgets have also been put together to illustrate the type of costs
involved in planning the most common form of events which would be run within the
program. These figures are based on events which have been run by similar programs within
the Murdoch Guild, namely the MSEL program which was first created in 2013 as a joint
venture between the Murdoch Guild and University. Lastly, an information packet was
prepared by the developers of MentorEase – a company which is already employed by the
Murdoch Student Guild to run mentoring software for other programs. This packet, along
with the administrative-level flowcharts, employment cost projections and event budget
breakdowns represent the core resources required to design and implement a mentoring
program within an already existing department of the university, as well as develop the web-
based and server-based programs necessary for the mentor/mentee pairing and selection
process.
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of New South Wales: https://student.unsw.edu.au/peermentoring
University of Newcastle. (n.d.). Sign up for a UON Peer Mentor. Retrieved from The
University of Newcastle: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/current-
students/support/newstudents/find-a-student-mentor
University of Queensland. (n.d.). Welcome to O' to 4 Peer Mentoring. Retrieved from O' to 4
Mentor: https://mentoring.app.uq.edu.au/p/p10/about
University of Queensland. (n.d.). Welcome to ZOOM Peer Mentoring. Retrieved from
Mentoring: https://mentoring.app.uq.edu.au/p/p2/about
University of Technology Sydney. (n.d.). Network Café. Retrieved from University of
Technology Sydney: https://www.uts.edu.au/current-students/campus-life/ways-
meetpeople/network-cafe
University of Technology Sydney. (n.d.). Peer Network . Retrieved from University of
Technology Sydney: https://www.uts.edu.au/current-
students/opportunities/peernetwork-program/peer-network
University of Western Australia . (n.d.). UniMentor. Retrieved from University of Western
Australia: http://www.student.uwa.edu.au/new/unimentor
University of Western Australia. (n.d.). Autism Mentoring. Retrieved from University of
Western Australia:
http://www.student.uwa.edu.au/experience/health/uniaccess/Mentoring
Yamaguchi, K. (2019, May 28). Discussion on UNSW Peer Support Programs. (I. Fullarton,
Interviewer)
 Appendix

Peer Network Survey Responses

Below are the completed surveys by members of the Peer Network – a group of universities
who meet bi-monthly to discuss and share ideas and information in regard to peer and
mentoring services that they oversee at their institutions. Responses have been compiled into
lists to keep them compact.
 Student Agreement to Peer Support Related
Questions

I have a good awareness of the support

services, facilitates and opportunities that exist
on campus for students

I would be keen to volunteer to provide

advice and support to new students

In my first year, it would have been helpful to

be connected with an experienced student to
answer my questions

I would connect with a more experienced

student on campus for advice and support if I
had the opportunity

0 20 40 60
Number of Students

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree
Peer Leader Program - Annual Budget Overview

Costs are split into three tiers, increasing in price each tier. These tiers represent different levels of investment that can be chosen depending on need, budget and program direction.

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Comments

Start-up Expenses Quantity

Software setup (Guild Rate) Once Off 1|2|3 $ 2,495.00 $ 3,295.00 $ 3,295.00 Tier 1: Base fee for the program set up, including phases 1,2,3,4 and 10 of the proposed quote. Tier 2: All previous phases, plus phase 5 & 6 as extras.
Once Off One is likely all that is required, but there is a possibility for more if there were to be larger scale events.
Preferably designed in-house possibly by a student, finalised when the themes/logo/etc are decieded upon.
Program Banners $ 125.00 $ 250.00 $ 375.00
N/A N/A N/A
Banner Theme Design
Buisness Cards 250|500|1000 $ 35.00 $ 45.00 $ 65.00 Design/theme/font/etc matching banner(s).

Employment Expenses FTE & EBA Level

Wage (0.6FTE) Level: 1.3|2.1|2.4 $ 30,405.57 $ 32,959.94 $ 35,399.73 The staff wage calculated using the Murdoch Guild EBA at a 0.6FTE, at levels 1.3, 2.1 and 2.4 respectively.
Level: 1.3|2.1|2.4 $ 40,540.76 $ 47,199.64

(0.8FTE) $ 43,946.59 The staff wage calculated using the Murdoch Guild EBA at a 0.8FTE, at levels 1.3, 2.1 and 2.4 respectively.

Superannuation (0.6FTE) Level: 1.3|2.1|2.4 $ 2,888.53 $ $ 3,131.19 $ $ 3,362.97 Staff members supperannuation for a 0.6FTE, calculated at the Guild rate of 9.5%.
Level: 1.3|2.1|2.4 3,851.37 4,174.93 $ 4,483.97 Staff members supperannuation for a 0.8FTE, calculated at the Guild rate of 9.5%.

(0.8FTE) ? ? ? Cost of recruitment, optinal depending on methods of advertising and recruitment (i.e. free listing & paid listings).

Recruitment (SEEK)

Training and Events Run Times

Mentor Induction Semester 1 & 2 $ 1,005.60 $ 2,159.20 $ 4,796.70 This is the training/induction every mentor must go through during their time in the program, this event happens once a semester.
Semester 1 & 2 ? ?
Mid-Semester Lauch Semester 1 & 2 ? $ 4,106.00 $ 10,265.00 This figure is cost of BOTH events for the whole year, the sundowner represents the main event run inside the program, this is HIGHLY
$ 2,053.00 flexible and only provides a very rough estimate.

End of Year Sundowner

Assorted Program Expenses Quantity P/Y N/A N/A

N/A

Stationary $ 65.00
General Printing N/A $ 100.00 N/A N/A

Flyers & Posters 500f&20p|1000f&40p|1500f|60p $ 279.40 $ 558.80 $ 838.20 Based off quotes given to the Guild in the past.
 Program Maintenance Fee 250 | 500 | 750 Users $ 348.00 $ 468.00 $ 588.00 As the number of users on the platform goes past certain thresholds, the maintence fee increases. Facebook paid promotion to
2|4 $ 90.00 N/A help reach current students and transitioning highschool students.

Program Promotion - Facebook $ 60.00

Other Students $ 4,000.00 $ 10,000.00 2 vouchers per pair for their first meeting on campus each semester.
100|200|500

Tavern Vouchers (10$) $ 2,000.00

Costs highlted in green are the recommended cost, items in blue are flexible costs that can be altered, costs in orange are optional extras, items in red are fixed costs that cannot be altered.

First Year Cost $ 49,667.35

On-going Cost $ 46,202.35

Total Costing (Using recommended costs)

Start Up Cost $ 3,465.00

Wage Cost p/y $ 36,091.14

Event & Training Cost p/y $ 3,058.60

Program Expenses p/y $ 852.40

Vouchers p/y $ 2,000.00

Contingency p/y $ 4,200.21 Doesn't include start up cost for either first year, or on-going.
Event Breakdown - Induction

Quantity 50 Students 100 Students 250 students

Food Items

Chips w/ Aioli 25|50|125 $ 168.75 $ 375.50 $ 843.75

Meat Lovers Pizza 8|16|41 $ 118.80 $ $ 273.60 $ 608.85
Med Veg Pizza 5|10|15 65.25 $ 130.50 $ 195.75
Cans of Coke 25|50|125 $ 75.00 $ 150.00 $ 375.00
Cans of Sprite 25|50|125 $ 75.00 $ 150.00 $ 375.00

Totals $ 502.80 $ 1,079.60 $ 2,398.35

Event Breakdown- Sundowner

Quantity 100 Students 200 Students 500 students

Food Items

Meat Lovers Pizza 10|20|50 $ 148.50 $ 297.00 $ 742.50

Med Veg Pizza 10|20|50 $ 130.50 $ $ 261.00 $ 652.50
Party Pies 50|100|250 60.00 $ 120.00 $ 300.00
Sausage Rolls 50|100|250 $ 60.00 $ $ 120.00 $ 300.00
Chips w/ Aioli 30|60|120 202.50 $ 405.00 $ 1,012.50
Curry Puffs 100|200|500 $ 125.00 $ 250.00 $ 625.00
Cans of Coke 50|100|250 $ 150.00 $ 300.00 $ 750.00
Cans of Spirte 50|100|250 $ 150.00 $ 300.00 $ 750.00

Totals $ 1,026.50 $ 2,053.00 $ 5,132.50

Murdoch Guild of Students Mentoring
Software Proposal

From: Gil Katz, Director of Operations, MentorEase (mentorease.com)

Managing Partner, Giant Step Inc. (giantstep.ca)

For: Isaac Fullarton, Disability Representative / Guild Councillor,

Murdoch Guild of Students, Murdoch University
(www.murdochguild.com.au)

Date: July 26, 2019

BACKGROUND

Murdoch University Guild of Students is looking for an online solution to make it easy to manage a mentoring
program, focused on the matching of mentors and mentees. The goal is to minimize direct management using
mentoring software.

MentorEase Background
MentorEase is owned and operated by Giant Step Inc., a 15+ year old digital agency specializing in the design
and development of online solutions. Giant Step worked with the Career Skills Incubator (CSCI) over several
years implementing their Menteer Platform for clients. CSCI was a grassroots nonprofit organization based in
Toronto, Canada, with a mission to empower the un(der)employed to develop skills for their dream careers. They
did this through programs such as mentoring, workshops, and custom-made volunteer opportunities. More at
https://www.facebook.com/CareerSkillsIncubator

CSCI developed a platform called Menteer to help organizations bring mentoring programs online. The platform
enables mentors and mentees to create, develop and track the progress of their unique mentoring relationships. It
also helps the organization through a customized process, management and reporting tools.

The platform was made possible with the generous support of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority
(CIRA)’s Community Investment Program. More at https://cira.ca/menteer

CSCI posted Menteer as an open-source project at https://github.com/CareersSkillsIncubator/menteer available

for the public to download and customize for their needs. While the code is available it does require skilled
programmers and designers with experience to customize it for a particular purpose.

Giant Step has been installing, customizing and adding features to the platform over various client projects
(http://giantstep.ca/portfolio/career-skills-incubator). In 2017 CSCI decided they are too busy to handle Menteer
projects and moved those projects to the sole management of Giant Step.

Since then, Giant Step updated the software and re-branded as MentorEase at https://www.mentorease.com. Giant
Step is in the process of replacing the core code to make it a closed-source software product and looking forward
to implement it to many client organizations.
MENTORING SOFTWARE SPECS

Following are details regarding every aspect of the system, deployment and additional features as
needed:

A1. Web Hosting

* The platform can be hosted on our Microsoft Azure Cloud hosting account locked to servers in
Australia.

* Another option is to host the system on a Murdoch Guild web server.

A2. Web Hosting Security

We can provide a detailed security white paper with our procedures to safeguard data and privacy.
In general, the system is deployed using the standard Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) software stack
and standard techniques for security while utilizing Digital Ocean's built-in services and practices as much as
possible.

The PHP code is written using the CodeIgniter platform, providing its own security features. We also follow, as
much as possible, standard coding practices, use third-party tools to run tests, and follow common system
maintenance processes.

B. Look & Feel

* We will customize the design of the platform to reflect Murdoch Guild’s style guide * Using the provided
logo, images, fonts and colour schemes., including:
* Company logo / program logo
* Colour scheme
* Home page main photo
* Menu link font
* Secondary font
* Other photos or video for intro page
* Sponsor logos (if relevant)
If it needs to look similar to an existing site please send us a link to the sample web page.
C. Registration Process
* We will collaborate to determine the set of questions participants will be asked (may be different for Mentors
and Mentee with some overlapping questions used as matching criteria) * Customize the installation to use
these questions (data fields).
* Customize the outgoing sign up emails, forgot password and other related content

D. Single Sign-On Integration

We are not planning to integrate the system with any Single Sign-On (SSO) API like Linkedin or other system. If
this is required please let us know. We have code already working for CareerHub and StudentOne integrations.

E. Matching Process You can choose to:

* Enable mentors and mentees to confirm matches
* or Require an additional approval by admin after their approvals
* or Matches made only by admin
* or Automatically match participants

These features can be adjusted by us but there’s no on/off switch. The standard model is without admin approval
if there is a large number of participants. We used variations of the process to facilitate approvals by admin or by
the users. We should discuss which method is best for you.

F. Mentor / Mentee Tools

* Sign up, login, forgot password, update profile, preferences. We can hide the profile photo upload or display
options.
* Send messages
* Request / Approve mentoring meetings
* Write notes (tasks)
* View resources (guides, training materials, etc.)

G. Additional Tools
Enable having multiple mentees per mentor. For example, a mentor agrees to have 5 mentees, so the system limits
to only accept 5 requests. Also an interface for using that and managing it in the admin panel.

H. Reports
For progress reports and end-of-program evaluations. The current system shows key figures and all data can be
downloaded to Excel from the admin panel, but we don’t have automated charts and graphs yet. These will be
developed to a minimal basis so it’s easy to generate them.
I. Administrator Tools
* Manage multiple sessions / mentoring programs
* View all Mentors and Mentees
* Export all data
* Participation Statistics
* # Users
* # Mentors
* # Mentees
* # Meetings
* # Tasks
* # Events
* Google Analytics (will need to connect to Google account) * Basic reports

Notes: History and reporting

MentorEase maintains records of all previous matches so it would be possible to see the history of a “repeat”
mentor and who they have mentored. An admin will be able to download that data to Excel.

OTHER KEY FEATURES

Following are details from the supplied diagrams:

1. Admission to Program Connection
We need to establish the formal introduction process of a new student
from the admission process into the program. It can be a promo and link
on the admin confirmation email, website a flyer or something else.

Maybe this portion needs to be done by the internal IT team as it links to

the mentoring software.

2. Monthly Satisfaction Surveys

Auto-send a 1 or 2 question survey every month asking participants to
score their mentoring relationship at 1 to 10. Then the system can detect
who have the worst relationships as a list of alerts for the program
manager to communicate with them to resolve any issues before they
become potential risks.
3. Applicant
Requirements
* History of
Misconduct - how do we identify this? Maybe offline? *
Applicant GPA lookup - this requires integration with
CareerHub, StudentOne or another tool being
used.

TECHNOLOGY

We use the most common web technologies of today:

User interface: HTML5,

CSS, Javascript

Database: PHP,
MySQL

Platform:
CodeIgniter

The system can handle a large number of participants, in the hundreds of thousands. It can work on a minimal
hosting account but best to use a cloud hosting service to ensure that it is fast even with many active participants.
We will work with your tech team to work out the best hosting solution. The easiest option is for us to host it on
our cloud servers at Digital Ocean.
OUR TEAM

Gil Katz, Director of Operations, https://ca.linkedin.com/in/gilkatz

Eyal Katz, Director of Technology, https://ca.linkedin.com/in/eyalkatztoronto

Simon Raybould, Director of Sales & Marketing, https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonraybould99

Project Oversight
Gil Katz. Project Manager

Design & Development

Eyal Katz, Lead Software Developer
Gil Katz, Lead Designer & Support Software Developer

Software Training Materials

Simon Raybould, Documentation Writer & Trainer
 MAINTENANCE & SUPPORT

Maintenance and support includes:

1. Making sure the platform is working as expected. This includes ensuring that:
* The hosting servers are always on and fixing any issue if arises
* Renew SSL certificate as needed
+ other similar tasks for regular upkeep

2. Technical support
* Be available to answer questions
* Make minor adjustments as needed
TIMELINE & BUDGET

We estimate the setup will take about 6-8 weeks including testing and reviews. It can be faster but it’s good to
have a buffer of time just in case.

Note: Some phase items can be done at the same time.

Phase Action Duration
1 Platform installation and setup (any server) 0.5 week
2 Customizing the system (core functionality, fields, look & feel, branding, 2 weeks
and more)

3 Testing, Adjustments and Launch 1.5 weeks

4 Training 0.5 week
5 Monthly Satisfaction Survey Tool 3-5+ days
6 Applicant Requirements (GPA Lookup Integration + others) 3-5+ days
10 Maintenance & Support 1st year
The standard first year cost is $2,495 UAD including installation, customization and 12-months of maintenance
and support. This is for unlimited number of participants and covers #1,2,3,4,10

Item #5 we estimate to cost about $500

Item #6 we estimate to cost about $300

In subsequent years, the on-going maintenance, support and also some feature adjustments as needed will depend
on the number of participants and could be paid monthly or annually as follows:

* Under 250 Users = $29/Month

* 251 to 500 Users = $39/Month
* 501 to 750 Users = $49/Month
* 751 to 1,000 Users = $59/Month
* Over 1,000 Users = $69/Month
CONTACT INFO

MentorEase (Giant Step Inc.)

Suite #402 - 720 King St W. Toronto ON M5V 3S5

We also work from 406 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, M5T 2G7

+1.416.763.3332 MentorEase
+1.416.596.0800 Giant Step

* Gil Katz, gil@mentorease.com / gil@giantstep.ca

* Eyal Katz, eyal@mentorease.com / eyal@giantstep.ca

* Simon Raybould, simon@mentorease.com