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Monday 30^th November saw representatives of colleges and further education institutions from across Greater Manchester get together at Stockport College to network and share information and ideas with their colleagues. The event contained a mixture of short interactive presentations from a number of people.

Shirley Gordon, from The Manchester College, spoke about her experiences setting up a peer mentoring programme and said being, “flexible, patient and forgiving” were key to succeeding.

Deana Korwin, from the City of Wolverhampton College, spoke about the significant role played by mentoring and peer mentoring within her institution, and shared information about being creative with little or no budgets.

The hosts, Louise Livesey,  from Stockport College, and MBF’s Jenny Taylor also spoke about the ASDAN co-ordinators’ award and outcomes measurement respectively. It was also mentioned how achieving the Approved Provider Standard, the national quality standard for safe and effective practice for mentoring and befriending schemes, can help projects improve their performance no end.

Tasnibah Raja, Student Engagement Supervisor, Tameside College, said:
“The day was really, really useful. I thought setting up a peer mentoring scheme would be a really hard task to do, but having heard from the different people at the event, it has been put into perspective that it is do-able task. I now realise you can start small and grow.”

Duncan Crossland, Higher Education and Adult Courses Manager, Stockport College, added:
“The event was very successful, with it bringing together a range of different people representing different organisations to share their own experiences with colleagues throughout the region. All in all, the day was both inspirational and practical.”

The next networking event in the North West will be taking place in June 2010. Please check back here for more details nearer the time.

See the other networking events taking place across England

Read up on other peer mentoring work that MBF supports