Women in Universities Mentoring Scheme Evaluation Report 2013

Women in Universities Mentoring Scheme Evaluation Report 2013

Alison Preece, University of South Wales and Nia Gwynn Meacher, Bangor University

Keywords: Women in Universities, Mentoring, HEIs, Evaluation

Introduction

The funding for Women in Universities Mentoring Scheme (WUMS) pilot was agreed by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) in November 2007 with the project to run for one year. The pilot project was operational across all Welsh Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from January 2008- January 2009 and during this time a total of 32 women (16 mentoring pairs) participated. These were drawn from across 12 HEIs and one Further Education College across Wales.

Following the successful pilot project a funding expression was submitted to HEFCW and all Welsh Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to secure sufficient funding to support the continuation of the project on a rolling period of 3 years. This funding started in September 2009.

The WUMS Pilot and live project were designed to address some of the specific barriers faced by women in the HEI workplace and to promote gender equality by supporting the career progression of all women (academic and professional/support) working in higher education through a system of mentoring.WUMS is the first project of its kind that actively promotes career progression by an inter university scheme for women working in Higher Education in Wales.

The WUMS Pilot Project was managed by a Steering Committee with representatives of all Welsh universities. A Project Coordinator was appointed with responsibility for the daily management and administration of the project.

By February 2012, 119 mentoring partnerships had been established in addition to the 16 of the pilot project. Women took part from all the Welsh universities, from all grades and a wide variety of functions. A full survey was undertaken in the summer of 2012 to gather feedback on the experiences of those who had been involved in the scheme. This short report is split into two sections; the first deals with the outcomes of the survey and the second with the lessons learnt on the operational issues of running such a scheme. Two further reports on the scheme are available at

Section 1 – Responses to Survey on experiences of the Women in Universities Mentoring Scheme (WUMS)

A survey of all those who took part in WUMS was undertaken over the months of July to September 2012. The surveys were tailored for mentees and mentors and a small number of participants will have completed both, as they may have taken part in the scheme as both a mentee or mentor. All those who had been involved in the WUMS project (212 women) were contacted by email with a link to the survey. Eighty-one responses were received (38% of total); 48% (39) of responses came from mentees and 52% from mentors (42). The majority of the responses (54%) came from those who had been involved in partnerships which started in 2011. During the survey period between 46% and 53% of the partnerships were still active. Of those partnerships that were not still active, the relationship lasted between six weeks and three years.Overall, 66% of mentees and 81% of mentors who responded were satisfied or very satisfied with their experience of WUMS.

Main Outcomes for the Individual

As part of the survey respondents were asked: “What have been the three main outcomes for you as a mentee/mentor?

Mentees:

The majority of responses were positive (26 out of 35 responses) with most reporting an increase in confidence, clarity in aims and objectives and also an awareness of how mentoring can help. The following quotes sum up many of the responses:

“Feeling as though I am actively planning for my career and promotional prospects. Taking time to reflect on achievements and also what work has to be done to get where I want to go… A sense of greater confidence and empowerment.”

“Identified gaps in experience that would need to be filled if I were to further develop my career. Clearer focus on where/how I’d like my career to develop…”

“… I had a successful performance review on the back of our meeting, which seems to have progressed my career in the right direction.”

“Identified areas for skills development, improved skills in completing job applications, better awareness of strengths and weaknesses.”

An added benefit of the scheme was the networking opportunities:

“I met up with 2 other mentees and we meet regularly now. Every 6-8 weeks for peer-to-peer mentoring and that has been really great!”

There were nine responses who did not identify any outcomes of the mentoring partnership.

Mentors:

There were a huge variety of answers from the 37 responses and although some reported that there had been little in the way of outcomes (3 out of 35) the majority of responses were positive. Many mentors reported that the scheme enabled them to develop and practice the skill of mentoring:

“Increased my skills of mentoring, felt we did some useful work together in the way of clarifying career related issues and staff development opportunities.”

“Development of my confidence and ability to advise others…thinking across and beyond my disciplinary field about how to help others career plan.”

There was also an element of further self-development for mentors:

“Makes me look at myself through different eyes. My mentee is a very different from me. It also validates that I am capable of making a difference.”

“Enhancing personal skills – opportunity to share experiences – look at other people’s experiences in a different way and learn from them.”

Others identified the feeling of satisfaction of being able to help someone else and also confirmed their abilities in this area, leading to a greater confidence in being able to act as a mentor:

“Confidence. Better listener. Better at not sorting out others problems but helping people to help themselves.”

“Satisfaction that I was helping someone else. Honed listening skills and concentration skills.”

Many also highlighted the networking opportunities of the training courses alongside the mentoring role as a key benefit of the scheme.

Both mentees and mentors were asked to comment on the suitability of the matches.

In response to the question on the suitability of the matching process 77% of mentees and 90% of mentors thought that they were either matched suitably or matched suitably to some extent. Comments vary from “…I could not have chosen better if I had done it myself”, to “…(we had) different commitments to the scheme and to career development.”

The main reasons that mentees reported not being entirely happy with the match were primarily the distance between the participants, and secondly, the expectations that the mentor would have specific knowledge or experience of the mentee’s specific job role. The challenges of this process are discussed further in the section on lessons learnt.

Mentees were asked “Would you say that your career has progressed as a result of being involved in a mentoring relationship?”

57.9% (22) felt that their career had progressed either probably or possibly as a result of being involved in mentoring, whilst 42.1% (16) stated that they felt that it had no effect on their career progression.

As a supplementary question mentees were asked if there were other ways in which the mentoring partnership has been beneficial. Many noted that the networking opportunities of the scheme were an added benefit and also the usefulness of seeing the sector from another perspective, making them consider wider possibilities for career development and different approaches to issues.

“Good opportunity to talk through problems, issues and complex day to day running practicalities with a person who is at a distance, un-involved who can encourage thinking with clear questioning.”

“I gained insight into how I might be perceived as a potential applicant for jobs…”

“It opened my eyes to the role of mentoring as a tool for personal growth and progression. As a consequence I have taken a role in setting up a mentoring scheme for students…”

“Possible networking opportunities which may arise from additional work that I applied for as a result of encouragement from my mentor.”

Both mentees and mentors were asked, “To what extent do you feel that participating in the WUMS project has had a positive overall effect on your personal development?”

Overall the response was positive with 77% (21) of mentees and 70% (26) of mentors identifying a positive effect.

“Without the scheme, I feel I would have no-one to talk to that really understands the position that I am in.” (mentee)

“Most important personal opportunity I have undertaken in a long time especially relating to outcomes.” (mentee)

“A good opportunity to participate in one to one in depth work and reflect on own practice, personal development etc” (mentor)

“Broadening my knowledge and skills.” (mentor)

“Although my focus is firmly on my mentee, taking time out to listen and immerse myself in her world has helped to put things in perspective with my own life/issues.”(mentor)

Both mentees and mentors were asked to suggest how the scheme could be improved.

The time it took to match participants was reported as an issue for some respondents and the lack of suitable mentors was highlighted as a reason for this. Many requested more training and for the training to be a compulsory part of the scheme. More networking sessions were requested but there were geographical obstacles to this and issues regarding distance mentoring was also recognised. As a result more regional matching or networking could be considered. It was also felt that there should have been more follow up after the initial matching.

Comparisons with other mentoring schemes for women.

The Equality Challenge Unit produced a report Mentoring: Progressing Careers in Higher Education that highlights similar areas to this report. However, that report draws examples from other schemes, which because they have been single institutions schemes have been better able to quantitatively assess the impact of mentoring on female progression.

In the ECU report there are examples from three institutions; Queens University Belfast, St Andrews, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US and Flinders University in Australia.

Analysis of the data in all these schemes provides compelling evidence regarding the positive impact of women’s mentoring (although the ECU paper readily acknowledges that there could be other factors that contribute to these results but women in Queen’s University Belfast did attribute their promotions to mentoring). The data from St Andrews shows that since the start of the scheme in 2005 that the percentage of women professors has increased from 11% to 16% and senior lecturers from 15% to 27%. This study also noted that mentoring had provided participant with more confidence to progress.

In Australia, Flinders University’s scheme was introduced with the aim of reducing gender inequality in senior academic positions. The evaluation of the scheme (which ran from 1998 to 2004) was a comparative study of those who had received formal mentoring and those who had not. The study demonstrated that mentees who had received formal mentoring were more likely to stay in the University – 14% of staff who had received mentoring had left compared to 33% who had not. There was also a higher rate of promotion – 68% of mentees who had received mentoring had been promoted at least once since the start of the scheme compared to 43% of those who had not (Gardiner et al, 2007).

Conclusions

Clearly many benefits had been gained from participation in WUMS. Mentees have reported an increase in their confidence and have welcomed the opportunity to reflect on their current situation and identify how they would like to progress in their chosen career pathway.

It was also pleasing to note the benefits identified by the mentors in terms of supporting skills development – specifically mentoring skills and improving their confidence levels by reflecting on their own achievements.

Overall, response by mentors and mentees is positive and has supported both groups to reflect and support their career development. However, in terms of impact it is difficult to measure in the short term and it would be necessary to follow-up this report with further surveys to track participant’s progress and long term impact of participation on the scheme.

Evidence from the WUMS project and the other schemes noted in this report does demonstrate the positive impact of women’s mentoring schemes and whilst they may not be the sole intervention to that have led to women’s progression, the results do highlight that women’s mentoring can be a key component of a mix of interventions to support women’s career development.

Section 2 – Operation of the Scheme and Lessons Learnt

Much has been written around the theories of mentoring but little on the practicalities of running a mentoring scheme. The following is intended to give some guidance on establishing and running a mentoring scheme. It is based on lessons learnt during the four years of the Women in Universities Mentoring Scheme (WUMS) and recommendations noted in the responses to the survey.

Ownership of the Scheme

WUMS is an inter-university project with eleven institutions taking part and therefore jointly owning the scheme. The steering group consists of a representative from each of the institutions and, as a joint initiative; decisions need to be agreed by all those involved. One institution took the lead role and one steering group member agreed to take the role of Chair.

Lessons Learnt:

• Do not under-estimate the work that can arise from such a scheme especially around application times, matching period and training events.

• Set dates for meetings well in advance. Initially meetings circulated around the country but eventually these took place by video conference.

• Consider building-in cost of travel expenses for steering group meetings.

• Dedicated resource –a project coordinator was employed and based at the lead institution. However continuity is also important and the temporary nature of the post and delays in securing funding did lead to a turn-over in the coordinators which had an effect on the running of the scheme.

Funding and Costs

The pilot project was set up with funds from the Higher Education Funding Scheme for Wales (HEFCW). In subsequent years each institution contributed to the running costs of the project and funding from HEFCW reduced. The main costs of the project were staff costs. Other considerations are shown below:

Staff Costs
Project Coordinator 0.5 F.T.E.
Training Staff Development (Project Coordinator)
Travel and subsistence costs for Project Coordinator
Office supplies/ equipment/ desk space
Leaflets and publicity
Welsh Language translation
Induction and Training events (Mentors and Mentees)
Steering Committee Meetings
Evaluation of partnerships
End of Project Report (research costs/design/printing/translation/launch)

Lessons Learnt:

• No funds were built into WUMS to support travel costs for participants/steering group members, however the administration of the reimbursement of such costs would have had a significant impact on the time spent on administration of the scheme.

Making the Purpose Clear

There can be confusion between mentoring and coaching and the various definitions surrounding these personal development interventions that can sometimes overlap and cause confusion. The aim of the WUMS project was to concentrate on the professional and career development of the individual; the mentor was not expected to have any detailed knowledge of the mentee’s role but required to support the exploration of the mentee’s career aspirations in a general sense. As the scheme progressed there were more requests for very specific matches around subject disciplines from both academic and support staff. This was not always easy to accommodate as the scheme relied on volunteer mentors. In an effort to address this issue, the project coordinator aimed to ‘headhunt’ senior women in particular disciplines to ask if they were interested in participating. This obviously has time implications, a risk of alienating those who do not appreciate the contact and also not everyone has the skills needed to become a mentor just because they are in a senior role. Conversely it was successful in some instances and raised greater awareness of the scheme amongst senior women. Comments from the final survey suggest that some participants expected more of the scheme and wanted someone with expert knowledge of their area of work.

Lessons Learnt:

• Be very clear about what the scheme can offer. Is the purpose to put women in the same career areas in touch or is it more general than that? WUMS concentrated on progression for women but not all women aspire to senior roles. The role of the coordinator and the effectiveness of WUMS communication in the sector is crucial as it must give a consistent message to all participants. Managing the expectations of applicants and participants is vital to ensuring that there is no misunderstanding and therefore disappointment with the scheme.

Marketing the Scheme