ENGAGE Access Reverse Mentoring Programme

What is ENGAGE?

Empowering New Generations, AdvancinG Equality through Reverse Mentoring in Higher Education (ENGAGE) places students at the core of fostering inclusive and accessible cultures within UCC.  Leveraging a Reverse Mentoring approach guided by UDL, ENGAGE actively involves students from priority groups, offering them a significant platform to express their diverse experiences and perspectives related to teaching, learning, university life, and workplace expectations. The aim of this programme directly engages Access students (mentors) who have traditionally felt marginalised or underrepresented, empowering them to embrace and communicate the value of their unique identities to staff members (mentees).  By focusing on the lived experiences of student mentors, ENGAGE fosters mutual understanding and will contribute meaningfully to broader institutional change.   

Funding 

This programme is supported through HEA Path 4 Inclusive Environments funding, designed to promote inclusive practices that ensure every student feels valued, supported, and a genuine sense of belonging in higher education settings.  

ENGAGE addresses the objectives of the fund by promoting inclusive environments on campus that are accessible to all students and that foster belonging. The initiative supports the participation of diverse learners by applying universal design principles to champion success, and contribute to the enhancement of inclusive teaching, learning, and assessment practices to enrich opportunities for all students in higher education.   

What is Reverse Mentoring?

Through reverse mentoring, ENGAGE is designed to foster deeper understanding, empathy, and collaboration between students and senior academic and administrative staff across our university.  Reverse Mentoring (RM) is a strategy wherein those with less experience and seniority (mentors) are matched with more seasoned and senior counterparts (mentees) for the purpose of sharing insights, with the initial knowledge transfer stemming from the less senior mentor. It has traditionally taken place in employment settings whereby the junior employee acts as a mentor to the more senior staff member. In this instance the unique element is that RM is being delivered between students (mentors) and academic staff and senior staff working in academic settings (mentees). 

How does it work? 

Reverse mentoring flips the power dynamic and roles of conventional mentoring. This means each student mentor will be paired with a senior staff mentee from one of the four colleges in UCC.   

Placing students at the core of advancing inclusive and accessible environments on campus, this initiative provides an opportunity for students to share their experiences and insights with their mentee in one-on-one mentoring session from November 2025 to May 2026.  

Who is it for? 

Current or former Access Ambassadors on the Access UCC Ambassador Programme were able to apply for the programme. 

Why Participate  

As Access Ambassadors you have a unique student voice, a voice that senior academic and administrative staff would like to listen to and learn from.   

Share your own take on university life and what really matters to you!  

It’s a chance for Access UCC students to lead the way and talk openly about things like equity, belonging, student life, the culture of UCC, technology use, and more.  

Training and ongoing support will be provided to help you get the most out of the experience.   

This is a valuable chance to develop your communication, leadership, and mentoring skills while contributing to positive change within the university community.