The ADBE Industry Mentoring Programme is a 3-month programme targeted at our final year undergraduate and postgraduate students in the school of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment. Students who apply to the programme are matched with one of our Alumni Industry Fellows - NTU alumni and industry partners who work in a relevant field and who have agreed to volunteer their time to support NTU students.
Students and mentors receive an initial briefing and are given a mentoring guide including resources to help them make the most of the mentoring experience. Once they have been matched up, the students and mentors will arrange to meet regularly, with a minimum of 5 contact hours expected. This year the programme ran between January and April. Mentors can support students with a wide range of topics including building their commercial awareness, developing their career plans, giving them insights into the world of work, advising them on job-hunting and CVs, helping them to set personal and professional targets, and increasing their confidence, motivation and networking skills.
For the 2024 project, we successfully matched 63 NTU students with Alumni and Industry Fellows. The feedback was very positive, with levels of employability confidence increasing by 14% between the start and end of the programme. The areas with the highest increase in confidence were "I have access to a network of people and contacts who will be helpful to me in my future career" and "I feel confident to create professional relationships either online or in person" - both statements seeing a 50%+ increase in confidence levels.
The ADBE Industry Mentoring programme has been an extremely positive experience for our final year students, helping them to create valuable industry connections and benefit from unique insights, advice and mentoring support which has given them a real boost as they prepare for the next steps of their career. We are extremely grateful to all of our Alumni and Industry Fellows for giving their time and expertise to support our students and look forward to the programme continuing to grow and develop.
Chris Jones, School Employability Manager, ADBE
Case studies
Read about the mentoring experiences of some of our students and their mentors.
Kafasis Konstantinos
Kafasis studied MSc Construction Management at NTU and took part in the ADBE Industry Mentoring Programme. This is his story.
Josh Kingsbury
Josh studied BA (Hons) Product Design at NTU and took part in the ADBE Industry Mentoring Programme. This is his story.
Louis Kamphete
Louis studied MSc Project Management (Construction) at NTU and took part in the ADBE Industry Mentoring Programme. This is his story.
Mentor story: Colin
Colin is an Alumni Fellow on the Alumni and Industry Fellowship Programme, he recently became a gold badge holder after volunteering over 50 hours of his time to the students at NTU. Colin is a retired Construction Executive previously having worked for companies such as Morgan Sindall, Kier and Interserve.
Both Kostas and Louis have been great to work with and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of supporting them as they launch their careers within quality organisations and coaching them in CV, interview technique and industry culture.
Contact Chris Jones, our School Employability Manager to find out more about our ADBE Industry Mentoring Programme.