Mentoring undergraduate civil engineering students

On enrolment at university, undergraduate civil engineering students begin their journey towards a professional career. Associating with graduate engineers throughout their studies provides students with potential role models and assists them to accustomise progressively to the industry. While the procurement of guest practitioners to deliver workshops and lectures remains buoyant, opportunities for students to secure summer placements within the civil engineering sector has been problematic since the 2008 financial crisis. Graduate mentoring of student mentees can help to bridge the shortage of vocational placements. This paper discusses the results from a graduate mentoring initiative involving third-year (N = 345) civil and environmental engineering student mentees, 83 graduate mentors and 31 employers. The results show that the student mentees overwhelmingly support and validate the opportunities that this initiative has provided. On completion of their mentoring meetings, and on return to the fourth year of their studies, the majority of the students commit to making behavioural and attitudinal changes regarding their own continued professional development.