PASS (Peer Assisted Study Support)
What is PASS at Queen Mary?
It is a course-based mentoring scheme where first-years are given the opportunity to explore their problems with higher-year students (mentors) in a friendly, informal environment, to help them settle in to university life, the department and their studies.
Click on to our short film (approx.14 minutes), PASS at Queen Mary, to find out what mentors and academics think about the scheme and to get an idea of what happens at mentoring sessions. If you don’t want to watch the whole film, you may find the short clips from it helpful in answering some of the more specific questions below.
Who is involved in PASS in Queen Mary?
The following are running PASS schemes in 2012-13: Biological and Chemical Sciences; Dentistry; Economics and Finance; Electronic Engineering and Computer Science; Engineering and Materials Science; English; Geography; History; Languages, Linguistics and Film; Mathematical Sciences; Physics.
The most important people are the volunteer undergraduate mentors, chosen by their departments and trained by Widening Participation. Each subject team is led by a student organiser who liaises with a coordinator (an academic) in their own School or department and with the central coordinator of the scheme. Any first-year can come along to PASS sessions; they don't have to fit a particular profile.
First-year students can send queries about the PASS scheme in their school or department to the following:
SBCS: Nasira Ahmed, n.ahmed@se11.qmul.ac.uk, Saarah Ibrahim, s.ebrahim@se10.qmul.ac.uk or Jeyrroy Gabriel, j.a.gabriel@se10.qmul.ac.uk
Computer Science: Marie Cruz, mdc30@eecs.qmul.ac.uk or Zygimantus Raugus, zr300@eecs.qmul.ac.uk
Dentistry: Nikki Georgiadou, n.georgiadou@smd10.qmul.ac.uk or Meena Kumar, m.kumar@smd10.qmul.ac.uk
SEF: Henna Akram: h.akram@hss10.qmul.ac.uk
Electronic Engineering: Kavinda Edirisinghe, kpe30@eecs.qmul.ac.uk or Nabil Ishtiaq, ni300@eecs@qmul.ac.uk
English: Lauren Blackburne-Tinker, le10051@qmul.ac.uk or Jesse Ashman, j.j.ashman@hss11.qmul.ac.uk
SEMS: Todun Akinremi, ef09125@qmul.ac.uk or Juned Uddin, j.uddin@se11.qmul.ac.uk
Geography: Rebekah Soen, r.soen@hss10.qmul.ac.uk
History: Chloe Capone, c.capone@hss10.qmul.ac.uk or Darren Addai, d.addai@hss10.qmul.ac.uk
SLLF: Kate Nevin, k.nevin@hss10.qmul.ac.uk
SMS: Tanjina Ali, t.aktharali@se10.qmul.ac.uk or Khadija Khanom, k.khanom@qmul.ac.uk
Physics: Jonathan Cheyne, j.cheyne@se10.qmul.ac.uk
Why do departments decide to adopt PASS?
Click on this short film clip, Why PASS?, to hear the views of both academics and current mentors on why it is a useful element in the study and social support offered to first-years in their discipline. If you are a student or an academic interested in hearing more about how PASS could be set up in your department, please contact Debbie Andrews (details at the foot of this page).
Why is there an emphasis on ‘peer’ mentoring?
A current PASS mentor summed this up by saying, "There is no barrier, student to student". Mentors who have followed recently the same courses and been in the same department as their first-year mentees have a very useful perspective to offer. PASS is a valuable and complementary addition to the wide range of more formal teaching and support offered to students.
What is the key skill of a PASS mentor?
Mentors are there to help mentees come to their own conclusions and solutions, not to supply ‘answers’. Click on this short film clip, Heart of PASS, to hear why past and present mentors think this is so important.
Why be a PASS mentor?
Most mentors are motivated by wanting to give new students the help they wished they had had at the same stage. Through mentoring, they also increase their own academic and social confidence and gain very useful experience to talk about on CVs and in interviews.
How do I find out more?
Download back copies of our PASS Newsletter below to find out more about what we do. You will also find on the newsletters a list of currently participating Schools and departments. For any queries from Queen Mary staff or students and from external colleagues, please feel free to contact: Dr Debbie Andrews, Peer Mentoring Coordinator, d.m.andrews@qmul.ac.uk.
UPDATED 19/11/10