Introduction
Since April 2021, the German-Syrian Research Foundation (DSFG e. V.) has offered its Academic Mentoring Program to support students and researchers striving to continue their academic journey in Europe. The program connects students with mentors who have already walked this academic path and are eager to help others overcome challenges such as language, bureaucracy, and cultural adjustment.
At its core, the program is driven by solidarity and shared ambition. Our mentors generously contribute their experience so that every aspiring academic has the chance to move forward with confidence, purpose, and a strong community beside them.
At its core, the program is driven by solidarity and shared ambition. Our mentors generously contribute their experience so that every aspiring academic has the chance to move forward with confidence, purpose, and a strong community beside them.
Mentroing Team:
Management team: 7 volunteers
Mentors: 95 volunteer mentors by the end of 2023
Report date: 10.02.2024
Prepared by: Dr. Yamen AlSalka (Manager of mentoring team)
Mentorship cases:
From 01.01.2023 to 31.12.2023, 86 mentees have applied for our program. With the help of our mentors, 69 mentees have successfully completed their mentoring process. Unfortunately, due to a shortage of mentors in some fields, we were unable to offer mentoring to 17 mentees, mainly in IT, automation, and AI.
General mentoring sessions
A general mentoring session was organized on 30.07.2023 for 7 mentees who had general questions and needed general help and mentoring.
Data from the completed cases:
The successfully completed cases mainly involved mentees from pharmaceutical & medical fields (36 %), engineering fields (24 %), and natural science (11 %). The majority of mentees (approx. 57 %) have applied to our program for mentoring in order to apply for a Master’s degree in Germany. Of these mentees, approximately 43 % were women helped by DSFG mentoring program.
