The BUDDY PROGRAMME is intended for first-year students. The project was originally launched during the first lockdown (spring 2020). During that period, newly-enrolled students did not have a chance to make new friends and share experiences as it normally happens when you start a university path. For this reason, Politecnico designed this experimental project in which last-year students become "buddies" who help new students to integrate into the university.
Who is a buddy?
He or she is a kind of mentor, a person further along the study path who allows freshmen, bachelor or master degree students, to approach the academic journey with some extra support and resources.
What does a buddy do?
A buddy is supposed to help first-year students with:
- organising their life as university students (time tables, methods, organization);
- finding their way around the campus by providing information on how to use administrative and/or IT services;
- making new friends inside and outside the university by organizing meetings and events (normally online);
- sharing experience and information about life in the city (real and virtual life);
- sharing and promoting Italian culture by helping International students get acquainted with social habits in Italy.
How can first-year students interact with a buddy?
First-year students can contact their buddies by e-mail, Whatsapp, social networks, etc. Normally, the buddies get in touch with first-year students through a message sent to their institutional mail address. They provide their availability for some time slots and they also organize events and meetings. Discovery tours of the University and the city of Turin are planned for September and early October, organised peer-to-peer by buddies.
For more information or to contact your buddy, write to: buddy@polito.it