Our successful UN-Award Winning programme is back for the 2014-15 cycle. Applications officially opened on 15th May and, already, forms are flying in! But what is it about this year that is different? Well, for the 2014-15 programme, ParliaMentors will only be recruiting from London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Nottingham - targeting six key universities: SOAS, Queen Mary University, Manchester University, Salford University, University of Nottingham, and the University of Birmingham. We take a deeper look at the reason behind this new direction and what 2014 has in store for ParliaMentors...
Since its launch in 2007, ParliaMentors has grown in popularity. However, with the number of applicants growing every year, the monitoring of such an intricate, diverse, and important programme becomes increasingly difficult. Add to that 2015 being an election year, and you arrive at a slight problem: MPs will be even harder to get hold of. To ensure the integrity and the high standard of the programme wasn’t compromised. 3FF decided it would be best to take the ‘Quality not Quantity’ approach, in order to establish a higher yielding programme for the future leaders of the world. The vision for this year is simple: to strengthen the programme’s core elements.
The plan for this cycle is to recruit 30 students (a reduction from the previous 45 places offered), in order to launch programme changes to a smaller group. We will have groups of 5 students being mentored by 1 MP, compared to 3 students per MP, as we know from previous experience that the availability of MP Mentors will be largely constrained, therefore, a change in the delivery model is essential. With fewer groups to support in fewer cities, we can concentrate our support network to the student groups to allow for a stronger, more developed programme and a deeper-rooted network within our six target universities.
2014 will be the start of a new and improved ParliaMentors Programme, making it a more sustainable programme, with increased awareness and cemented connections that will enable us to create a greater impact ahead of our 10-year Anniversary in 2017.
For more information on the ParliaMentors programme, visit www.3ff.org,uk/mentoring
Kirith Ahluwalia is currently an intern working at 3FF, supporting the delivery of the ParliaMentors Programme
Since its launch in 2007, ParliaMentors has grown in popularity. However, with the number of applicants growing every year, the monitoring of such an intricate, diverse, and important programme becomes increasingly difficult. Add to that 2015 being an election year, and you arrive at a slight problem: MPs will be even harder to get hold of. To ensure the integrity and the high standard of the programme wasn’t compromised. 3FF decided it would be best to take the ‘Quality not Quantity’ approach, in order to establish a higher yielding programme for the future leaders of the world. The vision for this year is simple: to strengthen the programme’s core elements.
The plan for this cycle is to recruit 30 students (a reduction from the previous 45 places offered), in order to launch programme changes to a smaller group. We will have groups of 5 students being mentored by 1 MP, compared to 3 students per MP, as we know from previous experience that the availability of MP Mentors will be largely constrained, therefore, a change in the delivery model is essential. With fewer groups to support in fewer cities, we can concentrate our support network to the student groups to allow for a stronger, more developed programme and a deeper-rooted network within our six target universities.
2014 will be the start of a new and improved ParliaMentors Programme, making it a more sustainable programme, with increased awareness and cemented connections that will enable us to create a greater impact ahead of our 10-year Anniversary in 2017.
For more information on the ParliaMentors programme, visit www.3ff.org,uk/mentoring
Kirith Ahluwalia is currently an intern working at 3FF, supporting the delivery of the ParliaMentors Programme