Every student is matched with a practising professional from their sector, for a regular meeting throughout the programme.
The selection criterion for mentors is simple and deliberately demanding: holding the target job today. What an employer expects from a beginner shifts from year to year, and only a practitioner in post knows it in the present tense.
Mentoring covers what a course cannot contain: how a decision gets made in a team, what a client actually expects, how work is presented, when to ask for help.
The scheme is separate from academic supervision. The cohort supervisor tracks progress and attendance; the mentor sheds light on the job. The two complement each other and do not share a role.