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Women’s mentoring schemes

Università IULM provides women’s mentoring schemes and related support programmes, ensuring that women students have access to tailored initiatives that promote their academic success, wellbeing, and full participation in university life. These programmes are embedded in the IULM Gender Equality Plan, which identifies mentoring and psychological support as a cornerstone of women’s empowerment within the university.

Women students constituted the vast majority of participants in IULM’s counseling, mentoring, tutoring, and peer support programmes. In the academic year 2023/2024:

  • 85% of the students engaged in peer mentoring schemes were women.
  • 78% of the students availing themselves of counseling opportunities were women.
  • 80% of the students participating in programmes devoted to mental health and wellbeing were women.
  • Overall, 18% of the women student population took part in the available mentoring schemes.

A targeted approach was also pursued through initiatives such as  “Orienta-menti”, Seminars on Study Methods, Stress Management, and Expectations, and Seminars about a stress-free graduation. These seminars, reserved for small groups, taught strategies to cope with stress and overcome academic obstacles. Once again, the vast majority of participants were women (80% in seminars, 78% in one-to-one interviews with psychologists).

In the same context, IULM promoted participation in the Mentorship Milano initiative, a women-focused empowerment and mentoring pathway for young women (18–30) living in the Metropolitan City of Milan. The programme offers a structured shadowing cycle (three meetings over six months) with high-profile women leaders across business, fashion, design, publishing and institutions, helping mentees explore aspirations, receive practical career guidance, and build confidence.

In 2024, IULM further strengthened its support system by establishing a collaboration with the Anti-Violence Center Cerchi d’Acqua, open to the entire IULM community – students, teaching staff, and technical-administrative personnel. The initiative offers structured assistance to women who have experienced mistreatment, abuse, sexual and psychological violence, or stalking. Services include welcome interviews, individual psychological support, psychotherapy, legal counseling, employment guidance, and financial education. As part of this collaboration, IULM also organises training sessions and public awareness events on gender-based violence, accessible both to the university and the wider community. In addition, IULM collaborates with Ankyra, an association that since 2013 has supported women and men – regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation – who are victims of domestic or relational violence. Through this partnership, IULM ensures a multidisciplinary approach to mentoring and support, combining academic tutoring, psychological care, and pathways to independence.

The above figures and initiatives demonstrate the importance given by the university to women’s mentoring schemes as a key mechanism to enable women students to fully benefit from the academic and social opportunities offered by IULM. In continuity with past years, the university’s future is increasingly directed towards gender equality, under the framework of the IULM Gender Equality Plan, which promotes the inclusion of women in academic life and condemns all forms of gender discrimination.