The Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design is piloting a peer support initiative for first-year international students to help them find connections and develop help-seeking skills at the start of their journey at UofT. The program will create structured opportunities for first-year international students to engage with trained peers by asking questions in a low-barrier setting and building relationships that help them feel part of the Daniels community. In addition to social connection, the peer supports are intended to increase awareness of and confidence in accessing academic and student services, with proactive touchpoints that encourage students to seek help earlier rather than waiting until challenges escalate. The pilot is designed to inform on which outreach and peer engagement approaches are most effective for supporting persistence.
Outcomes
This pilot is intended to increase first-year international students’ early connection to peers and improve awareness and use of institutional and divisional academic and community supports. With a goal to reduce isolation and create pathways for help-seeking, Daniels’ initiative aims to achieve this by improving persistence as early as first year and contribute to stronger Year 1 to Year 2 retention for participating students.