By Friday 18th September, 1000 students had signed up to the Buddy Scheme! It was also the day of our Welcome Party which completely filled Mandela Hall and everyone enjoyed an evening of giant games, table tennis, free pizza, beautiful face-painting, and society performances. It was a fitting end to Freshers Week.

The Buddy Scheme at Sussex is entering it’s second year supported by funding from Sussex University, reflecting its increasing popularity among Sussex students. The Buddy Scheme was a main factor in the manifesto of the Welfare Officer, Indi Hicks, in 2011 and was created to aid new students’ transition to Sussex. The scheme was piloted in 2012 and a total of 91 students were involved. 3 years later, the Buddy Scheme has over 1000 students signed up by Week 1, which is incredible! Thanks to the support from Sussex University, we have been able to develop the scheme to the size that it is today run by two full time members of staff, with it’s own website www.buddyscheme.com, and its integrated matching system (which saves us a LOT of time!).

Last year there were 74 different nationalities represented on the scheme with a total of 65 different languages spoken. The Buddy Scheme welcomes any student at Sussex to join and celebrates a wide diversity of cultures. We are working on engaging more postgraduates, student parents and students on the Study Abroad programme.

The Buddy Scheme has created a network across Sussex campus working closely with the International Student Support Team, Active US, student societies and the Schools of Study. Our events, trips, and activities give buddies a space to hang out and get to know each other better. They give everyone a chance to try something new and exciting that is affordable and fun, such as Bouldering and Air Hop. Ice Skating at the Pavilion has also proved to be extremely popular and our trips to the Harry Potter studios always sells out quickly!

The Sussex Buddy Scheme is being used as a good example of a peer mentoring scheme and other Students’ Union’s across the country are copying many of its features. The Buddy Scheme was presented at the UKCISA conference hosted by Sussex in July and the presentation received the most positive feedback of the week.

The Buddy Scheme wouldn’t be what it is today without the generosity and kindness of current students at Sussex who give up their time to help new students at Sussex. We can’t be this successful without our Buddy Volunteers so THANK YOU for being so great!