The paper details the development and organisation of the cross-institution mentoring programme, which was piloted during 1998 between Kelso High School and Charles Sturt University Ü Mitchell. The mentoring programme is viewed as an important strategy for informing high school students about university courses and university life through the provision of a contact person who is a student at the university. The programme is also seen as a value adding strategy, which can attract potential new students from around the state and also bring CSU out into the wider community. One of the key features of this programme is that all sanctioned communication between participating students is via e-mail, thus making it accessible to students right across the state, even in the most isolated communities.
As a result of the evaluation of this trial, the programme underwent revision and rewriting into its present operational form. It is envisaged that this programme, once approved by the NSW Department of Education and Training, will operate on all campuses of CSU and within many high schools throughout NSW and Victoria.