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Mentoring programmes for students have been made ‘popular’ with the increase in New Zealand universities over the past 10 years. These programmes have targeted the groups of ‘low achieving’ students, especially those of Pacific ethnicity, who have been identified as students who need academic support. For the universities, the main priority has been to increase the academic achievement levels of the students. Mentoring has value and it is beneficial for all of those involved. However, there needs to be examination and analysis of mentoring programmes, especially with regard to the impacts. As a practitioner and theorist of mentoring, I present a personal exploration of the interpersonal relationships formed in mentoring between myself and my students so that a clearer depiction of mentoring relationships may occur for those have a keen interest with Pacific students. The nature of mentoring in a university context is challenging but with the philosophical approach of appreciative mentorship, the challenges quickly fade into the background. Mentoring as a process of relationship development is critical for the successful academic futures of Pacific students in tertiary education.

This chapter provides an introduction to how the inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach is being used by colleges and universities around the world to improve faculty and institutional development and to strengthen the interconnections between teaching, learning, and research. This chapter provides a synthesis and analysis of all the chapters in the volume, which present a range of perspectives, case studies, and empirical research on how IBL is being used across a range of courses across a range of institutions to enhance faculty and institutional development. This chapter argues that the IBL approach has great potential to enhance and transform teaching and learning. Given the growing demands placed on education to meet a diverse range of complex political, economic, and social problems and personal needs, this chapter argues that education should be a place where lifelong and lifewide learning is cultivated and where self-directed learning is nurtured. To that end, this chapter argues that IBL helps cultivate a learning environment that is more meaningful, responsive, integrated, and purposeful.