Best Practice-1
1.Title: Integrated Mentoring for Comprehensive Student Development
2. Objective
Faculty mentors play an essential role in shaping the academic journey of students. Both mentors and students share the responsibility of establishing meaningful and effective mentoring relationships. For graduate students, mentors provide consistent guidance on academic, ethical, and personal issues. They offer constructive feedback on learning, teaching, and career progression, while also helping students balance their professional aspirations with personal commitments. Mentors support and motivate students through challenges, ensuring their overall development.
Key objectives include:
3. The Context
The college, situated in Durg district, serves a diverse student population, including students from urban, rural, and Naxal-affected areas in Chhattisgarh and neighboring states. Recognizing the unique challenges faced by students from marginalized communities, the college focuses on mentoring to support their academic, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Many students face financial difficulties and depend on scholarships, necessitating regular academic and personal guidance.
Additionally, the college introduces school children to higher education and research through organized visits and provides mentorship to young entrepreneurs in nurturing their ventures. As a prominent institution, it also mentors other colleges to enhance their NAAC accreditation performance. The college aligns with the NEP 2020 framework by integrating skill development into its programs to better prepare students for future success.
4. The Practice
5. Evidence of Success
6. Challenges Encountered
Faculty mentors play an essential role in guiding students through their educational journey. Both mentors and students share the responsibility of fostering productive and fulfilling mentoring connections. Each party contributes to the success of the mentoring relationship. For graduate students, a mentor serves as a trusted advisor throughout their academic training, offering valuable insights on both professional, ethical, and personal matters. Mentors provide constructive feedback on various aspects, including learning, teaching, and career development. Additionally, they assist students in navigating the balance between their professional aspirations and personal life commitments, offering support and encouragement during difficult periods.
1. Offering advice to students dealing with societal, emotional, and behavioral challenges that impact their academic performance.
2. Assisting students in navigating their academic journey and establishing achievable goals.
3. Decreasing student dropout rates.
4. Identifying and supporting both slow learners and advanced learners.
5. Providing fair and unbiased support to all students.
6. Guiding students in their academic pursuits and assisting in goal-setting.
7. Encouraging students to engage in extracurricular activities and community service.
8. Delivering career support programs and coaching to enhance employability.
9. Instilling ethical values to foster compassionate citizenship.
10. Cultivating an interest in research among students.
The college, strategically positioned in Durg district, serves a diverse student body hailing from urban and rural areas within Durg district, as well as from other regions in Chhattisgarh, including Naxal affected areas, and even from adjoining states . Recognizing the challenges faced by students from socially and economically marginalized backgrounds, the institution is dedicated to mainstreaming them through comprehensive mentoring, ensuring their academic, mental, and spiritual well- being. With a significant portion of students facing financial constraints and relying on scholarships, they require both academic and personal guidance regularly. Furthermore, the college endeavours to introduce school children to the realm of higher education and research through visits. Additionally, it extends mentoring support to young entrepreneurs nurturing their initiatives. As a leading institution, it also provides mentorship to other colleges to enhance their performance in NAAC appraisals. Aligning with the directives of NEP 2020, the college integrates skill for success in their chosen fields.
1. Academic support & Career development:
Guiding students towards academic success by offering coaching, study strategies, and course guidance, while also aiding in career exploration, goal-setting, and skill development for future professions.
2. Personal Development:
Supporting students in personal growth, including building confidence, resilience, and self-awareness, as well as helping them navigate challenges and transitions.
3. Coaching for Different professional exams:
Facilitating connections with professionals in the students' fields of interest, offering opportunities for internships, job shadowing, and networking.
4. Slow learners and advanced learners:
Tailoring specialized learning plans for both slow and advanced learners to optimize their academic growth and cater to their individual
5. Skill Development programs:
Providing guidance on essential life skills such as time management, communication, leadership, problem-solving and skill enhancement courses.
6. Moral and Ethical Development:
Encouraging ethical behaviour, integrity, and responsible decision-making in academic, professional, and personal contexts.
7. Emotional Support:
Offering a supportive and empathetic ear, providing encouragement, and helping students cope with stress, anxiety, and other emotional challenges.
8. Leadership Development:
Cultivating leadership qualities and empowering students to take on leadership roles within their academic institutions and communities.
9. Placement Assistance:
Facilitating opportunities for internships, co-op placements, and job placements to help students gain practical experience and transition into their chosen careers.
10. Research Promotion:
Cultivating students' interest in conducting research, guiding them through the research process,and fostering critical thinking and analytical skills.
11. Extracurricular Engagement:
Encouraging students to participate in extracurricular activities such as clubs, sports,volunteering, and leadership roles to foster well-rounded development and enhance interpersonal skills.
12. Community Engagement:
Inspiring students to engage in community service projects, volunteer initiatives, and social advocacy efforts to instill a sense of civic responsibility and contribute positively to society.
13. Strengthening Mentor-Mentee Relationships:
Fostering strong, supportive, and trusting relationships between mentors and mentees through effective communication, mutual respect, and regular interaction, enhancing the overall mentoring experience and outcomes.
14. Mentor-Mentee:
The college has developed a strong mentoring system, where each professor guides and supports 30-40 students, addressing their concerns. Additionally, the college offers guest lectures, yoga sessions, heartfulness meditation techniques to alleviate stress, and counseling sessions.
5. Evidences of Success:
➢ Pass percentage of students increased profoundly.
➢ Total 23 students appeared for NET/SET/GATE exams and 13 successfully qualified.
➢ Students’ enrolment to higher studies (Post Graduate and Post graduate diplomas) has increased to 734.
➢ In this session 38 seminars, workshops and conferences have been organized to cultivate in research interest in both teacher and students, in which total 3057 participants participated.
➢ Coaching and Guidance for different exams like NET/SET/GATE/PSC, vocational training programs and Lectures has been organised for career guidance in which 1211 students participated which is quite higher than previous years.
➢ 28 students got placement in various Government and Non-Government companies and institutes.
➢ Total students started their own startups and entrepreneurs are 285.
➢ Many extra- curricular activities like oral presentation, poster making, painting, extempore, rangoli,quiz have been
organized for on campus and off-campus students and many got accolades in University ,State and National Level.
➢ Increase in participation in sports has been witnessed this session and many marked their success in State as well as in
National level.
➢ Different departments have collaborated with the reputed institutes of the country to help research students carry out their research more effectively and to learn new techniques and area of research. Total 23 research scholars are benefitted.
➢ Total 85 outreach programs and extension programs has been conducted during the session in which 5186 students participated.
➢ For wellness of student’s various programs were on Yoga and Meditation was organised by NSS, NCC, Yoga Department and Heartfulness the participation of students has increased.
➢ Paramarsh Scheme: As the Lead college in the region and as part of the UGC Paramarsh scheme, our institution extends support to other colleges by mentoring them through regular visits, lectures, and the creation of online study materials. We also conduct Faculty Development Programs (FDPs) to enhance online teaching skills, thus setting higher standards for quality education and preparing them for NAAC accreditation. Moreover, we assist colleges with inadequate human resources in understanding and developing their Self-Study Reports for NAAC accreditation, guiding our 10 mentee colleges to achieve higher accreditation grades. Additionally, we organize regular sessions to offer ongoing support and guidance to these colleges, they are
a. Government Navin College, Khursipar, Bhilai, CG
b. Governemnt Navin College, Bori
c. Sai College, Bhilai
d. Goverrnment Navin College, Jamgaon R
e. Government Nagrik College, Nandini
6. Problems Encountered:
▪ First-generation learners often face challenges in keeping up with both regular and remedial classes
▪ Weak cognitive skills coupled with slow speed learning and low attention span pose a burden on the mentor and teachers.
1. TITLE: Outcome Based Curriculum And Value -Added Courses
2. Objective:
Ø Ensuring the benchmarking of qualification standards that are globally recognized for their high quality.
Ø Providing students with experiential learning and a practical approach to understanding.
Ø Enhancing students' skills to effectively apply their knowledge in addressing real-time challenges.
Ø Uncovering and refining students' hidden talents through exposure to diverse tasks.
Ø To create opportunities for students to get employment
Ø To empower students to become future job creators through Entrepreneurship.
3. The Context:
As India transitions into a knowledge-based economy, there's a growing awareness of the significant challenge posed by the mismatch between skills/education and available jobs. With a large percentage of youngsters entering the workforce each year, and large percent of students deemed not job-ready, it's imperative to address this gap. Therefore, the college has been consistently innovating and updating its academic structure to enhance the impact of education and focus on employability. This pursuit of educational excellence has led us to embrace Autonomy, the Choice-based credit system, and Outcome-based Education. Encouraging students to enroll in certificate courses, diploma and value-added courses is a crucial step forward in this endeavor.
4. The Practice:
Ø Outcome based syllabus has been designed in every subject and continuously keeps on updating the curriculum so the students can get better opportunity for employment.
Ø Skill enhancement courses has been introduced under NEP norms in all disciplines and made mandatory for the students to opt them.
Ø Value added courses has been introduced and students have the option to develop skills which will help them in taking startups and become entrepreneurship.
Ø Certificate and diploma courses are also available for the students.
Ø Coaching classes, seminars and workshops are being organized regularly for the students on different skills and for scoring better marks in different competitive exams
Ø General Elective courses has been made compulsory for the undergraduate students under NEP. Students are given free to choose the course of their choice which will give them support them in employment and self-employment.
Ø Post Graduate diploma in computer science, Yoga & Philosophy and Master in Social work is attracting students.
Ø Students are assigned projects and fieldworks.
Ø Students are encouraged to get enrolled in MOOCS and NEPTEL.
5. The Evidence Of Success:
Ø Total 2730 students of various disciplines were provided projects works, internship and training programs.
Ø Total number of value-added courses are 66 and 4733 students enrolled in this session.
Ø Twenty departments have structured their courses to emphasize skill outcomes and enhance employability.
Ø Seventeen skill-based certificate courses and seven Diploma courses are running to cultivate entrepreneurial skills.
Ø Thirty-eight seminars and workshops has been organized to promote skill development in different fields.
Ø Several memoranda of understanding (MOUs) have been established with premium institutions to enhance student benefits.
Ø We've already implemented CBCS, under which 24 programs are currently available for the students.
6. Problems encountered:
Initially, students from rural backgrounds felt uncertain about their capabilities and potential. However, with guidance from the faculty, they were able to overcome their apprehensions, actively participate in all programs, and acquire the necessary skills and knowledge.
1. Title of the Practice
Mainstreaming Mentoring for Promotion of Quality Education
2. Objectives of the Practice
As the lead college in the Durg district, the college owns up the responsibility of mentoring at different levels (both school and college) on various aspects of teaching, learning, and extracurricular activities in addition to guiding the colleges towards NAAC accreditation.
The institution engages with:
The College is located at a vantage point in the Durg district and caters to students from both urban and rural(backward) areas of Durg district, other districts of Chhattisgarh, Naxal affected areas, and even other states and areas where avenues for higher education are non-existent or minimal. Hence the institution is committed to mainstream students from socially and economically marginalized sections through mentoring to ensure their academic, mental, and spiritual growth. Almost 60% or more students come from financially stressed backgrounds and seek scholarships and require both academic and personal guidance from time to time. The college also tries to expose the world of future education and research to the school children through visits and through program called INSPIRE. Young entrepreneurs need mentoring on their initiatives too. As a lead college it also mentors other colleges for improving their performance in NAAC appraisal. Skill development initiatives are included as per directives of NEP 2020.
4.1 Mentor-Mentee :
Over the years the college has built a robust system of mentoring students through Mentor- Mentee scheme in which each professor mentors 30-40 students and takes care of the issues raised by them, Guest lectures, Yoga sessions, Heartfulness meditation techniques for relieving stress, and counselling sessions.
4.2 Mentoring Girls from Naxal Affected Families:
Special attention is given to the girls from the Naxal affected areas, who have been orphaned. Coaching for competitive exams, Classes in their main subjects are also held in their hostel (Vigyan Vikas Kendra) to improve their academic performance. Mindfulness programs aimed at trauma healing are organized there for those who are still healing from the shock of losing their family.
Programs for Naxal affected girls include
4.3 School Students:
The faculty of the college makes the regular visits to schools to promote the students for higher education and career options for pure Science subjects. The college also has been organizing INSPIRE for 3 consecutive years to promote the culture of research in pure science amongst students.
4.4 Other Colleges Under Paramarsh Scheme:
As the lead college of this region and under the UGC Paramarsh scheme the college offers support to other colleges and mentors them through regular visits, lectures, creating online study materials, conducting FDPs to train faculty in teaching online thus raising the benchmark for quality education and preparing them for NAAC. It has also provided support to colleges lacking in appropriate human resources to understand and develop the Self-Study Report of NAAC, guiding the 10 mentee colleges to achieve better accreditation grades. Webinars were conducted to support and guide the colleges.
4.5 During Covid: The college organized online classes for students from across the district in all subjects enabled by a special digital link provided by the government. The faculty also counseled them when they were in distress.4.6 Reaching out to the Third Gender: Taking a step to address Diversity and Inclusion the college has been organizing Webinars and joint programs involving the students of the college and the members at the Garima Griha to sensitize them towards the issues of the third gender. Counseling sessions are also organized at Garima Griha. A movie “De Taali” created by a faculty member was shown to the students.
4.7 The Entrepreneurship Cell offers mentoring to the young sharks to guide them with their startup plans. The new value-added and certificate courses are also aimed at skill development.
6. Problems Encountered and Resources Required
Cultural Connects to Inculcate Global Competencies and Create Global Citizens
The objective of the program is to develop an attitude of curiosity and openness, promote understanding of global culture while instilling pride in local and Indian culture in the minds of the students with the readiness to suspend beliefs about other cultures and one’s own.
Primary Objectives:
Secondary objectives:
Culture forms the basic framework for a student’s developing personality. Interaction with other cultures through peers and teachers has been known to provide a unique pathway to developing confidence, communication skills, and appreciation of diversity among students. Recently, UGC has brought out the “Educational Framework for Global Citizenship in Higher Education”, the curriculum draws from the National Education Policy 2020. The policy calls for students to become “aware of and understand global issues and to become active promoters of more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable societies” through culture studies and exchanges.
Students of this college have been able to interact with the students of other states of India and other (16)countries. The students of this institution come from the remotest region of Chhattisgarh including the Naxal affected regions. Giving them exposure to world culture is an effort to create global awareness in them and thus move them towards Global citizenship. The students on one hand are being strongly grounded in their own culture and being exposed to the world culture as well.
Building Competencies of Students Through Enhancement of Knowledge, Skills, Values and Attitude
Over the years the college has broadened its system to include not only academic material but also value-addition by way of mechanisms for personality development with global orientation and competencies. On one hand, it has been instrumental in promoting the regional culture of Chhattisgarh, instilling a sense of pride in the students' vis a vis their culture; on the other hand, it has strived to bring knowledge and respect for other cultures across the world. As the higher education system is trying to inculcate global competencies in students through “Global Citizenship Education (GCED) which refers to educational practices that seek to develop the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that are required by an individual to participate fully in a globalized society and economy, and to support initiatives aimed at building a more just, secure, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, and sustainable world, the program International Cultural Exchange aligns itself to this concept.
So far, the students have been showcasing the culture of Chhattisgarh through Youth Festival competitions at the levels of University and State and the Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat Program, in which Gujrat and Chhattisgarh are joined in a cultural exchange program.In 2017 SOU Aditya Jha and in 2019 October NCC Cadet Prerana successfully participated in the National Cadet Corps Youth& Cultural Exchange Programme in Singapore and Russia respectively.
International Cultural Exchange Program and the Virtual Café are endeavors of this institution to create an environment for the students to help them grow, learn, and appreciate the diversity of the world. The program started at the onset of COVID and the students learned about the cultures of Israel, Poland, Bosnia, and Montenegro through the guest faculties. The second phase took off in a planned manner from January 2021 and the students learned about the cultures of 10 different countries. The program is now in its third phase with faculties from 4 countries. During the program, the guest faculty shares information about his/her country’s culture and two Indian students showcase two aspects of Indian culture through presentations prepared by them. The program is conducted by students who Introduce the guest, offer a vote of thanks, and also write a report on the event. Initially, this practice helped to develop various soft skills like leadership, communication, teamwork, etc in the students but over the years this practice has also prevented academic regression, retained the English language, and taught other skills
Virtual Café
Building on the experience of the Cultural Exchange program, the College has stepped it up with a Virtual Café program in collaboration with Braude College of Engineering Israel and Wroclaw University, Poland. A group of 20 students from this College joined 20-22 students from each of the other two colleges online to share about India, their local culture and practices, and what they liked best about these. From an initial start with 45 students in 2020, the Virtual Café drew in 105 students by 2021.
Students did not have the required Internet bandwidth to join Zoom platforms and use the video function on their smartphones for the Cultural Connect and/or Virtual Café. Internet bandwidth is low in Chhattisgarh villages and internet penetration is second lowest in the country as a whole. Mentoring the students in preparation for the online events including building their confidence was somewhat restricted by having to do all of this online over 2020-21.
7. Notes
The International Cultural Exchange program is aligned to GCED that helps learners recognize the importance of understanding and resolving global issues in their social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions. It seeks to instill values among learners and equip them with the social and emotional skills and attitudes that can facilitate international cooperation. GCED seeks to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to embrace their social responsibility to act for the benefit of all societies and generate solutions to solve the problems faced by humanity.
The Program is also aligned with the national campaign of Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat which aims to promote mutual understanding between people of different states/UTs through the concept of state/UT pairing, through a sustained and structured cultural connection in the areas of language learning, culture, traditions & music, tourism & cuisine, sports and sharing of best practices, etc. The College has planned a project of integrating college students of Chhattisgarh with students of Gujarat to learn and appreciate one another’s culture.
During the last two years of the Covid19 pandemic when there was complete lockdown for long spells, the program International Cultural Exchange served to motivate and engage the College’s students with students from other countries and their cultures entirely online. Cross-cultural and Intercultural Communication has helped to prevent academic regression, retained the English language, and taught other soft skills.
