Central University of Kashmir (CUK) has introduced Mentoring as one of the components in the curriculum of all the programmes offered by the university.“Since the students of Central University are from

“Since the students of Central University are from diverse geo-socio-economic background, the mentoring will be one of the effective tools for their all-round development,” Dean School of Education and Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) Chairman, Prof. N A Nadeem said. He said all the IQAC nodal officers shall work as coordinator of mentoring in their respective departments.

“In the beginning of the 1st semester, the students are required to fill-up a form for mentoring. The students shall be distributed evenly among the faculty members of the departments and the time allotted for tutorials shall also accommodate Supervised Library Studies (SLS) and mentoring (MTRG),” he said, adding that the time slot in the timetable shall be repeated after every three weeks.

“Thus five hours per semester shall be allotted to mentoring and for 4 semesters it will be 20 hours per programme. These 20 hours are allotted to reviewing the entire process of mentoring which has to be done in an informal/non-formal mode. Towards the closure of the programme, the student shall have to fill-up the feedback form for mentoring and all the records pertaining to mentoring shall be maintained by the concerned coordinator,” he added.

MENTORING

Mentoring is a relationship between two individuals based on a mutual desire for development towards career goals and objectives. The relationship is a non-reporting one and replaces none of the organizational structures in place.

It is additional to other forms of assistance, such as assignments, classroom instruction, on-the-job training, and coaching. Mentoring in Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) is nearer to Guidance and Counselling and focuses on Educational, Vocational and Personal issues. In a mentoring relationship, the two individuals are referred to as the “mentor” and the “mentee” / “protégés” (the individual being mentored). Mentoring provides development opportunities for both participants.

The five Phases of a mentoring are (1) Focus on Growth (2) Building Rapport (3) Setting Direction (4) Progression and (5) Moving on. Mentoring is concerned with long-term development and focuses on implicit, intuitive subjects and behaviours. Mentee (the learners) set the direction and the agenda for interactions with their mentors. Both mentors and mentees participate in mutual sharing and reflection.

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