”STUDENTS-FIRST” INITIATIVES: Never miss reading this.
It is no deep secret to reveal that most NAAC A++ institutes have had 90% of the following students-specific best practices fully implemented.
(A)-Well-Known Initiatives being Implemented by nearly every Institute
1. VA courses, Industry visits SIPs and Guidance in Professional Exams.
2. Professional Societies’ Chapters.
3. Bridge courses and make-up classes for ‘Slow learners’.
4. Mentoring and Counselling.
(B) Unknown/Least-known Initiatives Implemented only by the top league Indian and foreign institutes
1. Deans’s List Students– widely practiced in the universities of the USA and Europe.
2. Earn while you Learn-By various leading universities of the world.
3. Walk with the Legends.
4. Industry Mentors– Tea with CEOs- ISB’s leading practice.
5. Walk with the Research Scholars
6. Project presentations by students to MSMEs and to the outside world.
7. Save the Year’ -Re-exams, Supplementary exams.
8. Twinning/student-exchange and accredited summer programs abroad.
9. Guidance in languages often to meet a specific Employers’ needs.
10. Training for Alternative jobs (may or may not be part of Incubator and Accelerator)
11. Students’ Continuous Progress Capturing Portfolio Management System
12. Peer Mentor-Mentee Scheme.
13. Tutoring Cell 24×7 (A leading MIT and Harvard University practice to give tuition to students lagging behind in class.
14. Students Support System for hostel, transport, financial aid, professional exams coaching and more.
15. Students Wellness Cell (An essential Harvard model)
16. Community Services Cell.
17. Pre-Orientation Program (MIT model)
18. Late evening labs access.
19. Dual degree policy.
20. Academic credit digital locker and freedom to exit from program at stages.
The writer, based on his personal experiences of a score of universities of the world has framed robust policy on each of the above process/practice
Often in NAAC, institutes struggle to find two best practices and two distinctiveness to write. If you get your Institute immersed into the above practices for 2 to 3 years, assess and analyze impact, it would be so much easier to write a truly implemented practice, rather than looking to someone else’s best practice to emulate.
