1. Title of the Practice: PERSONALITY AND SOFT SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Personality is the sum of the characters that constitute the mental and physical being of a person including appearance, manners, habit, taste, and even moral characters. The personality of a person constantly undergoes a change and it can be developed for the better.

Soft Skills Development: It is a term associated with the “EQ”(Emotional Intelligence Quotient) of a person. It consists of personality traits, social graces, communication, languages, personal habits, interpersonal skills, leadership, team-building etc.

About the course: Our programme seeks to adopt a holistic approach to learning. It works towards building confidence, mental health, image and creativity enhancement. It aims at bringing about positive change in our students who are positioned to face the greater challenges of life as they graduate from college. It will also equip the students with the essential etiquette, protocol knowledge and refined social skills to enable them to face any social situation with confidence.

2. Goal

i) Develop the skills and potential of students.

ii) Facilitate employability and establish careers.

iii) To develop the personality of our students and mold them into responsible citizens.

3. Context

The youths of today are under tremendous pressure in order to carve out a niche for survival in life. They are subjected to fierce competitions against their peers not only in academics but also in job hunting and establishing careers. Besides their academic syllabus, it is felt that our students must be given additional training in relevant aspects so designed to widen their outlook and perspectives.

Hence, a module for ‘Personality Development’ is designed for imparting these values, keeping in mind that the programme should be simple to manage, but rich in content.

The practice

The outgoing students of all streams undergo a short term course on personality development at the end of their final university examinations. The course usually stretches over a period of two weeks within which different life skills are imparted to the students. The course content ranges from

IT for everyday life

Basic computer application  

Interview skills

Communication skills

Common errors in English

Psychological development

Basic first aid skill

Traveling

Traditional values

Manners & etiquettes

First Aid skills

Time Management

Personal grooming

Counseling on choice of career in various streams

Spoken Hindi

Private entrepreneurship

Visual communication and Animation

Resource Persons are engaged from the teaching Faculty of the college as well as renowned experts from outside the college who are well-known in their chosen fields.

The College collaborates with able Faculty from the Regional Institute of Paramedical and Nursing Sciences (RIPANS), Aizawl for teaching the basics of First Aid skills. Visits to RIPANS are sometimes conducted to enrich the programme.

The Student Support Committee organizes the programme in collaboration with the IQAC and the programme is funded by RUSA

                                                                                                     

5. Evidence of success

              The programme met with an astounding response from the outgoing              students. A total of 114 students registered themselves in the first year and in the second year the course had a total of 105 students registering themselves and the trend continued.

     A Feedback/evaluation mechanism collected from the participants show that the program was well-received. More than 90% of the topics were found to be relevant for participants. The course provided them with the necessary facilities and tools to face challenges that pertain to the lifestyles and scenarios faced by young adults in today’s world. Courses that are rated irrelevant are dropped whereas new suggestions made by the students are taken into consideration. The feedback mechanism is a good indicator that the course is a major success among the students.

   6. Problems encountered and resources required

The course is designed to accommodate all outgoing students from three streams-science, home science and computer science. Since their university examinations ended on different dates, we faced minor problems in setting a time slot that would be convenient for all streams. Secondly, some students from rural areas are unable to attend the course as they often have to go back to their homes as soon as they finish their university examinations. Choosing topics that would benefit all students from all streams and finding the right resource persons proved to be a little challenging.

1.Title of the practice: Mentoring System

2.Goal:

i)To provide more contact hours between teachers and students.

ii)To maintain proper academic and attendance records of students.

iii)To minimize drop-out rates among students.

Iv) To identify slow learners and advanced learners.

3.The context

The institute has followed the suggestion made by the QAC cum CDO, Higher &Technical education to introduce the mentoring system. The institute felt the importance of integrating such a system into the college management system. It had promptly and effectively put it into practice in the past two years. With a wide variation in the student population with regard to educational and economic background, the system promises to provide a better understanding of individual students and bring out their highest potential. It also appears to be the most effective method/weapon for mitigating cases of drop-out students.

4.The Practice

The IQAC had taken the initiative to implement this system. Every year the names of all students are collected and arranged according to their subject choice. They are divided into groups of 10-15 students depending on the number of students. Each group is assigned a teacher/mentor who is responsible for collecting academic performance and class attendance of individual students. The teacher/mentor is given necessary information regarding his/her mentees and is expected to offer guidance and counseling as and when required. In isolated cases, parents are called for special meetings with the Principal at the suggestion of the mentor.

5.Evidence of success

Though the system has only been implemented in the last few years, significant improvement in the teacher-student relationship can be seen.

The system has been useful in identifying slow learners and advanced learners. Based on the requirement deduced through a careful examination of each mentor’s report, the institute organizes a remedial class on different subjects within the syllabus for poor/slow learners.

The remedial classes have become systematized after the implementation of this system. NEED-BASED remedial classes have proved to be beneficial to the students in particular and the entire college in general.

The system has also been used to identify students who need financial support. The faculty has been contributing to an endowment fund for students every month. The Corpus fund raised from the collection of such fund is distributed to students who are identified through the mentoring system

   There appears to be a lesser number of drop-outs since mentors can intervene before a student falls short of attendance or has been regularly abstaining from classes.

6. Problems encountered and resources required

The division of students into group proves to be a tedious exercise with some students opting for other courses now and then. Due to time constraints, the teacher /mentor is unable to have sufficient time with the mentees Most of our students are reserved and some are too complacent to come out with their problems thus limiting the mentors' capacity to render help.

The system does not incur much expenditure. It only requires the utmost commitment from a teacher/mentor.

7.Notes(optional): The IQAC continually strives towards the improvement of the system. Contact hours with the students are ensured by the inclusion of Mentor’s –Meet in the academic calendar. The system helps in identifying the aims and ambitions of the students according to which career guidance classes are held. Mentoring reports are submitted to the IQAC to ensure that the programme is carried out effectively.

Adoption of a new Best Practice: Extension and outreach program is another practice that is being developed as a best practice. With the motto of the college “Lighted to Lighten” as our vision the college has been carrying out extension programs through various activities. The institute intends to carry out more extension programmes to cater to the need of society and mold our students into responsible citizens.

The Department of Computer Science has been conducting a free computer clinic every year. In this programme the department repairs computers and laptops of students, faculty members and people residing within the vicinity of the college. Students, as well as faculty members of Computer science, are actively involved in repairing the software and hardware of computers/laptops of their clients for free. Information for such programme is given out through local newspapers.

The Home Science department has been carrying out extension programs through voluntary works at crèches, old age homes etc. They have also been organizing free cooking classes for women of the locality where jam making and pickle making have been taught.

The Institute intends to adopt a school and a committee has been set up for the purpose. Career awareness and skill development classes will be organized. Faculty members and students will be rendering their services towards this programme.

    

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