The Hindu Business Line : Bangalore management institute introduces mentoring for students

MENTORING is a common programme in the corporate world, but for the first time, a management school has attempted the handholding concept for its students.

Bangalore-based Institute of Finance and International Management has assigned the task of mentoring its students to 20 faculty members.

"Each of them takes about six students as mentees from the day they start the first semester," says Prof R.K. Vijayasarathy, Director, IFIM.

According to the director, students need to have a sustained relationship with a senior member in the institute that will help them professionally and personally.

The programme kicks off with a three-day course conducted by the Art of Living Foundation. Mentoring is not just a short-term counselling or familiarisation course, but also, a programme that starts when students check in and lasts till they check out after two years.

In the last two years, students have realised the benefits of mentoring in three work-life areas: academic performance, career growth and personality development.

"Like in any corporate firm, we ensure that professors here play the role of mentors: that of a friend, advocate, advisor, role model and an agent for the development of positive self-concept," says Prof Vijayasarathy.

The need for an emotional anchor in an academic institution is felt largely in a professional course as students from various backgrounds come together here, he says. Through the mentoring programme, the institute manages egos, complexes, and attitude and gets the student corporate-ready.

The impact of this is felt when the student gets placed in a job, Professor Vijayasarathy explains. "Increasingly there is a mismatch between employer expectations and employee aspirations and one needs to address that. Therefore more people are retiring before they reach 40, having changed ten jobs before that." IFIM has found that the mentoring programme has positively influenced its students in the last two years. "About 30-35 per cent of the recruiters have come back every year, and this is a sure sign that the mentoring programme is a success," he says.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page