Your Limitation Is Your Imagination. All You Need Is An Ignition

Mentor-Mentee: an at-will reciprocal and collaborative relationship for sustainability

By Balaji Ramanujam, Associate Professor and Research Head, Chemistry and Vijaya Lakshmi Udayagiri, Coordinator of International Relations and Student Counsellor Madanapalle Institute of Technology & Science; Faculty Innovation Fellows candidates

RETHINK. REIMAGINE. STRATEGIZE: MENTOR-MENTEE PARTNERSHIP

Let us ignite mentees at their launch to transform to the fullest. Provide awareness, give access, groom the capabilities, harness knowledge, hone the skills, refine their attitude and align them to the learning path. Identify the gaps, connect the dots, ignite the spirit of innovation. Make the difference.

Do we require 4 years?

Educators! Unlock your brain’s super powers. Let us plan with a sustained commitment to transform their lives to embark on a successful journey.

Let us wear a risk lens — an inevitable imperative, while the pandemic has already accelerated transformational change at every institutional level. Is it not the educators’ obligation to accelerate a robust, resilient, and student-centric futuristic education system. Let us instill resilience among the stakeholders by promoting sustainability.

THE KICK START OF MITS

One small step of the first cohort became a giant leap for a sustainable ecosystem in MITS, thanks to the d.school UIF core team.

“No doubt we are in a nook. Our vision is to become a globally recognized research institute, our students have potential, our efforts are fabulous, we are ready for the Herculean task” – said visionary of MITS Dr. Vijaya Bhaskar Choudary, the Secretary and Correspondent, extending a hearty welcome to the UIF team, the harbingers of internationalization, during their visit to campus in 2016. “We are not stereotypes and we welcome changes,” said Dr. Rama Kumar the then Vice Principal Academics and former Faculty Champion.

Thus the UIF journey began in India, and that was a kick start of MITS.

MITS INNOVATIVE LEARNING PORTRAYAL

MITS is in sync with the manifesto of UIF. Since 2016, we have had 38 Fellows. There have been many changes among the leadership circles. • Sensitivity towards the needs of students and student-driven programs • Regular stakeholders’ meetings • The synergy of innovation and entrepreneurship • The ethos of internationalization • Involvement of students in decision making • Breakthrough from the conventional thinking to Design Thinking • Interactive and collaborative activities amongst peers and faculty • Innovative learning circles, clubs, faculty and peer mentoring • Design and implementation of Design Thinking curriculum by the students, of the students, for the students

Gradually, we started experiencing the empowerment of the students. Leaders perceived a win-win situation when Fellows recommended that faculty attend the d.school’s Teaching Learning Studio Program, and five of us are the beneficiaries.

MITS has been vouching all these anxious achievers’ dreams and documenting the same in the brochure and website for further visibility. The achievements have been very empirical.

CANDID SUCCESS STORIES OF MITS

The UIF program and especially the UIF Silicon Valley Meetup gave the students the inspiration and the confidence to participate in other programs and an amazing impact can be seen in every Fellow’s personal life. The impact is positively contagious.

“It wasn’t a revolution but an evolution in which slowly and gradually the barriers were reduced among students and faculties. The Establishment of the International Relations Office as MITS Global Outreach is the biggest initiative,” said Prof. C. Yuvaraj, the Principal of the Institute.

MITS is now engaging with MoUs and collaborative activities with international universities in Taiwan, South Korea, Europe, Russia, and Japan.

Fellows participated as UIF event leaders (FABS) in Bangalore, Dubai and the U.S. during the Silicon Valley Meetup and Eastern Hemisphere. 54 students completed internships in Finland, Germany, Dubai, Japan, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan. 170 students engaged in virtual programs, won titles in Hackathons, and bagged “Ideal Student of Talent & Excellence’’ and “Best College State’’ awards.

There are now on-campus instructors for Japanese, French and German languages. Infrastructural expansion and Design Thinking as an academic course with credits embellished the curriculum.

UN Youth Assembly, international conferences and participation in Asia Pacific Innovation Academy, and bagging international start-up awards added value to the MITS ecosystem. “Our journey has started in a small classroom and ended-up with a global community of change makers, Faculty Champions, stakeholders and moving towards a never-ending learning process,” said MITS Fellows Umeshwar, Arjun and Sucharitha, now post-graduate students in NCTU Taiwan.

We have presented a few stories and have heard many more. The transformation at MITS is remarkable, and more details are at bit.ly/mitscasestudy.

OUR PROJECT: SCHEMA FOR STUDENTS’ SUSTAINABILITY (SSS)

The prototype of our project is making a unique web portal (sss.mits.ac.in), where the quantum of progress of the beneficiaries is to be documented. Though this is a huge challenge, it brought ripple effects and transformed the campus into a robust, inclusive learning space. Our sustainability has taken a step forward. This empathetic approach of a handful of mentors had brought such a positive impact, what would be 355 mentors, which would result in an ECOSYSTEM IMPETUS.

Our petite prototype is strengthening the grassroots, which brought positive changes in many students. They came as freshmen with information around and felt overwhelmed looking for guidance. Mindfulness and wellness through mentoring prepared them to face challenges. The bafflement in the four years paved the way to unleash brain power, positive affirmation and personal growth. The eye opening mentorship accelerated their perspective on matters great and small, global and local. Our prototype based on Design Thinking principles — empathy, open mindedness, actionoriented preparedness and radical collaboration — brought sustainability in students’ lives. Structured Mentoring the resonance of our hearts would multiply positive impact, when all mentors join their hands.

These are our baby steps towards sustainability. Our prototype’s focus is students’ wellness: engaging them beyond the course work; proposing a unique integration of peer to peer (UI Fellows) mentoring, faculty-student mentoring, and club activities; enabling them to obtain scattered resources; inculcating research skills; exposing them to international internship programs; and enhancing their entrepreneurial skills. Our epicenter is UIF, the fulcrum on which all the activities are accelerating. Now MITS is at its pace.