MENTORING POLICY

Objectives:

• To record the mentoring practices being followed at the institute in respect of mentor-mentee meetings, student profile and other data, feedback/effect of the mentoring process.
• To follow appropriate processes for assignment of mentors to the mentees.
• To bring improvement in student’s holistic development wherever possible.

Process of assignment of the Mentors to Mentees in the organization:

• Mentoring will be offered to all the 2nd year MMS students.
• Mentor-Mentee assignment will be domain-wise.
• For second-year students, ABC categorization of the students will be the basis of mentor-mentee allocation. The objective is to give special attention to C-category students, primarily to make them employable, increase the number of placements, and enhance skills and knowledge.
• In case a faculty member becomes unavailable for mentoring, the HOD will reallocate the mentees to a different mentor.
• Once assigned, the allocation will not be changed under normal circumstances. However, the area chair and academic dean have the prerogative to decide on exceptional situations that warrant a change.
• Once allocated, mentors will be involved in all important matters pertaining to their mentees, including improving knowledge, personality development, personal/emotional issues, disciplinary issues, and counselling requirements to improve employability.

Process of “Mentoring” the Mentees in the organization:

• Mentor-mentee meetings are to take place at regular intervals.
• The minimum number of mentor-mentee meetings will be 10, and the maximum will be 15.
• Mentoring activity duration will be from September to March for that academic year.
• Mentees will provide a Mentor-Mentee Programme feedback: The first feedback should be taken at the end of December or after a minimum of 5 meetings. The second feedback should be taken at the end of March or after 10 meetings. This feedback will help in understanding the delivery of the mentoring process and improving it next year if required.
• If a mentor or mentee feels the need to meet more frequently or discuss any specific issue, they may meet at a mutually convenient time.
• Mentors will keep track of the holistic development of the student in terms of academic and non-academic performance and provide support wherever required.
• Mentors will specifically facilitate in driving the mentee towards their desired goals with guidance.
• Mentors will also keep track of the student attendance on a monthly basis to detect and solve any major non-compliance issues.

Process of recording the 'Mentoring' in the organization:

• Mentor-mentee meeting minutes can be recorded through email or Google Classroom.
• A Google Classroom can be created by the mentor to maintain all the records.
• An email can also be exchanged between mentor and mentee to maintain records about mentoring initiatives on a regular basis.
• At the end of the year, the mentor will generate the mentoring record for the entire year. The mentor must clearly mention the date of the meeting, issues discussed, attendance, etc. This record should be maintained on an Excel sheet and shared with the Mentoring Head for record purposes.
• An annual summary report will be generated to record the mentoring activities during the academic year. This report should be submitted to the Director and Dean – Academics.

Mentor Mentee Ratio

At DSIMS, all the faculties are also given the Mentoring responsibility for the students. The objective of mentoring activity is holistic development of the student in terms of academic and non-academic performance. It also aims to counsel students for stress related issues. This activity will facilitate the mentee towards his/her desired goals with the guidance. For the academic year 2019-20 the mentor mentee ratio was 1:10.

S. No	Year	No. of full-time II-year students enrolled in the institute	Number of students given mentoring	Number of full-time teachers	Number of teachers appointed as Mentors	Mentor mentee ratio
1	2016-2017	193	193	24	21	1:10
2	2017-2018	210	210	25	20	1:10
3	2018-2019	231	231	26	22	1:10
4	2019-2020	237	116	24	21	1:11
5	2020-2021	96	96	12	17*	1:8

*External mentors were also appointed during the year 2020-21.

Sample Mentoring Diary