Exploring the Effectiveness of Mentorship Program at Higher Studies in India- A Case Study

This study scrutinizes early career of teachers' perceptions of the mentoring programmes over the past few years in India, as well as, in turn, how this has improved their teaching and research skills. The concept of mentoring in technical and higher education has gained momentum in the last few years due to the innovative schemes of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). For this, we have looked at the mentoring experience mainly from several perspective: the benefits and challenges faced by the mentors during the mentoring process to propose suggestions for an effective mentoring programme at higher studies in India. Previous studies have discovered that mentoring positively impacts teachers' professional development. However, this topic remains in the infancy stage in India till today. To this end, a web-based questionnaire containing 26 close-ended items was randomly administered among 60 entry-level teachers working in private sector institutions in India. The 5-point Likert system was used to rank the questionnaire. Finally, the data were quantitively analysed using descriptive statics such as number, frequency, percentage, and standard deviation. The results suggested that teachers liked the mentoring process, as their teaching and research skills improved, including their overall understanding of the mentoring process. A handful of teachers reported the challenges and difficulties they faced during the mentoring due to the lack of institutional and administrative support. However, based on individual needs, the author argues for tailoring as per the institute's requirements.