BENGALURU: The Karnataka chapter of College Connect India, a pilot programme to link mentors from the IT industry with engineering students mainly from rural areas, was launched recently. The initiative was started in Andhra Pradesh last year with an aim to enable youth to get sustained mentorship and acquire the skill sets required to face global challenges.
It was launched in Bengaluru last week by Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT and ST, Government of Karnataka in the presence of J A Chowdary, IT Advisor to CM, Government of Andhra Pradesh and founder of College Connect India. It aims to facilitate a network between industry mentors and educational institutes, especially engineering colleges through its mentor-mentee programme.
“This initiative will help students in rural areas address problems pertaining to soft skills and give them exposure to become job ready,” Gupta said.
The initiative will involve select mentors who will be invited to a college in Karnataka to select their mentees after a mentor-mentee session. In the next step, mentors will identify more mentors, through their professional acquaintances for the selected group of about 15 students. College Connect India has already connected over 18 engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh, putting more than 9,000 students in touch with over 150 mentors.