Building human capital: The impact of near-peer mentoring in Indian higher education institutions (HEI)

Kumar, A. (2021). Mentoring by near peers in HEI: A promising connection to build human capital.

By Anuradha Kumar, Teach to Learn

Summarized by Ariel Ervin

Notes of Interest: 

• Evidence shows that a) adolescents have a greater need for autonomy and non-parental connections, and b) participation in experiences that address their developmental needs can help improve educational and youth quality outcomes.
• This brief article presents a school-based mentoring program that connects schools with higher education institutions (HEI) to increase human capital. More specifically, this article assesses the impact mentorships with graduate students have on rural high school students.
• Findings indicate that mentees’ motivation levels and test performances significantly improved.
• Results also show that mentees developed academic aspirations and an interest in science due to the program.
• Longitudinal studies on how mentorships affect mentors and mentees over time will provide more nuance to our understanding of mentorships.
• Global collaborations between HEIs that focus on context-based mentoring connections can enrich international research on mentoring.

Introduction (Reprinted from the Abstract)

The enclosed article introduces a promising School-Based Mentoring program that connects higher education and school education with the aim of building human capital by improving youth quality. The article also shares findings from the pilot implementations carried out in rural south India.

Implications (Reprinted from the Conclusion)

In this brief article, some of the key aspects of a ‘Mentoring Connection’ between HEIs and rural schools and outcome of a pilot implementation of such a connection was shared. This type of give-and-take can enhance educational outcomes, and also give a refreshing meaning to social capital which considers relationships as resources that can lead to the development and accumulation of human capital (Hezlett & Gibson, 2007). The strength and applicability of this approach makes it versatile to use across borders. While, the critical need for context-based empirical research in school-based Mentoring has been realized, most programs are based onsystems and needs within a geographic set up. Published studies are largely from America and then from Europe, Australia and other countries (Pryce et al., 2011). One of the ways to enrich international research in mentoring is, through global collaborations between HEIs across the world with a focus on the set up of the context-based Mentoring connection as well as in sustaining the efforts. Longitudinal studies to understand the impact overtime, investigating the impact on the Mentors, and studying the formation of the Mentoring loop from adolescence to adulthood will enrich the research field and also provide the much-needed guidance to frame effective programs for bringing research to practice.

 

Mentoring by HEI – A Promising Connection to Build Human Capital_AnuradhaTK