Workshop on PBL Mentorship

Sagarmatha Engineering College (SEC) in association with Aalto University, Finland recently conducted a workshop on “Roles, Practices and Needs of PBL (Problem Based Learning) mentor”, under the project “Strengthening Problem Based Learning in South Asian Universities” co-funded by Erasmus Plus Programme of the European Union. The project aims to develop best practices in PBL education as a joint initiative between ten Higher Education Institutions from Finland, India, Nepal, Bhutan, the Netherlands and Lithuania and to strengthen the capacity of partner HEIs in Nepal, Bhutan and India and contribute to local innovation ecosystems.

As a result of the project, SEC has already adapted and implemented PBL methods on final year project 1 and 2 in fourth year of bachelor’s degree programme across Civil; Electronics and Computer Engineering. Similar changes have also been made in all partner institutions across Nepal and Bhutan.

The workshop included mentors, course coordinators, teacher trainers, external partners and students of newly adapted PBL courses at SEC and other Nepalese partner institutions, including Nepal Engineering College (NEC), Asian Institute of Technology and Management (AITM) and Kathmandu University (KU). The workshop sessions were focused on mentoring practices, current challenges, and future needs for local mentors in implementing PBL methods. There were also presentations from experts from Aalto University, Finland; Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania; and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India; on ‘Roles of a mentor’; “Quality and assessment of mentoring”; and “Future plans of PBL South Asia Network” respectively.

The project will have further sessions and workshops for local mentors on methods, tools, practices, assessment, facilitation etc., related to PBL courses implementation contributing to deliverables such as future PBL MOOC for students and mentors and PBL Training of Trainers manual. The final dissemination events of project deliverables and results are scheduled to be in Nepal in early autumn 2022. The project is scheduled to end in November 2022.

SEC is an active institution involved in Erasmus plus Programme of the European Union, who previously have successfully implemented similar projects such as “Promoting Energy Efficient Lighting Education in Nepal and Bhutan (ELNAB)” and has current portfolio of projects such as “Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions in India and Nepal (InterNepInd)” and “Bhutan+Nepal Higher Education for accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals (B+NESDG)” besides PBL South Asia.