Thinking Outside of the Box

When I joined RTC about four years ago, I wanted to leave behind my seasoned frame of mind so that I could think fresh and generate new ideas to implement in this first private college in Bhutan. Running academic programs in any college is a challenging job and more so in a private one and that is located too close to a city. Today youth are generally said to be not seriously engaged in academia as they are subjected to too many digressions. Oddly, even many self financing students are found not very different in terms of the self motivation. However, at RTC we believed that it would be possible to churn out excellence out of what we have. Of course, this required more intense thinking, deliberations, innovations and understanding among all of us involved in this noble cause. We did that altogether in the management committee, in the academic committee and in all other meetings and deliberations. The journey began with conformity to do many things differently in RTC:

1.      Orientation to College Learning (OCL)

Recognizing the difficulty that most of the Bhutanese students face in terms of communicating effectively, becoming independent learners, becoming responsible and managing themselves in a community life, we have a semester long module offered to all the first semester students.  It encompasses improving competence in written and spoken English, with an emphasis on developing an independent frame of mind and the students’ own voices as writers. In addition, the course also encompasses readings and discussions that helps the students to settle down in the residence halls, manage time, prepare well for the following semesters and stay away from drugs and alcohol.

2.      Mentoring/Advising:

We appoint faculty advisers for all the students. Each adviser has a maximum of 20 students. There are regular meetings between the advisers and the students where students can discuss their difficulties. The feedback is passed on to the relevant person(s) and is addressed promptly.

3.      Counseling:

We have a counselor for students to meet and discuss their problems. Students could be referred or they could make appointment with the counselor through phone or email.

4.      Mid-term Exams

RTC has a compulsory mid-term test scheduled in the middle of each semester across all the programs. This gives a fair idea of how students are performing and interventions can be made before it is too late.

5.      Wednesday Talks:

 A common hour on Wednesdays are largely for eminent speakers and occasionally used for the student assemblies. Dozens of personalities ranging from the politicians to lawyers, professors, religious personalities, musicians and many others have addressed the RTC community over the last three years.

6.      Career Development:

Realizing that most students would seek employment, Career Development Office is established with large and varied activities that are immensely helping students to make employment applications, face interviews and prepare for the competitive examinations.

Challenges are many but the opportunities are even more. As we celebrate the graduation of the first batch this July, it is also time to reflect and contemplate at the RTC. On the other hand these graduates are the torch bearers and the brand ambassadors for the college.

I would like to felicitate and congratulate the class of 2012 for this unique success and wish all the best to all of them. 

I wrote this and published in the Year book on the occasion of RTC's First Graduation in July 2012