DBT-Star College Mentorship Programme:

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Why in the news?

Recently, Union Minister Jitendra Singh launched the first-ever mentorship program called the 'DBT-Star College Mentorship Programme for young innovators.

Objectives of the programme:

• The pan-India scheme has been developed with a vision of setting up a ‘Star College’ in every district of India.
• The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Science and Technology Ministry will support every Star College.
• It will help in embracing the concept of networking, hand-holding, and outreach.
• This will enable new colleges that have started their journey under the scheme to come up in line with the mandate of Star college scheme.

What is a star scheme?

• The Star College Scheme was initiated by DBT in 2008 to support colleges and universities offering undergraduate education to improve science teaching across the country.
•  On a larger perspective, the scheme was initiated envisioning that it shall encourage more students to take up higher education in science.
• Through this scheme the Department identifies colleges with potential for excellence and provides support for developing infrastructure for academics and laboratory activities.
•  Starting with a meagre 30 colleges in 2008,  this pan India scheme has supported science departments in more than 300 colleges all over the country till date.