They have guardian angels watching over them: Indian School of Business

MOHALI: Offering mentorship, professional guidance, getting them acquainting them with various cultural aspects to welcoming them into the family-fold as part of weekend get-togethers, the guardian families of the students of Indian School of Business are doing it all.
The students and the families also ensure that they are part of each others crucial ceremonies, Forty families in the Tricity from diverse backgrounds, including prominent industrialists, businessmen and government officials, have willingly made ISB students a part of their family and would play host to them for a year.
These include families of General (Retd) V P Malik, industrialist Yashovardhan Saboo, noted advocate Manmohan Sarin, Canada consul general Scott Slessor, writer Khushwant Singh, entrepreneurship specialist Puneet Vatsyan and several others.
A trend similar to the model followed in US business schools, where a family plays hosts to new students in the city, study groups comprising four to five ISB students -- most of who are new to the city, have been adopted by these families. Aikya - a Sanskrit word meaning oneness - is the name of this programme at ISB.
I was new to the city and from getting a mobile connection to bonding over weekend for a cultural tete-a-tete and getting professional guidance, the families that got connected to us through Aikya are amazingly helpful, smiles Amaury Wauters, a post graduation programme (PGP) student from Belgium at ISB.
Mapping the interest area of students, they are attached to the families related to their respective verticals under the programme.
We invite our guardian families to important functions at ISB. Since I came to Punjab for the first time to study, it was the family that taught me a lot about the local culture besides offering me professional advice,a?? says Pramod Das, an ISB student of the 2013 batch who hails from Nepal.
Equally excited are the family members who are playing host to these students.
My wife Anu and I have been extremely excited about hosting these students. We invited them for a party at our home and we also discussed their respective careers, and how they can achieve what they want to, says Punit Vatsayan, managing director of a leading firm, who is playing host to two study groups.
Shiv Kumar, director, Student Engagement and Applied Learning (SEAL), ISB said, The purpose was to connect students with the local society. The steering committee at ISB comprising seven members helped identify families. For students it is a big learning experience to connect with such leading families.