IIT Guwahati Hosts Workshop on Building Healthier, More Connected Campuses

Over 100 delegates from 28 institutions gathered at IIT Guwahati on 20–21 September for Empowering Minds, Enriching Campuses, a regional capacity-building workshop on positive mental health, resilience and wellbeing. The workshop was organised by the Dept of Higher Education, Ministry of Education under the Teacher Connect Programme of Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme (MMTTP)

Published 22 September 2026 | Category Workshops | Office Student Affairs & Centre for Education Technology

Organised under the Ministry of Education's Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme,

the workshop was designed as a regional capacity-building programme. As the third in a series of five workshops, participating institutions came with a commitment to prepare an action plan to take back to their campuses. Each institution sent representatives including faculty and staff members in charge of student affairs or student wellbeing, hostel administrators, and students in leadership positions.

Opening the workshop, Prof Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati, spoke about the mental health crisis among young people. He said its causes must be understood in depth, not only reactively after a tragedy, and urged institutions to find a collective way forward.

Mr Devendra Kumar of the Department of Higher Education noted that enrolment in tertiary education has risen sharply since 2011, reflecting growing aspirations and competition among youth. Speakers called for a policy and governance framework that puts long-term protection of student wellbeing first.

Models for Supportive Institutions: from counselling to belonging

IIT Guwahati presented its wellbeing model, which pairs long-term proactive support with quick, co-ordinated responses to financial, academic, social and personal pressures.

Prof Bidisha Som, Chairperson of the Students' Welfare Board, said the IIT Guwahati model draws on mental health professionals, faculty and peers, who are backed by digital systems for early intervention.

Prof Pankaj Tiwari, Associate Dean, Student Affairs (IIT Guwahati), noted that the Institute offers on-call online counselling through YourDOST and adds in-person counsellors beyond office hours. Every hostel room door also carries a poster with counselling contact details.

Prof Suresh Kumar Rayala (Associate Dean of Students (Wellness), IIT Madras) described how IIT Madras uses confidential surveys to identify high-risk students early, and a parents' portal through which guardians can flag concerns.

Panellists also stressed that an enriched campus goes beyond infrastructure. It depends on strong faculty-student relationships, peer mentoring, alumni engagement and respect for diversity, so that students feel they belong.

From early signs to action plans

Sessions covered spotting early signs of distress, with Prof Kalpana Sarathy of TISS Guwahati noting that 1 in 7 young people aged 10–19 experience a mental health condition.

Other sessions looked at specific learning disabilities, substance use, nutrition, non-communicable diseases and inclusive campus design. Panels explored humanistic leadership in the curriculum and how indigenous knowledge can inform modern wellbeing practice.

Participants, who also took part in hands-on life-skills sessions and guided hostel visits, closed the workshop by developing and presenting institutional student wellness action plans.

Taking the plans home

During the valedictory session, Shri Devendra Kumar Sharma highlighted that institutions are autonomous and are better placed to understand their own campus requirements, student needs, classroom environments, methods of student engagement, and approaches to curriculum design. He noted that the Ministry was providing a platform where institutions can come together, deliberate, share experiences, and learn from experts and from one another.

Institutional teams closed the workshop by drafting their student wellness action plans and identified areas requiring attention within their respective campuses. They also discussed practical measures for strengthening student support and well-being. The participants were also introduced to the University/Institution Wellness Indicators Checklist, a common self-assessment framework for follow-up.

The concluding activity provided an opportunity for delegates to take the discussions, expert inputs, and institutional experiences shared during the workshop and create context-specific approaches for their respective higher education institutions.