Sep 6, UIC – The first MCP Meeting of the Grade 07 new students was held today with a new format to light up the atmosphere.
In order to help new students quickly adapt to the international teaching environment, according to the Whole Person Education concept, UIC combines teaching and tutoring together in a Mentor Caring Program that provides psychological counseling to students and helps to enhance their communication with the College. Different from last year, the MCP this year will pay more emphasis in tutoring for the new students. It will continue to use the “small group” method to cover all new students, but the organization is better framed, and the participation of the Junior Mentors is a new trial.
There are 80 MCP groups this year, with 12 students in each of them. The tutoring in every group will be led by one MCP Mentor (an experienced staff member) and assisted by two to three trained senior students who were called “group dads” and “group moms” by the new students.
The MCP meeting this year was unlike the boring meeting last year at which the whole grade sat in a large venue with stern faces. The atmosphere this year was more easy and lively, with only two groups sharing a small classroom. Every student could talk freely and had more time to interact with their mentors.
Every group had its unique communication style. Some played small games to cultivate a team-work spirit among the members; some groups had free talks to help students know more about each other; some groups had talent shows to feature the personality of each student. Laughter burst out every now and then from the classrooms.
At the meeting, MCP mentors made an introduction to the Program and the basic situation of the college, and also answered the questions of every student. The senior students were enthusiastic and cared a lot about the new students. They shared with the new students their own study experience and suggested solutions for them to deal with the difficulties in the transition period at the beginning of their college life. The new students listened to the talks carefully, and many of them took notes. The meeting was a valuable lessen for all the new students.
Mr. Ng Yiu Fai, Acting Director of Office of Student Affairs, MCP mentor, said after the meeting that the MCP this year had improved a lot from last year, and the training for the mentors and the Junior Mentors were better than last year. He noticed that many new students asked detailed questions about their living on campus. He said the College would make effort to solve the problems as soon as possible and organize MCP group meets regularly to listen to the students’ opinions.
Report: Deng Weijun
Edit: Cheryl Chen/ Christy Zhao
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