VOYAGER PROGRAM
Description: The aim of the institution always remains to focus on the students’ overall development, whether it’s technical skills, cultural activities’ participation or academic skill set. With the same objective in mind, The Voyager Program introduces a new experience for the students of Punjab Engineering College (Deemed To Be University) giving them an opportunity for a holistic personality development.
The program involves students visiting various Indian states during the summer break in groups of 3 (up to a maximum of 5 groups) allowing them to explore the country and the various communities and cultures that exist within. It involves students exploring the diverse corners of the country with minimal materialistic requirements, focussing on and diving into the beautifully diverse places, people and living conditions.
Purpose: The objective of this program is to expose the students to the widely varying living conditions, cultures, values, traditions, beliefs, climate, and geographical conditions all over the country. It aims to engage students with different aspects of life by divulging them into raw social interaction giving them perspective into communities, people and difference in characteristics. It teaches them the importance of experience rather than materialistic things as they have to travel and stay in minimal living conditions in unfamiliar territories. It introduces them to circumstances where they have to enter into dialogue with people from different walks of life.
The biggest take away from the program is gaining a perspective on life and the realisation of what things matter to them in life, their ambitions and an opportunity to break socially constructed aspirations. It is an attempt to instil qualities such as inquisitiveness, curiosity, retrospection, compassion and commitment in the fellows.
The program is not a tourist experience; it’s a journey of exploring where the fellows will be discovering the country rather than enjoying a vacation. They will enter unknown territories and unknown adventures. The aim is for them to discover themselves during the process of discovering the country.
Guidelines: The program is governed by the following general guidelines:
- The program would be of 6 weeks (40 days) and the students need to cover a minimum of 6 or more states (other than Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir) covering Eastern, Western, North- Eastern and Southern states of the country.
- The students would be given a maximum of Rs. 40,000/- for their travel and accommodation expenses. Budget of Rs. 1000/- per day will be allocated per student for a maximum of 40 days. However, students have to travel for at least 30 days to avail the fellowship (amount subject to change).
- The students must travel via sleeper class trains (Non-AC) or state government buses and must stay in budget accommodation such as dharamshalas, home stays and youth hostels.
- The student should not have any ongoing backlogs.
- The students are required to document their trip and also include photographs and videos of every state they visit.
Report: The teams will have to submit a detailed report of their 30-40 day journey, featuring every location, duration, their learning, take away and experience. Formulation of the trip around a theme, describing anecdotes, friends etc. are some things that the recollection of the trip can contain.