The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), ranked India's best institute globally, has maintained its standards and topped the charts of the first National Institutions Ranking Framework (NIRF), which announced the first India Rankings (2016) on Monday (04 April), in New Delhi.
Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani released the India Rankings 2016, country’s first exercise to rank the higher educational institutions based on objective, identifiable parameters. This follows the launch of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) on 29th September 2015.
Three other institutes in Karnataka -- the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) has topped the management institutes ranking while Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences has topped the pharma category which also sees Mysuru's JSS college of Pharmacy ranked 10th -- feature among the top institutions.
Also featuring in the top five universities are Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the University of Hyderabad (UoH), both of which have been facing government's wrath in the past few months, while the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has topped the engineering category.
The ranking was done after institutions were evaluated on several parameters such as teaching, learning resources, research et al.
The NIRF, which was constituted only in September 2015 by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), will conduct annual survey and come out with rankings every year.
The rankings are arrived at after detailed analysis and validation of the data submitted by more than 3,600 higher educational institutions in the Country classified in 6 categories. These rankings follow an Indian approach, where academic institute will be assessed on parameters, including teaching-learning; research; collaborative practice and professional performance; graduate outcomes; placements; outreach and inclusive action and peer group perception. Each of these have been further subdivided into nearly 20 sub criteria to comprehensively assess an institution.
Irani said: “Designed with a transparent mechanism, the National Institutional Rankings will facilitate choice, enabling higher education stakeholders to make informed and accurate decisions. Our mission is to enable students and parents across the country to have a tangible connect with their country’s education system. Through this launch, we are embarking on the path of education diplomacy, which is bound to take the country forward.”
She further added that the world's first university was established in India and it is unfortunate that the same country is not recognised for its education today. The first of its kind alternative to the other global rankings, the National Institutional Rankings are designed to galvanise Indian institutions towards a competitive environment that exists in the world today.
The decision to set up a reliable, transparent and authentic ranking system for higher education institutions within the country was taken on the recommendations of heads of central and institutions of national importance universities. A core committee that included National Board of Accreditation Chairman Surendra Prasad, IIT-Kharagpur director P.P. Chakraborty, IIT-Madras Director Bhaskar Ramamurthi, besides the Higher Education Secretary and HRD Ministry officials have drafted the framework. Institutions will be ranked separately among their own verticals including engineering, management, architecture, pharmacy and universities, etc. The ranking is done by an independent and autonomous body and the exercise will be an annual affair. Accordingly, the National Bureau of Accreditation (NBA) has undertaken the task of doing the ranking exercise.
The rankings are a step towards bringing the Indian institutes on a global level.
