The Ministry of Human Resource Development has released National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking 2020 of higher educational institutions of the country. This exercise of ranking was started by the Ministry of Human resource development in 2015 to encourage healthy competition among the higher educational institutions. An expert committee was formed by the ministry to give a ranking system for colleges, institutions and other universities across the country. A core committee was also formed to chalk out a detailed methodology and parameters based on which the assessment will be conducted. The plan laid by the core committee is then perused by the expert committee and then the ranking is given accordingly.
Here, we discuss
- Global Rankings
- Need for NRF Ranking
- The Methodology
- Parameters
- NIRF Rankings 2020
Let’s get started…
Global Rankings
- Many of the global ranking institutions or organisations conduct the exercise based on parameters which are relevant to all the countries the educational institutions belong to. Hence the regional and provincial issues which are important factors of functioning and performance of the institution are undermined.
- Besides this, these global organisations consider more subjective parameters as compared to the factual one. India is a country, whose higher education is grappling with low funding, and inadequate world class infrastructure.
- These disadvantages do not place the institutions on the same level as the ones which are globally eminent in their infrastructure and performance. For this reason the government i.e. Ministry of Human Resource Development has come up with this exercise.
Need for NIRF Ranking
- This system of ranking by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development was introduced to inspire and urge the higher educational institutions to perform efficiently and also to enable them to create a level playing field for all of them.
- This also stimulates them to grow and flourish together. This forms a great foundation for the ‘Study in India’ programme which encourages student to take up higher education in India instead of going abroad.
- It brings to light the efficiency and high standards of these universities and colleges. It is also widely believed that this ranking system will have a positive impact and appeal across all educational institutions.
- Many institutions are expected to come forward and participate in this exercise to assess their performance based on the qualitative performance oriented parameters.
- It helps them to move forward and improve their overall capability.
The Methodology
- The core committee responsible for laying out a detailed methodology for this ranking system has listed out an exhaustive set of parameters.
- The committee has organised these parameters into five broad categories and each of this is further categorized into sub-parameters. Then relevant data is also collected and identified. This will help in maintaining the transparency of the overall exercise.
- Each category including the sub-category is allotted scores and the performance and functioning of the participating universities and colleges is assessed based on the scores they achieve.
- Since various educational institutions have different primary objectives the core committee has divided the participating universities and colleges for better assessment.
The institutions that fall under Universities are:
- Institutions of National Importance set up b acts of Parliament
- State Universities
- Central Universities
- Deemed-to-be-Universities
- Private Universities
- And other Autonomous degree colleges
The colleges include autonomous institutions that do not enjoy complete academic autonomy.
Parameters
To create a level playing field for these institutions the committee has given same parameters on which they are gauged but the bench for each of it is different.
The parameters and benchmarks are designed in such way that they reflect different mandates and expectations from each of the participating educational institutions.
The ranking parameters for Universities are:
- Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR)
- Research Productivity, Impact and Intellectual Property Rights(RPII)
- Graduation Outcome(GO)
- Outreach and Inclusivity(IO)
- Perception(PR)
These benchmarks have been further divided into certain benchmarks.
- Teaching, Learning and resources (TLR)
- Teacher Student Ratio with emphasis on Permanent Faculty.
- Combined Metric for Faculty and PhD experience.
- Metric for Library and Laboratory facilities.
- Metric for Sports and Extra Circular activities.
- Research Productivity, Impact and Intellectual Property Rights (RPII)
- Combined Metric for Publication
- Combined Metric for Citation
- Intellectual Property Right
- Graduation Outcome
- Combined Performance in University exams
- Combined Performance in Public Examinations.
- Outreach and Inclusivity
- Outreach Footprint
- Percentage of Students from other states and Countries
- Percentage of Women Students and Faculty
- Percentage of Economically and Socially Disadvantaged Students.
- Facilities for Differently Abled Persons
- Perception
- Process for Peer Rating in Category
- Application to Set Ratio
- This detailed information and methodology of assessment has been taken up by the Expert Committee to allot ranking to all the participating Universities and colleges. 90% of these parameters in NIRF are mostly objective and factual and the remaining 10% like the ‘Peer Perception’ category are subjective parameters. This was not the case with the International Organisations.
- The ranking of Indian Institutions participating in the international ranking system have always scored low. This has been so because Indian Universities and Colleges have not scored well in the ‘Internationalization’ parameter.
- This national wide NIRF ranking is expected to change the perspective of the global ranking organisations in such a way that the global institutions would want to feature their colleges and universities in Indian ranking system rather than how it used to be till now.
- The total number of Institutions participating in this activity has gone up by 20% this year as compared to 2019.
- A total of 3,771 institutions have got themselves registered in this exercise. Apart from a detailed set of parameters this year the expert committee has included Dental category in the ranking system.
- It is the fifth consecutive year of this ranking.
NIRF Rankings 2020
The institutions were ranked in different categories like colleges, Universities, Medical, Engineering, Law Architecture etc. The top 10 educational institutions of every category are:
Overall Ranking
- Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Madras
- Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IISc)
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi
- Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Maharashtra
- Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal
- Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
- Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam
- Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
- Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee , Uttarakhand
- Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
University Ranking – Top 10
- Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IISc)
- Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi
- Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
- Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
- Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal
- University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana
- Calcutta University, Kolkata, West Bengal
- Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka
- Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra
- Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Delhi
College Category – Top 10
- Miranda House DU, Delhi
- Lady Shri Ram College or Women DU, Delhi
- Hindu College DU, Delhi
- St. Stephen`s College, Delhi
- Presidency College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- St. Xavier`s College, Kolkata, West Bengal
- Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Howrah, West Bengal
- Hans Raj College, Delhi
- PSGR Krishnammal College for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Medical Discipline – Top 10
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi
- Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
- Christian Medical College, Bangalore
- National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka
- Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
- Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
- Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
- Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research,
Puducherry, Pondicherry - Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Karnataka
- King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Law Discipline – Top 10
- National Law School of India, Banglore
- National Law University, Delhi
- Nalsar University Of Law, Hyderabad
- Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal
- National Law University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan
- The West Bengal National University of Juridicial Sciences, Kolkata, West bengal
- Gujarat National Law University , Gandhinagar, Gujarat
- Symbiosis Law School, Pune, Maharashtra
- Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
- The Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala, Punjab
Engineering Category – Top 10
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay
- Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
- Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal
- Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Uttarakhand
- Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati , Assam
- Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Telangana
- National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu
- Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Madhya Pradesh
Management Category – Top 10
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmadabad
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta
- Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
- Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal
- Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kerala
- Indian Institute of Management Indore, Madhya Pradesh
- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
- Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
- Management Development Institute, Gurugram Haryana
Architecture Discipline – Top 10
- Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Kharagpur
- Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Roorkee
- Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Calicut
- Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University,
Ahmedabad, Gujarat - School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
- Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology
Shibpur, West Bengal - School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
- National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu
- School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
- Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
Pharmacy Discipline – Top 10
- Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi
- Punjab University, Chandigarh
- National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Mohali, Chandigarh
- Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra
- National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Hyderabad , Telangana
- Birla Institute of Technology & Science , Pilani, Rajasthan
- Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Udupi, Karnataka
- National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
- JSS College of Pharmacy, Ooty, Tamil Nadu
- JSS College of Pharmacy, Mysore, Karnataka
Dental College – Top 10
- Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Science, Delhi
- Manipal College of Dental Science, Udupai, Karnataka
- Dr. DY Patil Vidyanatha, Pune, Maharashtra
- Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- A. B. S. M. Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangaluru, Karnataka
- Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Mangalore, Karnataka
- Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education And Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- Nair Hospital Dental College , Mumbai, Maharashtra
- SRM Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- JSS Dental College and Hospital , Mysuru, Karnataka
This system of ranking has been widely accepted by the pubic and gained importance. However certain improvements are necessary to improve the reliability of the outcome.
- Introduction of state level ranking as well
- National level accreditation should be given weightage.
- Data verification and data authentication need to be improved.
- Innovative curriculum aspects
- Quick recruitment process for foreign faculty
Apart from all these administrative changes educational institutions in the country require operational autonomy to compete with global institutions.
The NIRF has helped the institutions understand their identify performance and standard which will in turn help them to identify areas to improve upon.
- This ranking report also makes for reliable information on which the parents can depend upon and select the right institution for their child.
- It also acts as a great marketing tool for the institutions at a national level without any cost.
- The participating institutions are given individual scores in addition to the overall ranking to help them self assess their performance.
- Since most of the parameters used to allot ranking to the educational institutions are of global standard it increases the credibility of the ranking system.
Wrapping Up
The system of ranking should also be extended to regional colleges and state universities and help them improve their infrastructure and performance. Similar parameters and bench marks need to made standards to colleges which are yet to improve their performance to participate in this exercise. The parameters of this exercise need to be changed or rather made more subjective in line with the changing conditions of the country with reliable and authentic data. This will also help in understanding the dynamic nature of the educational institutions.
This exercise of ranking eminent colleges and Universities of the country of various fields will hopefully encourage the regional colleges to improve their performance. This also changes the way foreign students perceive Indian educational institutions and there is a decent probability of attracting more foreign students into the esteemed colleges of the country.
