Academics cautious over college & varsity ranking
Mumbai:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
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Survey Will Take 3-4 Years To Be Well-Rounded, They Say
The Union HRD ministry's
ranking of institutions of higher learning 2017 has experts voice some
concerns and put out a word of caution. Most academics are of the view
that it is unfair to compare large generously-funded institutes with
state universities that are challenged by the quality of students,
plagued with vacant faculty positions, deprived of funds and cursed by
political interference.
Amazed at the high rank of some
institutescolleges and the conspicuous absence of other eminent
colleges, experts say it is difficult to compare the 3,300 institutes
included in the National Institutional Ranking Framework 2017 (NIRF).
Former director of IIT-Bombay , Ashok Misra, says he wonders why the
Indian Institute of Science, ranked No.1, and the Jawahar
lal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, had been categorised
as universities.Given that the participation is voluntary , academics
point out the first year saw top institutes sign up and this year a few
more have joined in.
“Stability will come in only after three to four years when many more join in. Currently , the rank depends largely on who else is in this list to get ranked. Each year the relative ranks change depending on the pool of institutes in the ranking framework,“ said Neeraj Hatekar, head of the school of economics at University of Mumbai. The first NIRF rankings were released in 2016 and added two streams this year: `overall' and `colleges' to the existing engineering, universities, management and pharmacy categories. It has also expanded the parameters, including one that measures `outreach and inclusivity'.
ORF founder Sudheendra Kulkarni says the rankings simply indicate “where each university stands“. “Even geographical location matters. While universities in the metros are at an advantage, a Gondwana or a Chandrapur University will not figure in the rankings at all though they are doing some interesting work to serve the local population.“
Heads of the IITs often lament that they fall behind in international rankings as they are not funded as much as an MIT or Caltech. This is now the lament of state universities vis-a-vis the new rankings. But Ashok Misra points out, “The rankings are stream-wise and nothing stops a state university from attracting more resources and working with industry to set up labs and innovation centres.“
“Stability will come in only after three to four years when many more join in. Currently , the rank depends largely on who else is in this list to get ranked. Each year the relative ranks change depending on the pool of institutes in the ranking framework,“ said Neeraj Hatekar, head of the school of economics at University of Mumbai. The first NIRF rankings were released in 2016 and added two streams this year: `overall' and `colleges' to the existing engineering, universities, management and pharmacy categories. It has also expanded the parameters, including one that measures `outreach and inclusivity'.
ORF founder Sudheendra Kulkarni says the rankings simply indicate “where each university stands“. “Even geographical location matters. While universities in the metros are at an advantage, a Gondwana or a Chandrapur University will not figure in the rankings at all though they are doing some interesting work to serve the local population.“
Heads of the IITs often lament that they fall behind in international rankings as they are not funded as much as an MIT or Caltech. This is now the lament of state universities vis-a-vis the new rankings. But Ashok Misra points out, “The rankings are stream-wise and nothing stops a state university from attracting more resources and working with industry to set up labs and innovation centres.“
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