Hyderabad: Five institutes from Telangana state figured in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) top 100 list announced by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on Monday. The institutes to make it to the NIRF list include University of Hyderabad (14), IIT Hyderabad (26), Osmania University (38), National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (58) and National Institute of Technology-Warangal (82). This is a marked improvement from last year, when only three institutes — Univer-sity of Hyderabad, Osmania University and IIT Hyderabad — figured in top 100 list.
IISc Bangalore topped the overall list while seven IITs found a place in the top 10. The University of Hyderabad, which secured fourth rank in 2016, slipped 10 places to get the 14th rank this time. Osmania University, which had the 33rd position, slipped five ranks below to secure the 38th rank in 2017.
University of Hyderabad official spokesperson Professor Vipin Srivastava said that they have to examine whether non-academic issues have been taken into account apart from academic parameters because UoH is no less compared to some of the varsities placed above it.
“Also, last year IITs were not clubbed with varsities like done this year. Understandably seven IITs figured in the top 10 this year and as a result UoH slipped a few places. IITs have a different set of criteria and functioning compared to universities,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, when the all-India best universities list is considered, two universities — UoH and OU — made it to the top 100 list. While the Central University was in the seventh position, OU was placed twenty third.
This year, the NIRF introduced a new category called common overall ranking in which all universities and centrally funded institutions were considered. MHRD gave common rankings to all universities and national institutes sans IITs last year.
The criteria used to rank the institutions included teaching/ learning resources, research, graduation outcomes (employability), outreach/ social and gender inclusivity and perception. Emphasis was also laid on quality of research and employer perception during.
The rankings are crucial because the Centre’s funding will be based on them in future. Universities and institutions that that do well in the NIRF will also be considered for greater autonomy and more international exposure. More than 3,300 institutes were considered for the rankings, which commenced from last year.
