'India Rankings 2016': IISc tops among universities

New Delhi : Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, has been adjudged as the top ranking university followed by Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, and Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

Hyderabad University is at the fourth place in the list of Universities unveiled by Human Resource and Development Minister Smriti Irani here on Monday, which is based on first-of- its-kind of indigenous ranking framework for higher education institutions in the country.

The list has been complied by National Institutional Ranking Framework. The parameters broadly cover teaching, learning and Resources, research and professional practices, Graduation Outcomes, Outreach and inclusivity and Perception.

IIT Madras has bagged the top position among the engineering colleges, followed by IIT Mumbai and IIT Kharagpur.

IIM Bangalore is at the top position among the management institutions and Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences is the top pharmacy institute in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Irani said history has been made as National Institutional Ranking framework (NIRF) is the first of its kind. "One of the biggest challenges in the higher education sector have been citizens engage with these institutions, who feel there is no level playing field in terms of transparency and the data that they need from these institutions with regard to the choices they, specially the students, need to make," she said.

The Ministry of HRD has been able to spearhead many a changes in the field of education sector and slowly and steadily the steps taken by the ministry are bearing fruits, she added.

The minister said this kind of ranking would empower citizens as it would endow them with the power as to how they observe the institutions to be. Some 60,000 observers gave their views about how our present institutions are, she said, adding that these rankings would also help reaching benchmark of international excellence. The rankings will also help students make informed choices about the institutions they want to join.

The minister added that to ensure a third party validation of the data that we have received and analyzed, the agency like Elsevier was engaged.

These ranking 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 has been further subdivided into nearly 20 sub criteria to comprehensively assess an institution.

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 universities and institutions of national importance. 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 Board 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 platform.