E-Paper
NIRF rankings-2022: Mixed results for Prayagraj institutions
Sangam city-based prominent technical and higher educational institutions had a mixed bag of results in terms of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings-2022 released by the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in the national capital, on Friday
Sangam city-based prominent technical and higher educational institutions had a mixed bag of results in terms of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings-2022 released by the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in the national capital, on Friday.
Prayagraj-based Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology-Allahabad (MNNIT) failed to bag an overall rank—which is limited to just 100 top institutions of all streams— this time. In 2021 it had bagged 88th rank, an improvement of five places as compared to 2020 when it had got an overall rank of 93. In 2019 also it had failed to secure an overall rank. However, among engineering colleges, the institute managed to bag a place in Top-50 for the fourth time with a rank of 47 this year. But this was still a slip of five places as in 2021 it had bagged 42nd rank against 48th place in 2020.
The Indian Institute of Information Technology-Allahabad (IIIT-A) which does not participate in the overall rank category, bagged 97th rank among engineering colleges. However, this was slightly lower than 87th rank it had bagged in 2021. In 2020, it had bagged 103rd rank among engineering colleges while in 2019, it was placed at 82nd.
Likewise, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), Prayagraj bagged 79th rank among the Top-100 colleges offering courses in Pharmacy. In 2020 it had bagged 56th rank.
No other institution in Prayagraj managed to bag an NIRF ranking including Allahabad University, which for the fourth time failed to make a place for itself in the list of Top-200 institutions of the country that are awarded ranks or rank bands based on their performance and infrastructure.
The central university also could not make a place for itself among the country’s top 100 universities.
Reactions on rankings
Reacting to the NIRF Ranking-2022, MNNIT director Prof Rama Shanker Verma said, “We are in the process of analysing the NIRF data. Institute has gained in few parameters of NIRF and we will be assessing our performance and eventually taking suitable measures. The Institute has already made certain reforms and development plans which will be reflected in upcoming years.”
IIIT-A’s associate dean (Institute Ranking, GIAN like courses, Library, E-Library) Satish Singh said that he sees the ranking as encouraging. “Our ranking of 93 among engineering colleges post pandemic impact is good and we will surely make it better next time. Our performance should be assessed keeping in mind that NIRF presently does not have a separate group for IT and computer science engineering colleges of the country like us and we compete with institutions offering a wide gamut of engineering courses. By improving our teacher taught ratio, we will improve out ranking next time,” he said.
Vice-chancellor of AU Prof Sangita Srivastava conceded that despite best efforts, AU could not perform well in NIRF rankings-2021. Prof Srivastava said that she was confident of bagging a good rank next year.
“We are doing our best to get over the shortcomings which hamper the efforts to improve the rankings. Our performance suffered mainly owing to the poor teacher-taught ratio. We are in the midst of the process of teachers’ recruitment. More than 100 teachers have been appointed and the interviews for selections of others are also underway with efforts to complete the process on priority,” she said.
The VC said that a number of steps have been initiated to improve the academic and research facilities in the campus that combined with better teacher taught ratio will help improve our ranking. I am sure that with the support of students, teachers and non-teaching staff, we will get a good ranking in 2023, she added.
