E-Paper
Female students to get say in determining universities’ rankings
A good percentage of women students, a larger number of patents and good feedback from employers who hired students will help institutions get a better ranking in the India Rankings to be announced by the government on April 4.
Girls and women students will play a role in determining the rank of a university or an engineering or law institute in the annual government-backed survey, India Rankings, to be announced on April 3.
A high percentage of women students in a particular institution could give it an edge in an otherwise close contest among institutions where every point makes a difference in their ranking. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, topped the first survey last year.
The survey is conducted by the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) under the aegis of the union human resource development (HRD) ministry. “In this year’s survey, 2.5% weightage has been given for the percentage of women students in a campus. This is important as it will bring in greater gender parity in institutions,” a ministry official told HT.
Another criterion introduced this year is the feedback of employers who hired students from these institutes and also the number of patents they have to their credit. The NIRF revised the criteria for granting rankings to educational institutions this year.
The first rankings were published last year in four different categories -- university, engineering institutes, management institutes, and pharmacy institutes. There will be a common ranking for all of them together this year.
More than 3,500 top higher educational institutions and colleges are in the fray this year. The criteria for ranking include teaching/learning resources, research, graduation outcomes, outreach/inclusivity and perception.
