The Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Smriti Zubin Irani, released the India Rankings 2016 and dedicated India’s first ranking to the nation in New Delhi today. While releasing the India Rankings 2016 she said that history has been made as National Institutional Ranking framework (NIRF) is the first of its kind. She said that one of the biggest challenges in the higher education sector have been that citizens who engage with these institutions feel that 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. The Ministry of HRD, she said, 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.
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 60000 observers gave their views about how our present institutions are. She added that these rankings would also help in 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.India Rankings 2016 is the country’s first exercise to rank the higher educational institutions in the country based on objective, identifiable parameters. This follows the launch of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) on 29th September, 2015 by the Union Minister of Human Resource Development Smt Smriti Zubin Irani.
The rankings are arrived at after detailed analysis and validation of the data submitted by more than 3,600 higher educational institutions in the country classified in 6 categories. 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.Also present on the occasion were Secretary Higher Education Shri V.S.Oberoi ; Additional Secretary Ministry of HRD Shri Subrahmanyam; National Board of Accreditation Chairman Prof Surendra Prasad; UGC Chairman Shri Vedprakash, AICTE Chairman Prof Sahasrabuddhe; and Member Secretary NBA, Dr Anil Kumar Nassa.