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A rewarding experience for every student
The Government Nandanam Arts College, which became a co-educational institution and admitted its first batch
of women students this year, was placed in the 150-300 rank band.
The National Institutional Ranking Framework data, released on August 12, brought joy and angst in good measure. Some institutions did not make the cut. For some, it was celebration time. The Government Nandanam Arts College, which was declared a co-educational institution this year and admitted its first batch of women students to undergraduate programmes, was placed in the 150-300 rank band. Its Principal Jothi C. Venkateswaran attributed the achievement to his team and students. The institution has admitted a transgender and launched a National Cadet Corps for girl students. Recently, the college had its students plant saplings. Earlier this year when it was a men’s college, the students took part at a massive cleaning drive. All these efforts paid off.
For some larger institutions whose rankings had fallen, it was time for review. Presidency College Principal R. Raman was puzzled that though his college had been consistently doing well in research that set the institution apart, it fell by 10 ranks. Until last year, it was ranked among the top 6 institutions in the country, and it had been ranked third twice. This year, it fell to the 13th position. He said, “We have the same researchers who continue to do excellent research. We have improved in several parameters. But we still scored low. The perception score has fallen. For research, the score has fallen by 10%.” He adds the institution’s research output was better than that of the top three colleges.
A steep drop
The college’s score in research and professional practice has fallen by 10 percentage points. It was 81.39 last year and it has dropped to 70.00 this year. In 2022, it was 90.61. Its score this year in teaching, learning, and resources is higher than that of most colleges ranked above it. Its graduate outcome is better than that of Loyola College (ranked 8) and for outreach and inclusivity, it has scored 52.76, better than Loyola College’s 46.51. But the perception has taken a beating. The college has scored 76.06 against 78.23 last year.
V. Kamakoti, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, which has topped the ranking in the overall category and in the engineering category and ranked second in innovation, briefed the media about the institute’s performance and plans for the future.
There were many parameters under each of the five categories — teaching, learning and resources; graduate outcome; outreach and inclusivity; research and professional practice; and perception. “If you go through the five parameters, under each of them, there are more [metrics]. There are around 75 parameters in all. Each parameter will benefit each student,” he said.
Focus on online education
IIT Madras was among the institutes that devised the NIRF a decade ago. Rajnish Kumar of the institute, who is the chairperson of the NIRF ranking committee, said, “Performance is compared with others. Under teaching, learning and resources, online education was given prominence this year. The focus in research and professional practice was on the number of Ph.D students who graduate each year.” One of the metrics in the NIRF this year was performance with respect to sustainable development goals, including in research. Marks were allotted for diversity on campus. Perception included research, gender diversity, reach-out to the local community through outreach programmes, CSR, and introduction of new programmes, he said.
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