In a ceremony held at the Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi, the President of India, Shri. Ramnath Kovind announced the NIRF and ARIIA rankings for 2019. The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking evaluates India’s institutes, both public and private, based on five parameters and in seven categories. The Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA), established to rank all major higher educational institutions and universities in India on its innovation and entrepreneurship development, made its debut this year. Both the rankings are the initiatives of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) stood first in the overall category, beating the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, which came a close second. The Indian Institute of Delhi (IIT Delhi) stood at the third place. Overall, 1479 institutes all over India were considered for these rankings.
Among India’s universities, IISc Bengaluru bagged the top spot, followed by the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. IIT Madras topped the ‘Engineering’ category, followed by IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay. The Miranda House and the Hindu College, both in New Delhi, came first and second among ‘College’ category in India. Chennai’s reputed Presidency College was ranked third. The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) received top honours in the ‘Management’ category, followed by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata.
Jamia Hamdard, which is India’s only university offering specialised courses in Unani Medicine, was ranked first in the ‘Pharmacy’ category, followed by Punjab University and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, both in the state of Punjab. Bengaluru’s National Law School of India University was ranked first in ‘Law’, and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur topped under the ‘Architecture’ category. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi was considered the top in the ‘Medical’ category, followed by Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh and Christian Medical College, Vellore.
NIRF ranks institutions based on the broad parameters ‘Teaching, Learning and Resources’, ‘Research and Professional Practices’, ‘Graduation Outcomes’, ‘Outreach and Inclusivity’ and ‘Perception’. IIT Madras, which topped the rankings, had a score of 84.56, 83.53, 87.13, 66.08 and 94.14 in these parameters. Most institutes scored low on ‘Outreach and Inclusivity’, while JNU had the highest score in this category with 75.87 among the top 10 institutes.
In the ARIIA rankings, IIT Madras again outshined the others among the ‘Public Funded Institutes’, while IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi stood second and third respectively. The Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore topped the ‘Private Institutions’ category, followed by the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Khordha, Bubhaneshwar and S.R.M. Institute Of Science and Technology, Chennai.
In his address to the gathering at the award ceremony, President Kovind stressed the need for more women being able to achieve higher education and improving the ranking of Indian institutes at a global level.