BENGALURU: Of the 16 government-run medical colleges in the state, only one is eligible to apply for the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) this year. Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) is the only government medical college in the state which has applied for the ranking for both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 academic years.
'According to the state Department of Medical Education, this is because no other college meets the criteria fixed by the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD) under NIRF. Dr Girish, director of State Department of Medical Education said, “All colleges need to apply for ranking under NIRF, but as many have failed to fulfil some of the criteria.
The majority of our government medical colleges cannot apply.” According to government medical college principals, infrastructure and staff are the major issues for non-eligibility. NIRF is a ranking of universities, colleges and higher educational institutions introduced by MHRD and is parallel to NAAC. The ranking is a reflection of the yearly performance by the institutions. Even an institute which gets a low grade under NAAC can get a good rank with NIRF, as it is an annual affair.