THRISSUR : The government on Friday released its first ranking of universities and colleges in the state under the Kerala Institutional Ranking Framework (KIRF). Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) took the top honour among universities.
It is for the first time in the country that a state government has ventured into ranking its higher education institutions. Launched on May 3, 2023, KIRF was adopted by the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) as the methodology for the rankings.
“KIRF was introduced for continuous evaluation of higher educational institutions, so that they perform better and improve their position in national and international rankings.
Our framework for evaluating universities and colleges follows the national framework. Factors unique to the state were also incorporated. We introduced a portal as part of the effort,” Higher Education Minister R Bindu said, announcing the rankings.
The portal was opened for uploading institutional data on July 5, 2023. The process was closed on May 10 this year.
A total of 449 institutions were part of the rankings. This included 10 universities, 216 arts and science colleges, 72 engineering colleges, seven management institutions, 10 medical colleges, eight dental colleges, six pharmacy colleges, 29 nursing colleges, three law colleges, 72 teacher education institutes, and 12 agriculture and allied sectors institution.
Management, architecture, medical, dental, pharmacy, and law colleges were later excluded from this edition of the rankings due to insufficient participation. In addition to parameters considered under the national framework, factors like secular outlook and scientific temper were included in the state rankings. Regional diversity, first-generation learner, social inclusiveness, and green technology were also considered.
The entire data collection was managed through the online platform, the minister said. “CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (CSIR-NIScPR) provided technical support,” Bindu added.
