BHUBANESWAR: Even after seven years of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), initiated by the Ministry of Education to rank various universities and institutions on different parametres, participation of Odisha's general and autonomous colleges in the ranking system has remained dismal.
In fact, while NIRF ranking started in 2016, the number of institutions (both public and private) from Odisha taking part in the national-level ranking has not even reached 30 so far. Prior to 2016, ranking higher educational institutions (HEIs) was done by private entities which prompted the Ministry to start NIRF.
While NIRF participation was voluntary initially, it was made mandatory for government-run HEIs in 2018. In the NIRF-2022 ranking which was announced recently by the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, only 28 institutions from the State had taken part and these included 8 general universities and one non-aided government degree college - Sukruli Degree College - in Mayurbhanj.
Interestingly, the three-decade-old degree college does not have a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation which is mandatory in today’s education scenario. Only Utkal University found a spot (88th rank) in the Top-100 universities in the country. The same number of HEIs had taken part in the NIRF-2021 and the number was 22 in 2020. Odisha, currently, has 32 autonomous colleges.
The NIRF grades HEIs under 11 categories - Overall, University, Engineering, College, Management, Pharmacy, Medical, Dental, Architecture and Law besides, Research. Academicians said despite the State having hundreds of general colleges besides the autonomous colleges, none of them are ready for a national-level ranking.
"Development of higher education in Odisha is a recent phenomenon. Despite the State government pumping crores of rupees into the sector, many colleges and universities are still lagging behind in terms of teaching, infrastructure, innovation, adequate funding and they need hand-holding support to qualify for NAAC," said the principal of a city-based autonomous college.
And with Dharmendra Pradhan recently announcing that only those universities and colleges that have NAAC grading or NIRF ranking will be eligible for inclusion in the list maintained by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under section 12B of the UGC Act, 1956 for receiving financial assistance from next year onwards, the going will get even more difficult for Odisha colleges that are aiming at autonomy.
Odisha State Higher Education Council Vice-Chairperson Ashok Das said participation in NIRF is important because it gives an institution national exposure and scope to introspect its performance year after year. He said that the autonomous colleges and universities are now being conditioned by the council to secure NAAC accreditation and participate in the NIRF ranking.
"For autonomous colleges, NAAC is a better quality indicator as NIRF mostly looks at placements, research, PhD which are not the focus areas of these colleges. While autonomous colleges are yet to come forward for the NIRF test, many of our public universities have been participating in it ever since the ranking system was put in place seven years back," he said.
Das added that the council is also working with universities to develop institutional development plans within the next 6 months with a target on securing NIRF rank.