CHENNAI: The Union Ministry of Education's National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings, which were released on Friday, presented a mixed bag of results for State universities. While rankings of four State universities have dropped, other four have moved up the ladder.
Anna University's rank slipped to 20 this year. against 14th rank last year. The University of Madras slipped 11 ranks from 28 to 39. The Bharathiar University dropped to 15 against last year's 13th position, while the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University slipped to 80th rank from 70 last year. However, Alagappa University improved its position to 28 from 33 and Madurai Kamaraj University climbed up the ladder from 63 to 52. Periyar University bettered its performance by moving up from 73 to 63. Interestingly, Bharathidasan University has been consistent in its performance and retained its 57th position.
As per the NIRF 2022 rankings in the university category, at least 21 universities from Tamil Nadu, including eight State universities, have been placed in the top 100. While last year the figure was 19.
The drop in performance of major State universities has raised concerns among academicians. "In the higher education sector, Tamil Nadu is a forerunner in the country and our State universities should feature in the top 10 list in the university category at least. It is high time the State government analyzed the reason behind the drop in performance and rectifies it," said S K Ashokan, a retired professor.
In the overall category, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has retained the top spot among institutes in the country for the fourth consecutive year and is ranked 1 in the engineering category for the seventh consecutive year.
"NIRF process gives detailed feedback regarding our strengths and weaknesses. While we will continue to leverage our strengths we will address the weaknesses to march forward," said V Kamakoti, director, IIT Madras.
The Vellore Institute of Technology also improved in the overall category. VIT ranked 21 last year in the overall category of NIRF rankings. However, this year it has secured 18th rank.
At least 18 higher education institutions from Tamil Nadu are featured in the top 100 in the overall category. NIT Tiruchy has moved up from 23 to 21 this year while Anna University has also improved its performance from 25th rank to 22nd spot this year. However, the ranking of the University of Madras has dropped significantly to 70 this year against 47th position last year.
"We will look into the details and parameters of the NIRF ranking and will analyse the areas where we failed to perform," said vice-chancellor of Madras University, S Gowri.
In the college category, Presidency College, Chennai is ranked the third best college in the entire country followed by Loyola College in the fourth position. Chief Minister MK Stalin also tweeted about his alma mater Presidency college's achievement and congratulated the college administration for this feat. Miranda House in Delhi is the best college in the country. At least 32 colleges from Tamil Nadu have found a place in the top 100 colleges in the country.
Similarly, in the dental category Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai has bagged the first position.
The Bharathiar University in Coimbatore secured 24th position by scoring 57.26 in overall India rankings. Last year, the university was in 22nd position with a score of 55.38. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Coimbatore secured 16th place in the same category.
In the university category, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham secured 5th place, Bharathiar university got 15th place and Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for women received 84th place.
In the arts and science college category, PSGR Krishnammal college for women has secured 6th place while PSG College got 20; Kongunadu college ranked, 31; Coimbatore government arts college, 32; Sri Krishna College, 33; Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya college, 70; NGP College, 88; and Sri Ramakrishna College got 90th position.
In the engineering college category, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham secured 19th place; PSG College, 57; and Sri Krishna College, 73.