Thiruvananthapuram: The universities in the state could not make it to the top ten ranks in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) due to the failure to produce sufficient research output and lack of external projects and industry-academic collaboration. The total research output of the university is one of the major factors for the rankings. “The number of minor and major projects undertaken by a university and the effort taken by the university to foster industrial-academic interface are other grounds. Many private universities like Amritha have given top priority for complying with these parameters,” said M. Abdul Rahman, Pro-Vice- Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. Since the ranking was finalised based on the documents uploaded by the universities on the website and not on physical inspection, lack of proper documentation played a major role, he said.
MG University Vice-Chancellor Babu Sebastian said that most of the universities in the top bracket of the rankings were central. MG University is primarily an affiliating university which has only 91 faculty members directly under them. Even Kerala University which has a higher rank has 220 faculty members. The output would increase with the number of faculty members. Central universities have much bigger faculty strength which helps them increase their research output and achieve higher rankings. For instance, Pondicherry University has 400 faculty members and it helps them achieve a higher output. “There is a demand for separate rankings for the central and affiliating universities,” Mr Sebastian said.
Some unique parameters peculiar to the university could not be uploaded. For example, the university had received the best university award from the Chancellor. They had also started many outreach programmes for local bodies. There was no provision to upload these parameters, he added. According to him the universities of the state had not fared all that badly. “It is unfair to conclude that universities have ranked poorly. Kerala University is ranked 29th , Calicut University 57th followed by MGU at 67th and Cusat 86th,” Mr Sebastian said. Mr K.L. Vivekanandan, general secretary, All-Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (AKPTCA), said that the present problem has more to do with the mindset in the universities. “We need to create a proper environment for achieving good research output. When I was studying for M Phil in IIT, Mumbai, I could see even women working at 2 a.m. in laboratories,” he said.
Do you think that such an environment prevails in the universities in our state? It was after a long fight by students of Karyavattom campus that the University was forced to allow the university library on the campus to function 24/7. However, a similar change in timings of the university library at Palayam which catered to more people, was yet to take place, Mr Vivekanandan said. While the performance of universities is not up to the mark, there is something for the state to cheer about in the college section. Kerala had the second highest number of colleges in the best 100 art and science colleges as per the NIRF rankings for 2017. The state with 14 colleges in the best 100 list is a distant second to Tamil Nadu which has 37 colleges. The NIRF covered 3,500 institutions in four categories: university, engineering, pharmacy and management. It identified 22 parameters in five major heads, several of them similar to those employed globally such as excellence in teaching, learning and research.
