Ditsa Bhattacharya (Delhi) The ninth edition of the nirf (National Institutional Ranking Framework) 2024 released by the Union education ministry on August 12 has generated considerable excitement in some higher education institutions (HEIs), especially government colleges and universities. Several low-profile universities which have been awarded high rank in NIRF 2024, have gone to town with expensive full-page ads in national dailies. This year, a total of 6,500 HEIs submitted data to the Union education ministry to be ranked in NIRF 2024. All of them submitted data in prescribed formats to become eligible for inclusion in NIRF’s ‘overall’ Top 100 league table and in each category — colleges, universities, research, engineering and business management. They were assessed under five broad parameters — teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practice; graduation outcomes; outreach and inclusivity and public perception — with institutions in each discipline required to submit documentary evidence of academic progress. A notable feature of the annual NIRF is that participation and submission of data in the prescribed format is voluntary. Most new genre private universities top ranked in the annual EducationWorld and India Today league tables did not participate. Undoubtedly NIRF 2024 is detailed and elaborate and considerable effort has been invested by NBA (National Board of Accreditation), a unit of AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education), a subsidiary of the Union education ministry, which has assessed the data and finalised the rankings. However the NIRF league tables have not resonated with the public because it is patently prejudiced in favour of government HEIs, and biased against private institutions which dominate higher education and provide good, bad and indifferent learning to 70 percent of the country’s 43 million youth in higher education. The Top 17 HEIs in the Overall Top 100 category are government promoted/funded institutions headed by five IITs and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. The private sector Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (BITS-Pilani, estb.1964), commonly accepted as the equivalent of the top IITs and whose alumni include former IISc director Goverdhan Mehta, Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder of Hotmail, is ranked a lowly #23. The unfancied private sector Amrita School of Engineering (#18) and Savita School of Engineering (22) are ranked above it. Even in the engineering category, BITS-Pilani is ranked #20 following all IITs as also Jadavpur University (12) and S.R.M. Institute of Technology (13). On the other hand, in the EducationWorld India Higher Education Rankings (EWIHER) 2024-25 — which excludes heavily subsidised government IITs and NITs — BITS-Pilani is ranked India’s #1 private engineering university. Moreover Amity University — India’s top-ranked private multi-disciplinary university (by EducationWorld and India Today) which has established campuses in 13 countries around the world and has an aggregate enrolment of 37,000 students — is ranked #49 in NIRF 2024. The infirmity of the NIRF Rankings is that participation is voluntary — unlike in the EducationWorld, India Today and other media rankings which invoking the constitutional right to freedom of expression and right to evaluate institutions open to the…
