Little to cheer in NIRF scorecard for Puducherry

NIRF scorecard reveals disappointing performance of higher educational institutions in Union Territory, except for JIPMER and SBV.

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) scorecard for higher educational institutions in the Union Territory leaves little to cheer.

Apart from the Jawaharalal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), which held on to its fifth rank under the medical disciplines of India that it had secured in the 2023 NIRF report, and the 39th rank in the overall national rankings, virtually no other State-run or self-financing institution figures in the top 50 spots across various categories.

Consider that the next best performance in the national rankings was by the deemed-to-be university Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, which was placed 68 among Universities, while the SBV-administered Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute was ranked 47th among medical colleges.

The SBV Vice-Chancellor, Nihar Ranjan Biswas, said the latest rankings reflected SBV’s consistent record of a top 100 place among Indian Universities since 2016 when NIRF rankings were introduced by the then Ministry of Human Resources and Development (now the Ministry of Education).

The only other consolation from the NIRF, which employs broad parameters such as ‘Teaching, Learning and Resources; Research and Professional Practices; Graduation Outcomes; Outreach and Inclusivity; and Perception’, is that the Kanchi Mamunivar Government Institute for Postgraduate Studies and Research took the 77th spot among the top 100 colleges while the National Institute of Technology, Karaikal was placed 97th among the top 100 engineering colleges in India.

“There is nothing much to cheer about the performance of colleges and Universities of the Union Territory”, said M. Ramadass, former Member of Parliament.

Apart from Jipmer, none of the government-run medical colleges, including the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, figures in the top 50 medical colleges, he noted in a press statement.