Goa University has taken a big drop from 20th place in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2017 for Indian Universities that is announced annually by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to 64th. While it is surprising and worrisome to see the apex institute of higher education in the State take such a huge fall of 44 ranks, the University itself does not appear to be too concerned about it.
Goa University Vice Chancellor Varun Sahani, making light of it said he was going through the comments on the University fall in rankings with ‘gladness and amusement’. He argued saying, “In arithmetical terms 20 out of 233 is almost exactly 64 out of 724, so the system has expanded enormously over the last year and anybody who knows about proportions and ratios knows that 20 out of 233 is exactly 64 of 724.” In other words, while in the previous year there were 233 universities ranked, the following year there were 724 and so Goa University’s position in the NIRF has remained the same. That’s how the University views the drop rankings.
The Vice Chancellor did of course go on to say that the fall is a matter of concern and that the University needs to try to figure out what it can do better, especially since five universities which were behind Goa University the previous year have overtaken it this year. And so he has set up an internal quality assurance cell to analyse the issue and figure out what can be done to change their rank.
What Sahani did not say was that the overall score that Goa University obtained in the 2017 rankings was 37.16 and this got it the 64th rank, whereas the previous year it had notched up 69.90 for the 20th rank. What explanation does the University have for this fall in scores in just one year? Surely this can’t be explained by the increased number of universities that have been ranked this year. And by the Vice Chancellor’s own admission there are five universities that have improved their ranking over Goa University, so they have surely notched up more points this year than GU did. So why and where did Goa University fail?
The Vice Chancellor’s remarks are almost indicative of a University that does not have the will to excel, of a student who finds excuses when his or her result shows a drop. How then can such a university impart excellence to its students?
Look at the data submitted by the University to NIRF for the rankings and which is available on the University website, you find that there have been no patents filed, published, granted or licensed in 2015. The number of sustained spin-off companies set up over the previous five years (2011-2016) (Companies started by students/alumni/faculty in the institutions business incubators) is zero. Number of graduating students admitted into top university/institution to pursue higher studies in 2015-16 is zero. Where GU scores, is in the number of PhD students, which for the year 2015-16 stands at 38.
However, the VC made it pertinent to point that a larger number of faculty members could have improved the university’s ranking, as currently almost 44 per cent of the posts are vacant. That there is such a huge vacancy in the teaching faculty is a cause for worry. It also indicates that students are not getting the best education.
The University is three decades old, time enough to have overcome any teething problems and begun competing with the best. Open the GU website and its home page still claims that it is ranked 14th among top universities in a survey conducted by a private magazine in 2014. The change will come when the University begins to accept where it stands with the seriousness it deserves, rather than amusement, and then works to improve from there.
