Nobody really expected that in one year Goa University would manage to scale the ladder in the National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF) and take a much higher position than the previous year. At best the university, the sole university in the State, was expected to retain its position at number 64. So then, when the university drops down in the rankings by four places to 68, it is a matter of concern and needs to be viewed seriously, and drastic measures taken to improve the ranking.
Remember the reaction of the University officials last year, when the Goa University had fallen by 44 ranks from 20th to 64th? When the rest of the State had expressed concern, the Vice Chancellor had said he was going through the comments on the fall in rankings with ‘gladness and amusement’. His argument was that 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 had remained the same. The University’s Registrar has a similar explanation this year, arguing that the number of institutes that have been ranked has gone up and therefore the Goa University ranking has not changed, but has remained the same. The addition of medical, dental colleges to the list has also been proffered as a reason for slipping in the rankings.
Excuses aside, the question that needs to be asked and deliberated is whether Goa University has the will to excel. Before answering this question the good news that Goa University figures in the list of top 100 universities and the top 100 institutes of higher education in the country (98th in this list) must be acknowledged. For the second successive year the university ranking has dropped, so a place in the top 100 remains merely a statistic, and the reasoning that the number of universities that have been ranked has increased does not befit an institution of higher ranking. The university can and should strive to improve upon its ranking – perhaps for starters at least aim for a spot in the top 50.
Last year, the Vice Chancellor after his explanation for the drop in rankings had, however, gone 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 had overtaken it that year. An internal quality assurance cell to analyse the issue and figure out what can be done to change the university’s rank had been set up. But, from the rankings, there appears to have been no improvement.
It shouldn’t be too difficult to determine in what areas the University has faulted or failed. NIRF ranks the institutions based on five broad parameters – teaching, learning and resources (TLR), research and professional practices (RPC), graduation outcomes (GO), outreach and inclusivity (OI) and perception (PR). The five parameters are given a ranking weightage and the ranks are then used to arrive at an overall ranking for the institutions. It would be in the interest of the University to discover where it fared the lowest and start by improving there, and ensuring that it maintains the standard where it has scored higher.
Goa University has been around for over three decades. It has had ample time to establish itself and take its place alongside the best institutes of higher education in the country, to transform itself into an institute that students search for in their quest for an education and compete to enter through its portals. It is when students – outstation students – battle to get a Goa University degree that the University will be known as a brand in education. Until then we will have to live with the rankings based on statistics that currently gives it the 68th rank.
