PANJIM: Goa University (GU) has added another feather to its cap as it becomes the only state university to compete with central varsities by making it to the top 20 of 100 institutes ranked in the first National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
The first-of-its-kind survey launched by the Ministry of Human Resources Development in September 2015 also has National Institute of Technology (NIT) Goa ranking 76th under the engineering category. Similarly, Goa College of Pharmacy has bagged a spot in the top 25 Pharmacy (Research and Teaching) slot.
The higher education colleges were evaluated on five parameters comprising teaching, learning and resources (TLR); research, professional practice and collaborative performance (RPC); graduation outcome (GO); outreach and inclusivity (OI); and perception (PR) of end users. Goa University scored 63.29, 70.81, 100, 74.61 and 64 out of 100 in each in the respective areas.
The university is content with the ranking citing various online initiatives invoked in addition to existing ones, after its NAAC A grade accreditation in 2014.
“We are very happy with the achievement and moreover, because GU is the only university to compete with central universities in the top 20. We launched various programs in the recent past on online and other platforms,” GU Registrar Vijayendra Kamat told Herald.
The first exercise of ranking various institutions had participants providing online data by December 31, 2015. An independent agency, the National Bureau of Accreditation, working with the government, was responsible for validating the data submitted by the institutions.
NIT Goa also took pride in securing a place in the first 100 engineering institutes in the country despite its limited resources and temporary infrastructure. Director Prof G R C Reddy said the institution made its presence felt in all the five parameters and scored 85 out of 100 in the perception category – a remarkable achievement for an institute that is less than a decade old.
“This is just a stepping stone to take a higher leap. It will boost the motivation of the employees of NIT Goa to work hard towards achieving excellence in the fields of science and technology,” he said. He added, “One should not feel complacent with this rank. The institute should focus more on collaborative research with industries and the faculty members must devote their time in consultancy work.”
