GU students stumped at low ranking, job placements may suffer

STHRIGDHARA NAIK

sthrigdhara@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: The scene at the Goa University after a shocking and unexpected downgrading of its National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which ranks universities is a not unlike many blindfolded people trying to decipher different parts of the elephant, which is in the room – the lower rank. 

From the Registrar to students to faculty, all are trying nail the reasons why GU slipped from Grade A to B++, realising the fallout on the university’s standing and the placement opportunities for their students.

Reacting to the down gradation in the ranking of Goa University (GU) from ‘A’ Grade to the present B++ Grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Registrar of Goa University Vishnu Nadkarni reacted by saying the relegation was unexpected. “We will appeal to the NAAC regarding recent grade relegation. We will put our defence to suggest why GU should have been scored more compared to 

the previous grade,” Nadkarni said.

Nadkarni added that the GU was not expecting this down gradation but believed the grade would either improve or remain stable. He added that the GU has decided to hold a special meeting with the highest governing body, the Executive Council of GU wherein the matter has been decided to be placed before the council to decide on the further course of action.

“There appears to be some confusion. We believe that the GU is well developed as far as infrastructure development and other facilities are concerned and that the report regarding relegation is hard to accept,” Nadkarni added.

The hard reality is this. And Vaishnavi Salkar, a Chemistry student hits the nail right on the head when she says, “The NAAC grade is printed on the mark sheet of every student. The impact will be such that the placement cell would rather prefer the students from universities which have been top listed by NAAC instead of preferring to hire from those universities which haven’t.”

The Registrar said that the different criteria fixed to assess the University are curricular aspects, teaching, learning and evaluation, research, innovation and extensions, infrastructure and learning resources, students support and progression, governance, leadership and management, institutional values and best practices. Nadkarni said, “The report received by the GU from the peer team is excellent. The confusion lies in the 70 per cent score that has been allotted by NAAC.”

Curiously one of the key aspects of infrastructure, staff strength, is something that the management doesn’t seem to have considered. In 2017, 43 per cent of vacancies were unfilled, and the situation hasn’t really improved since then.

Dhruv Patil, a student of Master of Science (MSc) in Integrated Data Science said that the NAAC might have given low grades to the GU depending on the number of teaching staff vacancies that exist in the University. He added, “A lot more vacancies exist in GU, which need to be filled.”

Disappointed with the down-gradation, Prachita Gaonkar, a student in the Chemistry Department said that the relegation was unexpected. “This will directly affect the reputation of Goa University,” she feared.

Pooja Naik, a student of the Hindi Department said, “The NAAC ranking should have been either constant or the upgraded version of the previous one. The ranking by NAAC is not acceptable.” On the contrary, she also said that the unclean campus might be the reason behind down gradation.  

Yogita Naik, another student of the Hindi Department spoke in agreement saying the down gradation was not expected.

Professors and Departmental Heads though, when contacted, declined to comment on the recent grading of GU accreditation.  

But the elephant in the room is clearly visible. And some of the reasons why GU was downgraded, lie totally within the walls of the campus, according to many who know exactly why.