TAG: GS 2: SOCIAL JUSTICE
THE CONTEXT: The Ministry of Education recently announced the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024.
EXPLANATION:
- The Ministry of Education presented the ninth edition of the India Rankings for the year 2024, based on the parameters identified and defined in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
- This edition builds upon the foundational work of the previous eight annual exercises conducted from 2016 to 2023, incorporating enhancements, expansions, and refinements.
- The scope of this iteration includes additional categories and subject domains, reflecting a gradual increase in both the number of participating institutions and the institutions ranked across various categories and disciplines.
- The participation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in these rankings has grown from 3,565 in 2016 to 10,845 in 2024, with the number of categories and subject domains expanding from four in 2016 to sixteen in 2024.
Highlights of the NIRF Rankings
- IIT-Madras tops in engineering and overall categories in India and IISc Bengaluru is the top university in the country.
- In its ninth edition, three new categories have been introduced — open universities, skill universities and state funded government universities.
- The second position has been grabbed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, followed by IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur at the third, fourth and the fifth spots respectively.
- IIT Kharagpur got the sixth place, followed by AIIMS Delhi, at seventh, IIT Roorkee and IIT Guwahati at the eighth and ninth spots.
- The 10th spot has been bagged by JNU, New Delhi.
- This year, the evaluation criteria have also been modified.
- The faculty-to-student ratio has been changed from 1:15 to 1:10 in medical institutes, and increased from 1:15 to 1:20 in the state government universities.
- The ranking framework evaluates institutions on five broad parameters — teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practice, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity and perception.
- The higher educational institutes are listed under 16 categories — overall, universities, medical, engineering, management, law, architecture and planning, colleges, research institutions, pharmacy, dental, agriculture and allied sectors, state funded government universities, skill universities, open universities and innovation.
- This year, as many as 10,885 higher education institutions participated this year. Last year, as many as 5,543 higher education institutions participated in the NIRF.
- The Indira Gandhi National Open University has bagged the first place followed by Netaji Subhash Open University (Kolkata), and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (Ahmedabad) in the second, and third places under the open universities category.
National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF):
- The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was approved by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and launched by Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development in 2015.
- This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.
- The methodology draws from the overall recommendations broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by MHRD, to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions.
- The parameters broadly cover “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”.
- The evaluation criteria have also been modified. The faculty-to-student ratio has been changed from 1:15 to 1:10 in medical institutes, and increased from 1:15 to 1:20 in the state government universities.