Premier Delhi colleges refuse to share details in ranking race
2018 ranking and filled application forms to the effect.
It now emerges that St Stephens and LSR may not figure in the rankings — at least not until they share data on their faculty. Hindustan Times learns that the faculty of both the colleges is not keen to share their data.
“All entries are scrutinized and evaluated. We have not received data from these two and some other institutes which makes them ineligible for participating in the ranking. We are still giving them a chance and if they do share the faculty related data we are willing to include them. But so far we haven’t got a positive response,” said a senior official from the human resource development (HRD) ministry who asked not to be identified.
A total of 4,734 institutes are taking part in the exercise this year, 1,525 more than last year. Rankings are given in eight categories: overall, engineering, management, architecture, law, medical, pharmacy and general colleges. The principals of both St Stephen’s and the LSR College didn’t respond to calls and text messages seeking comment.
The ministry prepares the list based on a range of parameters such as teaching and learning resources, quality of research, and outcomes that judge the employability of graduates. The last date to register for the NIRF was October 6 last year.
Former Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh said that most of the information related to the faculty is available in the public domain and can be accessed under the Right to Information Act. “Why should the faculty be reluctant in sharing such details?” asked Singh.
The ministry official said the ranking system is different from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council’s exercise that assesses and accredits institutes of higher education.
“We are giving a ranking to an institute. Also, this is done every year whereas accreditation is done in five years,” he said.
Miranda House of New Delhi and Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science were India’s best college and university in the 2017 rankings. Loyola College in Chennai and Shri Ram College in the national capital were second and third on the ministry’s “general degree” colleges list.