PU ranks 44th, down 10 notches

CONSISTENT DROP Also slips to 26th position among universities in National Institutional Ranking Framework results

CHANDIGARH: Panjab University slipped 10 notches to rank 44 among educational institutions in the country in the Union human resource development ministry’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) announced on Thursday.

From rank 34 last year, PU is now ranked 44th. Among universities, PU’s ranking slipped from 21 in 2019 to 26 this year.

The top three universities are IISc Bangalore, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Banaras Hindu University.

In the very first NIRF rankings in 2016, PU was ranked 12 among all universities.

This year, PU’s score in teaching, learning and resources,which include its total student strength, faculty-student ratio and financial resources, dropped to 50.08 from 51.09 in 2019. It scored lower in research and professional practice as well with a 42.83 score against last year’s 44.82. This parameter includes the varsity’s patents both published and granted, combined metric for publication and footprints of projects.

Besides, its score decreased in graduation outcome; outreach and inclusivity, and perception as well.

Graduation outcome includes metric for university exams and number of PhD students graduated. Outreach and inclusivity includes percentage of students from other states and countries; woman students, economically and socially challenged students and facilities for disabled students.

SOME SILVER LINING

The university’s pharmacy department retained the second rank this year also.

“In the pharmacy category, the top institute is Jamia Hamdard in Delhi followed by Panjab University, Chandigarh. The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, Mohali, stood third,” Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announced.

Also, for the first time, PU ranked 15th among the law institutions of the country.

In management, the varsity improved its rank from 48 in 2019 to 42 this year. IIM Ahmedabad, was ranked as the top B-School in the country followed by IIM, Bangalore and Calcutta.

POOR SHOW IN ENGG

In engineering, PU slipped from rank 54 last year to 72. IIT Madras, IIT Bangalore, and IIT Delhi, bagged the top three positions in the annual rankings.

“NIRF is an important ranking for us. PU has performed well in pharmacy, law, management and dental rankings this year. Law department has secured 15th rank after no position last year, which is commendable. The university has slipped in the engineering discipline, but we are looking into the reasons and are hopeful to improve next year,” said Ashish Jain, director of PU’s internal quality assurance cell.