Page 46 - EW 1-156 May 2024

Cover Story

aware that the great majority of the towards EducationWorld — intro-
estimated 10 million graduates they duced its NIRF (National Insti-
nonchalantly certify annually, are far tutional Ranking Framework).
from job-ready and require extensive Although NIRF rankings are often
and expensive post-induction train- cited by several universities as proof
ing before they become minimally of academic excellence, some of its
productive. rankings are ex facie absurd and have
According to the State of Working adversely affected the credibility of
India 2023 report of the Bengaluru- this new framework. For instance, in
based Azim Premji University, 42 the latest NIRF 2023 league table of
percent of India’s under-25 gradu- India’s Top 100 engineering universi-
ates were unemployed in 2021-22. ties, BITS Pilani which has several
And this is not because there are no campuses in India and one abroad,
vacancies in industry and business is ranked #25, below several obscure
within the economy which is growing provincial universities.
at a satisfactory 6-7 percent per year. That’s perhaps why several excel-
Quite the contrary. Most captains of Misra: three-month survey lent private engineering HEIs which
India Inc lament the unavailability of routinely rank high in the annual
sufficiently well-qualified and skilled higher education excellence. Par- EWIHER — Vellore Institute of Tech-
youth for managerial and shop-floor ticularly since the HEI evaluation nology, IIIT-Hyderabad, Dhirubhai
jobs. methodology of NAAC (National As- Ambani Institute of Information &
L IKEWISE AFTER ana- a subsidiary of the University Grants nagar — don’t submit data (partici-
sessment and Accreditation Council),
Communication Technology, Gandhi-
lysing the job-readiness
Commission (UGC), doesn’t — and
pation is voluntary) to be ranked in
NIRF.
of 440,000 young
never did — inspire much confidence.
Admittedly, several media publica-
graduates in 2,500
1994, thus far only 9,062 colleges
campuses across India, Even though it was established in tions including India Today also
in its India Graduate and universities have volunteered for publish annual college and university
Skills Index, Mercer/Mettl, a New NAAC accreditation. rankings. But these are essentially
York-based firm with several offices Last summer, Bhushan Patward- politics-oriented publications lack-
in India that bills itself as the “world’s han, Chairman of NAAC, resigned ing the specialist education know-
fastest, largest online assessment and in dramatic circumstances citing how and focus of EducationWorld.
certification company”, reports that “malpractices,” “manipulation” and Therefore, it is submitted that the
only 53 percent of Indian graduates “questionable grades” awarded by annual EW league tables of colleges
are employable for top non-technical NAAC to favoured HEIs. This, as we and universities — defined by careful
jobs and 44 percent for top technical remarked on this page last year, was categorisation to eliminate apples
jobs. Conversely, this implies that hardly novel news for us because over with oranges type comparisons — are
47 percent and 56 percent are not the years, NAAC had besmirched its the most reliable and accurate.
sufficiently qualified which adds up reputation by awarding five-star rat- Against this backdrop, last month
to an alarming number of certified ing to numerous colleges and univer- (April) we presented Part-I of EWI-
youth emerging from academia and sities that didn’t deserve even three. HER 2024-25 rating and ranking
searching for jobs in industry and With NAAC having proved a lame India’s Top 500 Arts, Science, Com-
commerce. duck, in 2015 the Union educa- merce (ASC) and private engineering
Well aware of the poor quality of tion ministry — which has adopted colleges. In this issue, we rate and
10 million graduates streaming out a policy of calculated indifference rank India’s most admired public and
of India’s higher education institu- private Multidisciplinary, Engineer-
tions every year and its implications An objective of the annual ing & Technology, Liberal Arts and
for growth and development of the Humanities, Agriculture, Research,
economy, since 2013, your editors EWIHER is to prompt India’s Medical & Health Sciences, Social
have been publishing the Educa- also-ran HEIs to upgrade Sciences, Mathematics, Physical
tionWorld India Higher Educa- across a range of chosen Sciences & Sports and all-women’s
tion Rankings to prompt India’s universities. To this long list, also
also-ran higher education institutions parameters of higher add private B-schools and the Top 10
(HEIs) to upgrade across a range education excellence most popular undergrad courses and
of carefully selected parameters of institutions that provide them.

46 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2024