Page 48 - EW May 2023_Neat

Cover Story EW India Private University Rankings 2023-24

nationals. We are ready and welcome
competition,” he adds.
The spectacular debut of Ashoka
has necessitated a rearrangement of
seating on top table. Manipal Acade-
my of Higher Education (MAHE) has
retained its 2022-23 #2 ranking and
the high-profile Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore has
retained its #3 rank sharing it with
Ashoka. NMIMS, Mumbai, ICFAI
University, Hyderabad and
Shiv Nadar University, Noida
complete the Top 5. Further down,
Chitkara University, Chandi-
garh (CU) which has been steadily
improving its ranking, is ranked a
notch higher at #9 (10).
“Our faculty is our greatest asset,
and we take great pride in having a
Ashoka VC Dr. Somak Raychaudhury: impressive debut group of professionals committed
to the academic advancement of our
2020 mandate to transform into Ph D project. As a result, we have students. Moreover, research and
a multidisciplinary university has started receiving research projects innovation and a culture of feedback
been a smooth transition. More- and funding from industry and gov- as well as the diligence of our faculty,
over, a feature of all our four-year ernment,” says Raychaudhury. staff, and students, are just a few of
undergrad study programmes is Nor is Raychaudhury perturbed the reasons for our rise in rankings,
that all students — including science by the prospect of competition from and we’re determined to maintain
students — complete a three semes- foreign varsities set to enter India. this trajectory moving forward,” says
ter foundation programme which “Ashoka is already an international Dr. Madhu Chitkara, an alumna
teaches English communication and university. We have students from of Delhi and Punjab universities
social sciences. This ensures that all 27 countries enrolled with us and who founded Punjab’s #1 multidisci-
Ashoka graduates receive a rounded, 10 percent of our faculty are foreign plinary university which has 20,000
holistic education,” says Dr. Somak Dr. Madhu Chitkara: positive development
Raychaudhury, the new (Janu-
ary 2023) vice chancellor of Ashoka
University.
Evidently Raychaudhury, a super-
achiever graduate of Presidency Col-
lege, Kolkata, Oxford and Cambridge
universities with teaching experience
in Harvard and former director of
IUCAA (Inter-University Centre for
Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pune) —
“which has built the world’s largest
metric wave radio telescope”— has
been inducted to grow and expand
Ashoka’s Science School.
“Thus far, we have essentially
been a teaching university. Now we
will focus on developing our post-
grad and research capabilities. For a
start in our Science School, we have
introduced a rule that all faculty have
to compulsorily engage in a research-

48 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2023