Page 34 - EW April 2023

Cover Story

EW INDIA HIGHER EDUCATION RANKINGS 2023-24
TOP 500

ARTS, SCIENCE & COMMERCE

COLLEGES

Although several newspapers and magazines publish league
tables ranking colleges and universities, these are general news
publications with peripheral interest in education. Therefore the
annual EWIHER, first introduced in 2013, are the best and most
reliable rankings available to parents and school-leaving students

Dilip Thakore

G RADING AND RANKING HIGHER edu- of questionable grades to some HEIs. Mainly due to this, I

cation institutions has come under a
had also suggested the need for an independent inquiry by
cloud with the dramatic resignation
appropriate high-level national agencies,” he wrote to UGC
chairman Jagadesh Kumar on February 26.
of Bhushan Patwardhan last month
from the position of executive com-
This letter calling for an independent inquiry was “mis-
mittee chairperson of NAAC (Na-
tional Assessment and Accreditation
and old academic warhorse Anil Sahasrabudhe was ap-
Council, estb.1994), the highest gov- interpreted” by Jagadesh Kumar as a letter of resignation,
pointed chairman of NAAC on March 3. On March 5, Pat-
ernment agency for rating and ranking undergrad colleges wardhan formally resigned from his position after making
and universities in India. a sincere appeal to the Central government to “institute an
According to Patwardhan, favourable grades are avail- independent inquiry in this regard and book those who are
able to higher education institutions (HEIs) for a price. responsible for this serious lapse on their part, in the inter-
“Based on my experience, various complaints from the est of justice to protect my individual rights, dignity, and
stakeholders, and review committee reports, I had ex- sanctity of UGC, NAAC, and Higher Educational Institu-
pressed my apprehensions earlier about the possibility of tions in the country.”
vested interests, malpractices, and nexus among the per- This somewhat over-detailed recitation of a top-level
sons concerned, offering thereby a green corridor by pre- resignation at NAAC is likely to evoke wry smiles within
sumably manipulating… processes leading to the awarding knowledgeable monitors of Indian higher education. Be-

34 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2023