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IIIT-Hyderabad campus: top rank regained. Inset: Prof. J. Narayanan

for Forecasting and Research Pvt. Ltd (C fore, estb.2000), the UGC Act, 1956 in 1964) has ceded top rank in 2022-23
which also conducts our pioneer annual EducationWorld to the low-profile International Institute of Informa-
India School Rankings (estb.2007) and EW India Pre- tion Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) and Vellore
school Rankings (2010), interviewed 2,893 sample re- Institute of Technology (VIT), jointly ranked #1. BITS-
spondents including 1,136 engineering colleges faculty, Pilani is ranked #2 followed by Dhirubhai Ambani In-
1,288 final year students and 469 industry representatives stitute of Information & Communication Technol-
countrywide. These sample respondents were persuaded ogy, Gandhinagar at #3, PSG College of Technology,
to rate engineering institutes/colleges (of whom they had Coimbatore at #4 and Thapar Institute of Engineer-
sufficient knowledge) on nine parameters of excellence — ing & Technology, Patiala at #5 — all of whom have
faculty competence, placement, research and innovation, retained their last year’s rankings.
industry interface, value for money, infrastructure, faculty Last ranked #1 in 2018-19, IIIT-H, the country’s first
welfare, leadership and governance, and curriculum and ICT (information communication technologies) engineer-
pedagogy (digital readiness). Digital readiness rating was ing college promoted under the state government-private
introduced last year to assess engineering colleges’ tran- partnership model in 1998, is awarded highest scores un-
sition to the online digital medium during the pandemic der seven of the nine parameters of engineering education
education lockdown. The scores awarded by respondents excellence including competence of faculty, curriculum and
under each parameter were totaled to rank the country’s pedagogy (digital readiness), leadership and governance,
Top 100 private engineering colleges/institutes inter se. placements and value for money.
Low-profile institutions assessed by less than 25 respon- Expectedly, Dr. P.J. Narayanan, director of IIIT-H,
dents are not ranked. is delighted with the institute’s stellar overall performance
The 2022-23 league table of India’s best private en- in the “comprehensive” EW rankings survey. “We are hap-
gineering institutes has undergone a makeover. Ranked py to be ranked India’s #1 engineering higher education
#1 for three consecutive years (2019-21), the high-profile institution. IIIT-H is known for research-led education of-
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), fered from the undergraduate to doctorate level, and trans-
Pilani (conferred deemed university status under s.3 of disciplinary programmes which combine computer science

APRIL 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 79