Page 44 - EW April 2025

Cover Story EW India Private University Rankings 2025-26

from industry take classes in SNU —
right from the beginning. Therefore,
our large Careers Development Cen-
tre has an excellent record of placing
graduates in suitable employment.
Our good score under Infrastructure
should have been higher because we
have over 200 labs on campus and
several Centres of Excellence, includ-
ing a Centre for Integrative and Trans-
formational Research,” says Mukher-
jee. Currently SNU has 4,499 students
mentored by 350 faculty on its muster
rolls.
Another institution that has been
steadily advancing up the EW league
table of India’s best multidisciplinary
universities is the Chandigarh-based
Chitkara University (CU, estb.
SNU’s Dr. Ananya Mukherjee (right): strong industry connect 2010) promoted to #7 this year, up
one rank every year since 2022, and
edged sword. Self-confidence is nec- ern California, Mukherjee has brought ranked Chandigarh #1 for the past
essary because claims made in public a wealth of academic and institutional three years. This year’s sample respon-
advertisements are open to contradic- management experience to SNU, hav- dents have awarded CU good scores
tion,” adds Chauhan. ing previously served as Dean of the under faculty competence, research &
There are few changes in the seat- Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional innovation and infrastructure.
ing order of this year’s league table of Studies at York University, Toronto, “A distinguishing feature of CU is
India’s best private multidisciplinary and Provost and Vice-President Aca- that from the beginning, our faculty
universities compared with 2024-25 demic, University of British Columbia has been encouraged to develop an
with the Top 3 — Amity, Manipal and — Canada’s largest universities — for entrepreneurship and research mind-
Ashoka — retaining their ranks. How- almost three decades. set. Under our CURIN (Chitkara
ever this year, the low-profile Shiv Mukherjee is surprised by the University Research and Innovation
Nadar University, aka Shiv Nadar relatively low score awarded to SNU Network) initiative, our faculty has
Institution of Eminence (SNU), Gau- under the parameter of research & registered 4,000 patents and pub-
tam Buddha Nagar (UP) is awarded innovation which she admits may be lished 14,000 Scopus index research
a big promotion from # 7 in 2024-25 because of poor media communica- papers and CU incubated 200 start-
to top table at #4, and the Mumbai- tion. Nevertheless she derives com- up enterprises. Evidently, this record
based Narsee Monji Institute of fort from SNU’s top score under the has impressed industry because we
Management Studies from #6 to parameters of industry interface and have dedicated co-promoted labs on
#5. The Coimbatore-based Amrita placement which she interprets as In- campus with Apple, Infosys and Cap
Vishwa Vidyapeetham Universi- dia Inc’s high respect for SNU. Gemini, and a new lab with Reliance-
ty and ICFAI University, Hyder- “Right from the start because of its Jio is under construction. And it may
abad have had to cede rank this year. parentage (SNU was established in interest your readers to learn that this
“Although I believe that SNU 2011 by IT industry pioneer Shiv Na- year, the London-based Times Higher
deserves higher rank, the EW per- dar, promoter of ICT blue-chip HCL Education ranked CU #1 worldwide
ceptions survey seems to have been Ltd), SNU has had a deep and strong for research quality. We are recog-
conducted rationally and with due dil- connect with not only the IT, but all nised for our cutting-edge research
igence, so I have to accept the verdict sectors of industry. All our students and experiential education, conducted
and resolve to make greater effort to are obliged to experience internships jointly with our 225 partner universi-
improve our future ranking,” says Dr. as there is strong emphasis on experi- ties worldwide,” says Dr. Madhu
Ananya Mukherjee, appointed Vice ential learning in our curricula which Chitkara, an alumna of Delhi and
Chancellor of SNU in 2022 following a are frequently updated and enhanced. Panjab universities, and Chancellor
global search. An economics alumna Moreover, SNU introduced the Pro- of CU who co-promoted this “truly
of Jadavpur University, Calcutta with fessors of Practice concept — under multidisciplinary university with 18
a Ph D from the University of South- which experienced professionals schools” a decade ago. Since then, the

44 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2025