PUNE: The India Rankings 2018 for higher education revealed a significant drop in the rankings of most engineering colleges in the city. While the College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) dropped from the 24th position to 45th in the ‘engineering’ college category,
Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering went down from 66 last year to 83 this year. Even the Army Institute of Technology lost its 77th rank and is now positioned at 88 in the category. Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), however, beat the trend. Unranked last year, DIAT is now ranked 63rd. Meanwhile, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), Symbiosis International and
Fergusson College improved their positions in their respective categories.
The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for 2018, which was released on Tuesday, has revealed that the engineering colleges in Pune scored less primarily in two parameters — research and professional practice (RPP) and perception. Another reason for the ranks to plummet was the inclusion of more IITs and NITs in the system.
The 21-place drop for CoEP in the engineering category was particularly disappointing. “We have taken a hit in perception and research outcome calculation. We depend on the SPPU for PhD admissions. This time, the admissions were delayed by 1.5 years. If we have fewer research students, then the volume of research will be less and fewer patents will be filed. When compared to the NITs, IITs and even other universities, which have hundreds or even thousands of PhD students, we have only 14-15 students pursuing PhD,” said BB Ahuja, the director of CoEP. Ahuja also pointed out at a bit of confusion in the ranking of engineering colleges. “Delhi Technological University was ranked four places ahead of us in the engineering college category. However, in the overall category, DTU is ranked four places below us. The silver lining is that CoEP has been featured in the overall ranking for the first time and it is ranked 96.”
Meanwhile, the institutes that have moved up the chart are setting their sights on bigger targets.
SPPU improved its overall showing by moving up to 16 from the 18 position last year. Among the universities, it is now positioned at 9, up from last year’s 10. “This shows the university is on right track towards quality education. This will help in our quest to get the Institute of Eminence status. And since the varsity fares among top 10 universities, we will be able to get Rs 100 crore funding as per guidelines of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan,” said SPPU vice-chancellor Nitin Karmalkar.
Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, the pro-chancellor of Symbiosis International, sent a statement, saying: “Amongst universities, we are at 44th rank. This means we are in the top 50 list. Amongst deemed universities, we are No. 1 in Pune. Symbiosis Law School Pune is at No. 9. It’s at the top position amongst private law schools. Symbiosis Institute of Business Management is at No. 18. It’s amongst the top 3 amongst private business schools.”
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