Ten colleges of Delhi University have been ranked among the top 20 colleges in the country in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) announced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), ranking the nation's top 100 colleges. Principals of the ranked colleges have hailed the NIRF ranking and also evinced interest in their future participation in the NIRF rankings.
Miranda House of the North Campus retained its 'Top Position' it secured last year. Principal Dr Pratibha Jolly told The Pioneer, “I personally do not believe in system of rankings but I know that for constant improvement one must be open towards adopting new methods and technologies for capacity building.”
She said that all stakeholders are of immense importance and need to be strengthened. “You are as strong as your weakest link and so we should work on empowering all including the non-teaching staff,” she said.
St Stephen's College Principal John Varghese could not be reached for his comments. Stephen's secured second rank this year in NIRF rankings. The college management has stayed away from the NIRF ranking system. Principal of Lady Irwin College, which secured the 12th rank, was also unavailable for her comments.
Dr Anju Srivastava, the principal of Hindu College which stood fourth in the ranking, said, “Hard work and commitment of faculty members, students, non-teaching staff is behind the position of the college.”
“We do not applied last year and missed it, but we will do comprehensive analysis of our performance on all parameters and try to improve further,” she added.
Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), which was ranked third last year, has slipped the seventh place this year. SRCC principal Prof Simrit Kaur said NIRF works on quantifiable parameters assuming that one size fits all. “It's a nice system of ranking started by the Government as it ranks colleges, institutes and universities within the country. Before NIRF, ranking was done by several agencies on global basis,” she said. SRCC is looking forward to participate in the NIRF ranking in future also, she added.
“We will definitely learn from the colleges that are ahead of us in the NIRF ranking and try to work on the areas in which we lag,” said Rama Sharma, Principal Hans Raj College. She told that Hans Raj College didn't apply for the NIRF ranking last year. The Hans Raj College is ranked 21st in the NIRF ranking for colleges.
SK Garg, Principal of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, which secured 13 rank contrary to its ninth rank in last year NIRF ranking, said, “We are only 27-year-old college, while the rest are 70-120 years old. We are competing with the colleges which are four generation ahead of us yet our performance is quite impressive,” said Garg.
Gyantosh Jha Principal of Atma Ram Sanatan Dharm College, which secured 14th rank contrary to 5th last year, said, “This time more colleges have applied also research and innovation was not included in the parameters for colleges this year. We will try to improve ourselves,” he said.