MUMBAI: A week after both governor C Vidyasagar Rao and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reprimanded the vice-chancellors of non-agriculture universities across the state, it was found that the performance of the once prestigious
Mumbai University was indeed dismal on the
parameters prescribed under the
National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF).
According to the report released by the ministry of human resource and development, except Savitribai Phule Pune University, none of the universities from Maharashtra ranked in the top 150 institutes. While
Pune University (PU) was on the ninth position among 230 universities, Mumbai University’s position dropped from the 101-150 band down to 151-200; it was ranked 155th.
The ministry had called for data and information on five parameters—teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practice; graduation outcomes; outreach and inclusivity; and perception. (see box)
If a high-ranking bureaucrat is to be believed, then MU officials entrusted with the task of submitting the information did not take adequate care, as a result, it was not among the first 100 varsities. “MU was relegated to the 155th position owing to administrative failures. It failed to submit the relevant documents and data before the deadline. Barring student strength, it was lagging behind on all parameters, particularly when compared to Pune University,” he said.
Acting vice-chancellor Devanand Shinde had promised inputs on the NIRF findings. “We had set up a high-level internal quality assurance cell to provide information and data for NIRF,” he told TOI on Monday morning. But then there was no response.
The bureaucrat said as per the NIRF data, the total faculty in Pune varsity was 686, including 477 PhD and 231 women, while in MU, the figures stood at 274, 187 and 117 respectively. There were 1,663 socially challenged students in MU compared to 2,471 in Pune University, and 606 full-time PhD students in MU as against 1,014 in PU.
In 2016-17, MU incurred an expenditure of Rs 161.16 crore, which included expenditure on library, new equipment for labs, engineering workshops, studios and other expenditure on creation of capital assets. Staff salary cost Rs 155 crore, seminars Rs 84 lakh and maintenance of academic infrastructure nearly Rs 1.4 crore. PU incurred an expenditure of Rs 395.6 crore on all these areas.
MU failed to earn from patents, while PU secured Rs 16 lakh from 14 published patents; and while MU obtained Rs 3.6 crore from 35 sponsored projects, PU secured Rs 56 crore. From the executive development programme for 207 participants, MU obtained Rs 18 lakh compared to Rs 1.33 crore by PU from 1,921 participants. More shocking was the fact that there were no provisions for the disabled, inlcuding wheelchairs, and only some buildings on the MU campus have specially designed toilets for the disabled. All buildings in PU campus are disabled-friendly.
Mumbai University campus.