Only 4 from Vid find place in Atal innovation rankings

Nagpur: Vidarbha’s three engineering colleges and one deemed to be university found their names in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA), launched by vice-president Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday.
Under it, the educational institutions and universities are systematically ranked on innovation and entrepreneurship-related indicators. All major indicators, commonly used globally to rank most innovative education institutions/universities, are followed while finalizing the rankings. This is the second year of ARIIA rankings launched by the ministry of education in association with MHRD’s innovation cell and AICTE.
The Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) is ranked between 11th and 25th position among institutions of national importance and central universities.
Hingna-based GH Raisoni College of Engineering bagged second rank among self-financed and private colleges in the country. Prof Ram Meghe College of Engineering and Management, Badnera, secured a rank between 6th and 25th in the same category.
The Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, is placed between 26th and 50th position in the list of self-financed or private universities.
None of traditional universities from Vidarbha — Nagpur, Amravati and Gondwana — were able to find their place in the rankings. However, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad secured a rank between 6th and 25th among all government and aided universities, primarily due to initiatives taken to establish Covid-19 testing laboratory by its administration. The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai is another institution from the state in this list.
The prestigious Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, leads this segment, but even universities like Mumbai and Pune didn’t find a place in these rankings. Pune, in fact, had ranked highly in HRD ministry’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
Among government and aided colleges, three are from Maharashtra. The College of Engineering in Pune (COEP) has been ranked first while Shri Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of Engineering and Technology in Nanded is at third place. The Veermata Jeejabai Technical Institute (VJTI) in Mumbai is at sixth spot.
The Raisoni Group attributed GHRCE’s success to all activities being undertaken for overall growth of students. It was ranked 8th in India in ‘top patent filers’ as per patent report released last year. It has also got platinum status under AICTE-CII survey for best industry-linked institute for the past five consecutive years, according to its officials.