Telangana veterinary university in last place

HYDERABAD:  For  the second year in a row, the PV Narsimha Rao Telangana Veterinary University, Hyderabad fared badly in the ICAR’s agricultural universities rankings. In fact, it finished at the bottom of the list of 67 varsities evaluated by the the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The varsity, which has been headless since the formation of Telangana State, was ranked 56 out of 60 agricultural universities in the last year’s rankings.

The Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University, Mulug has been ranked 33 among 67 universities, a big improvement compared to last year’s 44. The Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, which captured headlines last year after being ranked as sixth best in the country, slipped in this year’s rankings but managed to retained its place among the top varsities with 10th position.

Once hiring takes place, varsity’s ranking will go up: Registrar

Like several other State universities in Telangana, the PVNRT Veterinary University and SKLTS Horticultural University have been headless, without any permanent Vice Chancellors and with bureaucrats handling the position of in-charge VCs. While Principal Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Anita Rajendra is the in-charge VC of Veterinary University, Agriculture Department Secretary Dr B Janardhan Reddy is in-charge VC of Horticulture University.

When contacted, PVNRT Veterinary University Registrar Dr A Gopala Reddy pointed out that the university had received ICAR recognition just last year and that recruitment process for around 150 vacant positions came to a halt due to a court case. Stating that two new veterinary colleges affiliated to the veterinary university were recently started, adding to the faculty crunch the university is already facing, he expressed confidence that once the recruitment takes place, the university’s ranking would automatically improve.

It may be recalled here that the state of affairs of most Telangana government-run universities is poor. In the 2020 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings announced by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, only Osmania University featured in the top 200 universities even though there are 17 State universities.